If you have a pet, you understand we consider them a member of the family, which is why it is so hard to leave our dog or cat at home when we head off to work. Well, these days, more workplaces are embracing a pet-friendly culture, much to the delight of their employees.
A new poll finds that 73% of Millennials believe having pets in the office has a positive impact on employees, while 70% say it does the same for the workplace overall. Non-Millennials are a little less enthusiastic about pets at the office, with 61% saying it has a positive effect on employees and 56% saying it's a benefit to the workplace. Some Millennials think pet-friendly offices are so important that 42% say it would likely influence their job search, with 60% saying they’d be more likely to stay at a company because of their pet-friendly policies.
And those in HR seem to be open to the idea of pet-friendly workplaces because of the positive impact it has on the office. Among the top five areas they’ve seen improvement:
- Employee morale (93%)
- Reduced stress among employees (93%)
- Work-life balance (91%)
- Increased loyalty to the company (91%)
- Reduced guilt among pet owners about leaving their pets at home (91%)
- But while employees may like a pet-friendly workplace, it seems that 51% of employees would prefer other pet-related benefits over allowing pets in the office (39%). The most desired benefit seems to be pet-related time off, with 47% of employees and 54% of HR decision makers supporting it. In fact, 73% of employees say they’d be more willing to accept a job from a company that offers pet-related benefits other than allowing pets in the office.
Source: Yahoo Finance