Sunday, April 08, 2012
Bringing Your Dog to Work Could Help Lower Stress, Study Says
Occupational Health & Safety: Man’s best friend may make a positive difference in the workplace by reducing stress and making the job more satisfying for other employees, according to a Virginia Commonwealth University study. Stress is a major contributor to employee absenteeism, morale, and burnout and results in significant loss of productivity and resources, according to researchers. A preliminary study, published in the March issue of the International Journal of Workplace Health Management, found that dogs in the workplace may buffer the impact of stress during the workday for their owners and make the job more satisfying for those with whom they come into contact.
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12 comments:
This is a great article and not just because the study was conducted by my alma mater. Bringing your dog to work is a great practice to help brighten peoples day. My little sister brings her dog with her to work every day and I can see a marked change in her mental state in less than six months. Personally I love when I see dogs walking the halls of the school of drama. We had a dog in PTM during crew one day and I could see a drop in stress and tension. With all of that said I also see a lack of stress in PTM when Dale's children are around so I think that any type of distraction is a good thing in small doses in the work place.
I wholeheartedly agree with this article. Maybe if more studies are conducted and articles are written, employers will be more lenient about dogs in the workplace. A good point this article makes is that having a dog around will also increase friendship bonds and communication.
Relating to theatre, the resident designer of my community theatre brought his dog to work every day. It helped make a stressful atmosphere more relaxing, and was especially useful during rehearsals for children's shows. A lot of energetic kids that would usually be running around causing chaos liked to sit by the (calm) dog and pet her.
Ann Mundell and Jon Ward... Enough said?
ok mabe not
But in all seriousness this article brings up a great ideology. Animals and pets can unarguably be a great factor to individuals stress level and any student at School of Drama can argue that having a chance to pet to pet and play with howie or chloe brightens anyone of our ridiculously busy days. Not to mention alleviating some homesickness of the freshman who are away from our pets by great distances.
YES DOGS AT WORK. I completely agree with everything said. It makes absolute sense that having a dog could lighten your mood. I know my days are always slightly brighter when I run into Anne Mundell's dog. I feel this is particularly true in college setting where students may be missing animals from home or even just seeing them around their neighborhood. Aside from this, having a dog with you all day also forces you to take breaks from your work and get fresh air!
A others have pointed out above, the faculty and staff members who are commonly seen with their dogs at school (namely Anne, Jon, Thomas, Ingrid, etc) always seem so cheery! Now these people all seem to have cheery dispositions to begin with, but this trend would be interesting to explore further. For example, I wonder if the same theory holds true with other animals such as cats? The problem with this, however, is that dogs are the only common domesticated pet that is usually taken on walks, thus prompting some of the behaviors noted in the article, such as people wanting to take out their coworker's dog on break. It must be awful for people whose offices ban pets or who are allergic to dogs...
Well I'm allergic to dogs, so when people bring their pets to work that usually means that I can't breathe. So I'm not the biggest fan. It does present a danger for those with allergies, which are not uncommon. That aside, it is no surprise to me that having a dog at work would reduce stress for most people. And if it is a hypoallergenic dog, then I'm really all for it for other people. I'll admit it, I like seeing Anne Mundell's dog around - that always brightens things up, I just have to maintain a distance for my own health. Having dogs in Purnell is no big deal since it's so big, but if someone were to have their dog in the same room as me where we both had to work, it would have a serious effect on my health and I would have to leave. So yes, it's great if everyone is not allergic, but it is at least important to be considerate of those around you. Having a dog at work can really go either way - fantastic or horrible.
I have heard of pet therapy and how bringing dogs to sick children can help them so this article makes total sense. Dogs tend to give unconditional love to everyone. Who doesn't like to feel loved? I can vision a person at work feeling totally overwhelmed and stressed then here comes their dog wagging their tail and licking their hand. It can make your forget for a moment and maybe even give you a different perspective on what is going on. I can see this really catching on. Of course, there are always those that are afraid of dogs and there are those that are cat lovers like me. I would love to have my cat with me for a little pick me up during the day.
I don't want to be the biggest downer on the pet-love fest happening, but I feel like we're neglecting a fairly significant portion of the population: those who do not love/are afraid of dogs. Don't get me wrong, my yellow lab Ginger is a real bright spot at home, but I don't think animals really belong in the workplace. I think the article doesn't take into account the stress levels of those in the workplace whose lives were made considerably more miserable because of the presence of pets.
I've seen something on tv similar to that, only replace "dogs" with "cats" and "the workplace" with "hospitals." That study found that the patients were comforted by the cats. So I suppose I agree that generally a pet in a place of work can help relieve stress.
That being said, I personally HATE dogs. I have no patience for them. So, 9 time out of 10 a dog at work (or school) just makes me more stressed. On the other hand, if there was a Carnegie Mellon School of Drama cat, I would be so happy about it I would have no stress at all ever for the rest of time. Just a thought.
DOGS! I have such a soft spot for any dog, small, medium, scruffy, sporty, lazy, or just plain goofy. Whenever I see a dog, I instantly melt, and most of my worries get put on the back burner for a while. I can't help but smile when I see a dog. I am hopefully not the only one who can agree that seeing animals just makes life a little brighter, the reason being that the little interactions you share with an animal usually have no serious consequences, and you can approach a friendly animal in any way because it won't be judging of you, and at least if it is, we can't hear those judgements! I think having a dog in the workplace is a great idea, it not only offers a companion during stressful times, but ties together the workplace too.
The findings of this study are really not particularly surprising. I believe that many studies of a similar sort have been done before with near identical results. That aside, Abby, Lindsay, Pia and everyone else who pointed out the various reasons that dogs are inappropriate to have in a workplace are perfectly right. If it makes anyone in the workplace uncomfortable or unable to work effectively then it simply cannot be allowed, that being said, there are ways to have dogs around a workplace without inconveniencing those who don’t want them around. One summer I worked at Seattle Children’s Theatre, which is a very dog-friendly place. In order to prevent potential problems they would ask all employees and kids if they were afraid of or allergic to dogs. If anyone was, they simply left their dogs at home or in their offices. It seems that the teachers and students who bring their dogs in to school do an equally good job of keeping their animals from becoming a nuisance. I personally would love to see more dogs around, but not at the cost of anyone’s comfort.
Of course bringing your dog to work will lower your stress levels. Who would disagree with that? I would definitely bring my cat to work or school every day if I could, and I know that would decrease my stress by a million. I do wonder how being in a room with a ton of people, some who may not appreciate a dog in the workplace or who plainly do not want to be distracted, would effect the dog or pet. They would be only allowed to sit near the owner. I know this would be fine for some animals, but others like to run around. My old technical director used to bring his dog in to school and the dog, named Moose, would just hang out under his desk and sleep. On the other hand, the director of my school’s theatre company, would bring her hyper dog in on weekend rehearsal days, a complete nuisance to have in the theatre on important work days.
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