Employers looking to ramp up productivity in these dog-eat-dog times might consider letting their staff bring Fido to the office, a scientific study published on Friday suggested.
Dogs at work can not only bring down stress levels among their owners, but they can also help make work more satisfying for other employees as well, according to the study in the latest issue of the International Journal of Workplace Health Management.
“The bottom line is that dogs in the workplace can make a positive difference,” said Randolph Barker of Virginia Commonwealth University’s business school, who led the five-member research team.
Photo: AFP
“They may in fact be a great buffer to the impact of stress” on productivity, absenteeism and employee morale, Barker said in a telephone interview from Richmond, Virginia.
Previous studies have underscored the benefits of therapy dogs in hospitals and nursing homes.
However, Barker said his team’s investigation was among the very first to focus specifically on dogs in the workplace and their potential as “a low-cost wellness intervention readily available to many organizations.”
Photo: Reuters
For a week, the researchers monitored day-shift staff at Replacements Ltd, which sells dinnerware from a fast-paced facility in Greensboro, North Carolina, that is the size of seven American football fields.
For more than 15 years, Replacements has allowed its 550-odd employees to bring their dogs to work.
Seventy-six volunteers, from the president on down, were split into three groups: those who brought their dog to work, those with a pet who did not and those with no pet at all.
Saliva samples upon awakening verified that all participants started their workdays with low stress hormone levels.
However, in the ensuing hours, self-reported on-the-job stress levels fell among those with their dogs by their side — and grew for those who either left their animals at home or who had no pet at all.
“The differences in perceived stress between the days the dogs were present and absent were significant,” Barker said. “Employees as a whole had a higher job satisfaction than industry norms.”
In passing, the researchers also found that dogs inspired greater personal interaction — for instance, when staff without pets offered their dog-owning colleagues to walk their dogs.
Although, not everything was perfect. Among the comments collected by the researchers included “some dogs are disruptive, “allergies problems for some” and “dogs should be well-behaved and quiet.”
However, Barker said his team, partly funded by Virginia Commonwealth University’s center on human-animal interaction, is keen to expand its work to include more and different workplaces over greater lengths of time.
They also want to delve into how stressful it can be for dogs to hang around a human’s workplace all day.
The Humane Society of the United States says there are 78.2 million dogs across the country (outnumbered by 86.4 million cats), with more than one in three households owning at least one dog.
Two years ago, it said, researchers at Central Michigan University found that when dogs were present in a group, employees were more likely to trust each other and collaborate more effectively.
To encourage more dog-friendly policies among employers, the Humane Society published a book in 2008 titled Dogs at Work: A Practical Guide to Creating Dog-Friendly Workplaces.
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and US President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. However, since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, said three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff. The plant’s problems — which have not
RSS