25 September Managing the Purr-fect Workplace: Should You Allow Pets In the Office? Unleash the Benefits! September 25, 2024 By Melisa Rana Property Management cleaning, commercial landscaping, commercial real estate tenants, office space 0 MANAGING THE PURR-FECT WORKPLACE: SHOULD YOU ALLOW PETS IN THE OFFICE? UNLEASH THE BENEFITS! September 25, 2024 | Property Management | commercial real estate tenants, office space, commercial landscaping, cleaning Fun fact: people like their pets. Whether you’re a dog person or a cat person, you’re likely well aware (along with people all around the world) of how furry friends have the remarkable ability to enrich your life. Many people do wild things to accommodate their pets at home, but in recent years, office workers have been asking for this leeway to expand into the workplace as well. To better understand this new trend, and what property owners should keep in mind if they want to explore becoming “pet-friendly,” let’s take a closer look! The Modern Influence of Pets During the pandemic, an estimated 23 million households added new pets, taking advantage of the increased time at home with widespread remote work. Today, years after lockdowns ended, office workers have grown accustomed to their remote and hybrid schedules. Despite many predictions that these adoptions would lead to mass abandonments, representatives at the Humane Rescue Alliance have found that “pandemic pets” have become permanent parts of their new homes. While statistics show that there’s been a spike in pet-friendly homes in general, young people in particular are becoming inseparable from their cats and canines. Many millennials and Gen Zers are even starting to make major life decisions, like where they live and where they work, based on pet accommodations. In short, people are loving their pets more today than ever before! As a result, CEOs are experimenting with allowing pets at work under the right conditions. Per JLL, major companies like Uber, Ben & Jerry’s and Google (or Alphabet) have made the policy switch in part to attract the best talent. These companies aren’t alone, as industries with younger workforces are particularly seeing the draw like those in the tech sector. Although there’s some disagreement on the ultimate impact of pet-friendly policies, many argue that animals in the office actually encourage collaboration by sparking more conversations. This leads to stronger relationships and a higher level of satisfaction among employees. If pet-friendly offices encourage employees to work on-site while improving productivity at the same time, why wouldn’t companies make the switch? Pets Can Be Problems, Too The issue is that plenty can also go wrong when introducing an animal into a work setting. Pet owners tend to be more accepting of their animals’ negative behavior. In the office, being noisy or disrespectful of someone else’s space can be majorly disruptive. Dogs bite for many reasons, but whether they’re being overly playful, overstimulated, or they’re actually being aggressive, an incident with another co-worker will fall back on the commercial property owner. Liability issues aren’t the only reason why most properties tend to maintain strict no-animal policies. Many people have allergies to cats and dogs, others may not enjoy the general hygienic concerns that come with sharing space with pets, and still others just may not enjoy the inevitable interruptions. When considering all of the factors, the costs just might outweigh the benefits more often than not. Making Pet-Friendly Offices Work With the risks in mind, there are ways to make a pet-friendly office (or any other commercial property) viable if you take the proper precautions. First, and this is an absolute must, add specific language about your pet policies so that everyone is on the same page (including property managers, tenants, employees, and other guests). If you’d like to restrict certain animals from being permitted on the property, base regulations on behavior rather than on breed. Additionally, consider including language that requires the use of leashes, and limit animals to specific areas of the property (common areas and hallways, not offices, for example). With the right forethought, you can reduce the chances of an incident from occurring while also protecting your own investments. After a trial period, you may find that pet-friendly policies aren’t for you, or you may move forward with adding more pet accommodations to your property to make things work even better (such as a dedicated outdoor pet relief space, rather than relying on the existing landscape). Remember to leave room for an easy transition away from your pet policies, whatever you decide. Would you like to have an office dog, or would you prefer to keep pets at home? When inspecting your property, NPI just requests you keep any four-legged friends monitored or take them off site when possible. For all your commercial inspection needs, stick with National Property Inspections. Comments are closed.