On Dublin’s leafy Haddington Road, Sue Uda’s two businesses not only share a courtyard, but also her office dogs. Holly and Roxy roam around the building as 15 employees at A Touch of Ireland, which runs events for foreign visitors, and Global Teamwork, a conference agency, strive to meet deadlines. The dogs have even been known to receive gifts in the post from Uda’s clients.
“It’s quite a homely environment to work in and having pets here makes everything feel calm,” said Sorcha Flynn, an account director at Global Teamwork. “When clients or suppliers drop by, the dogs are always a talking point. Some of my colleagues have brought in their pets when there was nobody to mind them. Our working environment is flexible and the two companies acknowledge that everybody has a life outside work and works around that.”
Hundreds of thousands of Irish workers leave their dogs at home all day with only a squeaky toy for company, but a growing number take their pets to work.
For some Irish workplaces, every day is Take Your Dog To Work Day, an American initiative that took place on Friday and encourages employers to welcome pets into the workplace. According to a survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers’ Association, nearly one in five American companies allow pets in the workplace.
Cary Cooper, a professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University’s management school, says it could reduce stress and make the environment more relaxed. A review of research on dogs and human health found evidence to suggest dog owners have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and are less likely to have serious health problems, making them more productive employees.
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Irish fashion designer Orla Kiely and her husband Dermott Rowan take their labradoodle to work in Clapham, while the office dog at The Lady magazine, edited by Rachel Johnson, even has its own Twitter account.
Take Your Dog To Work Day, also celebrated in the UK, is based on Take Your Children To Work Day. But some workplace experts say Ireland is not ready for such an approach. Most employers here would prefer staff to leave their pets and children at home.
Indeed, Google said the dog policy that applies to many of its offices worldwide is not in force at its European headquarters in Dublin, saying that allowing employees to bring their pets to work in the Irish capital “is not practical”.
Cathal Divilly, managing director of the Great Place to Work Institute in Ireland, was not impressed at the idea of workers bringing their dogs into the office. “I think it’s too touchy feely,” he said. “It goes too far. It’s too soft, too warm. I would struggle to see why people would benefit from it.”
The House of Commons feels the same way. Last week, Westminster officials banned Matthew Offord, a Tory MP, from bringing his dog Max to the office. Offord threatened to use human rights laws to prevent the ban, but Gavin Phillipson, a professor of law at the University of Durham, said the MP “may as well ask if you can bring your wife to work”.
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But there are signs in some quarters that Ireland is relaxing its attitude towards dogs. The operator of Luas trams last month ended a ban on carrying dogs in its carriages and Irish Rail allows small dogs to travel with passengers. Kathrina Bentley, the marketing manager at Dogs Trust, takes her dog, Buddy, to the charity’s Finglas office each day. Buddy has his own bed at Dogs Trust and his own email account (buddy@dogstrust.ie).
At most companies, employees mulling over whether or not to take their dog to work can gauge how appropriate it is from the chief executive’s own attitude towards canines. Zynga, the social network gaming company most famous for creating FarmVille, is named after the deceased dog of Marcus Pincus, its founder. Staff at the company, which recently opened an office in Ireland, bring their dogs in every day.
David Roberts, the chief executive of PopCap, a publisher of online games with an office on Pearse Street, Dublin, installed a dog flap in the conference room at its Seattle headquarters, and the company has its own Facebook photo album for employees’ pets. “For the first year of our operation in Dublin, our former general manager brought in Frank, his labrador,” said Cathy Orr, a spokeswoman for PopCap in Dublin, which employs 70 people.
Peter Banks, a former computer worker in London who now runs Irishdogs.ie from County Kildare, is frustrated that so many employers are so “backward” in Ireland when it comes to dogs.
“The management structure is very patriarchal, so it’s, ‘You’ll do what I say rather than what I do’,” he said. “They don’t like that informality that things like dress-down Fridays bring. But these things engender a positive attitude among workers. It gives them a psychological uplift. And by God, do we need it."
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Canine code
Tips on taking dogs to work:
Ask permission first and ensure that nobody objects or is allergic to dogs
Bring only an animal that has been well-trained
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Give it time to explore, sniff around and settle down
Introduce the animal to colleagues
Make sure it has water, dry food, toys and a bed