Who are the employees of the month? Your pets are!

Working from home has always been perceived as a more ‘relaxed’ style of working; well it was, until you started doing it. Suddenly it is harder than ever before to balance your work and private life; office hours are not adhered to; and to top it all off, no one warned you about your new co-workers who enjoy interrupting your meetings.

Children around the world, including the four-legged variety, have become the stars of many online meetings. Over-eager dogs have made their opinions heard during presentations, and curious cats have found comfort on keyboards while discussing budgets. Your new co-worker is stealing the show.

“When working from home became a mandatory requirement for most of us, I don’t think we understood the impact it would have on our pets, and vice versa,” said Hill’s Pet Nutrition marketing manager, Carla Bath.
“Working with your pet is one of the most rewarding and comforting experiences, and in the long run can reduce stress and increase productivity.” Carla added that we certainly didn’t consider the impact our pets’ presence would have on our virtual co-workers, and even the comic relief it could bring to our workdays.

‘Co-worker’ pet-related threads have taken over social media feeds with pictures of pets in their new capacity as co-workers, yielding hilarious results. Users are captioning pictures of their pets with descriptions such as, ‘Temporary home office has been set up. Not bad, but my co-worker keeps walking all over my keyboard’, and ‘My co-worker just won our office’s Employee of the Week award!’

Pets have taken over the (home) office, and Carla explained why this is a good thing:

1. Working with a pet around can reduce stress. The results of studies that were conducted and published in The International Journal of Workplace Health Management showed that staff who spent their days with a pet had significantly lower stress levels than those who didn’t.

2. Instead of a team-building programme, get an office dog. An experiment led by Central Michigan University showed that businesses that allowed dogs at work, or had an office dog, showed a more collaborative approach among co-workers. Colleagues were more willing to work with each other once they had seen how their peers reacted to having a dog around. Although working from home does not allow for co-worker interaction with your pet, their response during online meetings might make you more willing to work together.

3. Increased productivity is another perk of having a pet around. A quick break in the sunshine to play, or a cuddle and tickle, help you get more work done. You will feel refreshed after spending that quality time with your new co-worker.

4. If you are home alone during this lockdown, a pet makes it more bearable. Working with a pet around when you are used to working with a team, will help you deal with the lonely environment.

“Lockdown is not only an adjustment for us, but for our pets as well. Suddenly we are home more often, and have ‘infiltrated’ their daytime domain,” said Carla.

“Working with our pets is a positive change that the world has embraced. Our pets are our co-workers, teammates, tea buddies, sounding boards and cheerleaders in these uncertain times.”