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A Journey to a Pet-Friendly Workplace

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Nothing is better than becoming a pet-friendly workplace. Pet owners find it difficult to balance work and family when they have to leave their pet at home. The high cost of leaving your pet at a day-care centre is another challenge. The other major barriers are workplaces that do not allow pets at the office.

The love Aussies have for their animal friends is legendary! According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), 62% of households own pets, making Australia the global-leader in pet ownership.

For animal lovers, being able to bring their pet to work is a massive perk. Which is why on September 3, 2018, oir company joined the exclusive club of organisations that are pet-friendly, making the dreams of many of our Dashers come true.

Dashing has always believed and invested in a culture that is all about working, playing and having fun at the workplace and winning as a team every day. Given this culture, becoming a pet-friendly workplace was a natural progression.

Journey to becoming pet-friendly

The process of implementing our new policy was easier than you may think!

Russ, our CEO, wanted a dog but that request received a “no” from Mrs CEO. Naturally, owning a pet means additional work, responsibilities and cost. But being a salesman at heart, Russ explained to his wife how the dog would not add to her workload, simply because he would take it to the office on weekdays while the Kavnat family’s little ones would look after the dog during the weekend.

The hardest part in transitioning to a pet-friendly workplace is often convincing senior leadership. This part was already taken care of!

pet-friendly workplace

The next step was to ask employees if they would support our workplace becoming dog-friendly. A resounding yes (in what must have been record time) confirmed everyone’s support for the policy. Within twenty minutes of the survey going live, we received an incredible 60% response rate. When everyone gets involved so quickly, we know an initiative is on the right track! The process was completed after getting the landlord’s approval, which although a slow process, was signed off with full support.

To successfully integrate people and pets at the workplace, we have put in place these measures:

  • Air Purifiers with HEPA filters that provide allergy relief to those sensitive or allergic to dogs
  • “Canines at work” etiquette which is a simple sheet that outlines behaviour expectations for both owners and their canine friends.

The many benefits of a pet-friendly workplace

Seven out of 10 HR managers and employees in a study said morale and office dynamics received a positive boost when they could bring pets to work.

Lowered stress, enhanced well-being and improved work-life balance are other positive effects of having our pets with us in the office. Other studies show pets enhance collaboration, creativity and trust amongst employees and also shows that spending time with a canine companion reduces cholesterol and blood pressure!

So what was the best outcome? Dog owners bring their besties to work and everyone gets to hang out with these cuties. Dashing is now a happy place with both pets and people having plenty to smile about!

This post first appeared on LinkedIn.

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