There’s nothing quite like coming home to a wagging tail and wet nose at the end of a long, hard day. There are few things more soothing than a sandpaper tongue on your face and the sound of purring in your ear. Any pet parent knows that the love of an animal is perhaps the best form of mental healthcare you can imagine.

But when you’re running a business and you’re leading a diverse team of individuals, you are faced with attending to the wellbeing not just of your individual employees, but of the entire team and of the company that depends on them and on which they depend.

In today’s challenging times, you may be considering what HR policies will be most effective in caring for your team, protecting their physical and mental health, and optimizing their performance and productivity. Allowing pets in the workplace may well be a valuable part of this process. This article explores the mental health benefits of pets in the workplace.

Reducing Stress and Anxiety

Even the healthiest and happiest of workplace environments have their fair share of workplace stress and anxiety. That’s just the price of doing business, of caring about your work, your company, and your clients.

But the outbreak of COVID-19 and the long period of uncertainty and fear which has followed it has brought workplace anxiety to a whole new level. Now, more than ever, your employees are faced with a host of fears that they perhaps have never experienced before, from the threat of the virus itself to persistent financial uncertainty as the threat of further lockdowns loom worldwide.

In this pandemic era, your employees have endured a global public health crisis unprecedented in modern times. Many may be experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); all will feel at least some measure of stress and anxiety. And all will need additional tender loving care not only to remain productive in the workplace but also to keep physically and mentally healthy.

Animals can provide the kind of peace and comfort that anxious employees need to cope, endure, and thrive. Studies show that bringing their dogs to the office significantly lowers employees’ stress levels and increases their job satisfaction.

Studies also show that the simple act of petting an animal can substantially lower blood pressure and heart and respiration rates while promoting an overall sense of wellbeing. For a stressed out and worried workforce, an animal in the office can be a welcome distraction, a bit of joy and peace in trying times.

Improving Employee Connections

Another benefit of animals in the workplace is simply the miraculous ability these four-legged phenoms have to bring people together. There are few better ways for people to bond than over the love of an animal. 

As your employees build their sense of camaraderie over their shared love of a dog or cat (or rabbit or gecko or emu or what have you), they’re going to feel more connected to one another.

For introverted employees, an animal in the office can open up lines of communication with colleagues that can dispel the fog of loneliness and isolation so detrimental to mental health.

For employees who are feeling overwhelmed, a few minutes spent playing with a coworker’s pet or offering a belly rub to their own beloved fur baby can offer a much-needed and highly beneficial moment of distraction.

And that sense of comfort, cohesion, and connectedness, the reassurance of understanding and being understood, is crucial to mental health.

How to Do It

As beneficial as working with pets can be for your employees and the culture of the workplace in general, it’s not something that can simply be instituted without planning or care. You can’t just throw open the doors to your employees’ pets and let things work out for themselves.

To make it work, you will want to write a detailed pet policy into your HR regulations. At a minimum, you will want to establish clear policies concerning the age, type, and breed of pets permitted in the workplace. You will also want to ensure that your employees provide proof of vaccination and that they agree to be responsible for supervising and controlling their pets.

And you will want to ensure that no one on your team has any physical or mental conditions that might make the presence of an animal detrimental to them. Employees with allergies or asthma may be sickened by an animal in the workplace. Those with phobias may also suffer harm.

So before allowing pets in the workplace, it’s important to ensure the unanimous consent of your team. To protect the privacy of your employees, you can provide your team members with the opportunity to reach out to you anonymously to express any concerns they may have before your office doors are opened to animals.

The Takeaway

Today’s workers are facing greater challenges to their mental health than perhaps ever before. From fears of the coronavirus to worries about the global economy to the inevitable pressure of work itself, your employees have a lot to contend with. But animals in the workplace can provide enormous comfort, reducing stress and anxiety while increasing your team’s sense of belonging and connectedness.

Noah Rue is a journalist and content writer from Boise, Idaho, US. He is fascinated with the intersection between global health, personal wellness, and modern technology. When he isn’t searching out his next great writing opportunity, Noah likes to shut off his devices and head to the mountains to disconnect.

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