Bring Your Cat To Work Day - Every day!

March 17, 2015

We've been plenty busy around here in the past few months with new projects, with moving into a new office and *drum roll* we got a cat!

Meet our new boss

We adopted this furry ball of crazy back in December from a vet's office where he and his brothers were dropped off by their previous owners one night. They reeked of cigarettes and were pretty skinny for 3-month-olds, but they were healthy and mighty adorable. We saw his picture and went and picked up this scrawny and cuddly kitten we named Pepper.

He's now a chubby bastard who thinks he owns the place, walking all over keyboards, swatting at the printer and placing himself in front of monitors and proceeding to lick his butt. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

With the proper precautions, offices are great spots for pets and pets are a great addition to a workplace that both employees and employers will benefit from.

So why is it so awesome to have pets around when you're working?

• it makes you happier;
• it makes you more productive;
• it makes you more optimistic about your workplace and employer (hate your job? Bring your pet to work)
• it improves communication and relationships among you and your coworkers;
• it lowers your stress levels;
• it makes visiting customers see your company as friendly and definitely more memorable. You're likely to hear them go "PUPPYYYY!" and run to pet one of the dogs.

It's a great plus for both employees and companies who can only benefit from the added efficiency - and lower absenteeism, that's why pets in the workplace are sometimes called "furry handcuffs". Nobody minds though.

Everybody's favorite coworker

Photo credit: seanhagen / Foter / CC BY-SA

The downside is you won't get any work done at first because all you'll think about is to cuddle the office cat or play with your coworkers friendly lab. 

My productivity took a plunge the first week: Does the cutie want to cuddle? Are you hungry? Why are you running around like a maniac? Let's play with your toys!! Damn it, how did we get to 5:15PM?

Lots of companies have recognized the benefits of having pets in the office and either allow employees to bring in their pets to work or have downright adopted pets that now live in their office permanently. Dogs, cats, snakes, birds, turtles, fish - almost anything goes.

Most large companies have pet-friendly policies, including Amazon, Ben & Jerry's, Google, Mashable, Etsy, Huffington Post and many many others. Smaller companies sometimes "hire" full time office pets - for example libraries are well known for having cats as staff and the most famous example is Dewey, Spencer Public Library's resident cat between 1988 and 2006 who lived to the grand old age of 19. Dewey even has his own biography!

Dewey Readmore Books at work

Of course pets in the office require some planning, some guidelines and being mindful of allergies. You can find a few tips on how to handle it here.

We know a few small businesses that bring pets in the office or have adopted their own cats: a radio station, a few clothing stores, lots of tea houses, PR firms, web development firms (like us!), they all enjoy the perks of having a furry companion at work. And they're all loving it.

All we hear is Radio Kitty!