Working like a dog

Pets in the office add a certain element of unpredictability to the working day. They can be a distraction and take up time. They might explore someone else’s desk, shed their fur, or – even worse – steal a colleague’s sandwich. They don’t care if we’re in an important meeting or whether we have deadlines to meet. On the other hand, their presence helps to relieve stress and, according to studies, they actually improve employees’ productivity, even if their owner has to take the animal out for a walk from time to time. “A pet in the office helps workers to interact, which is very important during periods of isolation and remote working. And the walks that you periodically have to take them out on are good for the health of those usually have to sit down all day to attend to their heavy workloads,” points out Hubert Matczak, a health and safety expert at Safety Complex. In some companies and sectors, bringing pets to work is now ev