Want a friend? Hire a dog lover

Dog-friendly employers create workplaces with more 'humanity'

January 25, 2006

By DANE GOLDEN
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

Let's say you're a CEO who values the well-being of your employees.

You pay them market-rate salaries. They get medical, dental and vacation time. Maybe the company even offers a 401(k) plan or stock options.

But what's your dog policy?

As Petaluma is on the cutting edge of a number of trends, some local companies are, too, at the forefront of the trend of allowing employees to bring their dogs to work with them.

For thousands of years, dogs have worked side-by-side with humans as we developed from hunters and gatherers into agrarian communities, and continued to work with us as we began to live in cities. Since the industrial revolution, however, dogs have been essentially shut out of the workplace, more so now in our post-industrial service economy.

But as employees of all stripes increasingly work alone at computers in cubicles, is there some intangible companionship benefit we are missing out on by leaving our evolutionary partners at home?

The answer is yes, according to Barbara Marino, community relations manager at local sticker company Mrs. Grossman's. She said that company founder and president Andrea Grossman thinks that dogs can help people work better.

"(Mrs. Grossman) feels that when things get really tense, if you can pet a dog, it makes a difference," Marino said.

Although evidence of this in the workplace is largely anecdotal, recent studies have shown that petting a dog can actually improve a person's health.

Last November, a UCLA Medical Center study concluded that a regular 12-minute visit from a dog helped ease anxiety and improve the health of hospitalized heart failure patients. The study found that those patients visited by a dog fared better than those who were visited by human volunteers or those left alone.

But you don't need to tell dog-friendly companies this. They already know dogs make people feel better. The Web site DogFriendly.com lists 370 companies nationwide that permit dogs in the workplace. Several dozen Northern California companies were listed, such as Google, Clif Bar, Smith & Hawken, Mountain Hardware and Publicis & Hal Riney.

DogFriendly.com also lists Petaluma-based women's athletic wear catalog company Athleta, but local dog-friendly companies not listed include Mrs. Grossman's and its subsidiary Paragon Label, as well as e-commerce company MarketLive. There is also a small office of San Rafael-based software company Autodesk in Petaluma.

Visitors on Mrs. Grossman's popular tours are greeted by company mascot Angus, the Australian Shepherd who has been roaming the hallways for more than a decade. Angus belongs to vice president Jason Grossman, who is Mrs. Grossman's son. Grossman usually brings all five of his dogs to work every day.

All total, the 122-employee company has about 14 dogs that "live" at Mrs. Grossman's. Breeds include Pomeranians, a Weimaraner, a German Shorthaired Pointer, a Black Lab, a Pug, a Coonhound, a Lab mix, a Jack Russell Terrier and a Schnauzer. They help keep their owners happy in departments as varied as accounting and marketing.

But the rules are strict.

"If a dog fights with other dogs, if a dog does anything aggressive, he has to stay in the kennel," Marino said. The company provides kennels outside for dogs that misbehave. One dog is a permanent resident there.

Dogs usually spend their day in their owner's cubicles on dog beds.

"But not Angus, not in a million years," said Marino. "He's a very mellow dog. Everyone likes him, except the dog in the kennel."

Marino said that having dogs in the workplace doesn't affect productivity either positively or negatively, as the dogs primarily sleep.

"People love having dogs around them," said Marino. In a workplace with no dogs, she said, "You do miss that piece of humanity. Or, I guess, animal-humanity."

Dogs, who by instinct create a well-defined social order when in a group, seem to do so in the workplace as well. At Mrs. Grossman's, it's clear that Angus is the "alpha dog." When new dogs come in, they discover where they fit in the hierarchy.

Indeed, at Mrs. Grossman's, any new dog must meet with the approval of three parties: Andrea Grossman, the employee's supervisor and Angus. If the dog can't get along with Angus, the dog can't come to work.

The dog policy is usually a plus when interviewing new employees.

"It can be a factor if they're really attached to their dogs and don't want to leave them home," said Jason Grossman. "It's very rarely you hear some reservation."

He feels the dog policy is also an advantage when it comes to retaining employees weighing a move to a no-dog company.

When you leave a dog at home, he said, "You lose a part of your soul."

Len Kaine, co-editor of DogFriendly.com, said that even when companies allow dogs, there's almost never an overall corporate policy due to the fact that larger companies have multiple buildings, and different leases may restrict dogs in the buildings, although, "At Google, generally, dogs are allowed everywhere," he said.

Google told him that dog-owning employees will stay later if they don't have to run home to feed their dogs.

"If you want someone to work from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., you'd better let them bring their dog," Kaine said.

Autodesk has a staff of 15 at its Petaluma office. The company is very proud of its dog policy, but has a set of rules that all owners must comply with. Generally, dogs must stay on a leash and with their owners, and are not allowed in the bathrooms, eating areas or meetings. All receptionists have "doggy bags" to help owners clean up after their dogs.

Dogs at Autodesk offices are usually very well behaved.

"You almost never hear barking," said a San Rafael-based Autodesk spokesperson. "And when you do, it's not so much an annoyance as a pleasant distraction."

Although it's unclear if employees stay longer at the company because they can bring their dogs with them, the company is known to have a very loyal workforce. And the policy sometimes does help lure talent during the hiring process.

"If someone has a dog, it's definitely a plus (in the interview process)," the spokesperson said.

According to Rebekah Wahrhaftig, a customer service manager at Athleta, the company has as many as nine dogs in their main building, which houses more than 50 employees.

A few years ago, the company convened a dog committee to lay out a "Canine Pawbook," a set of guidelines on how dogs and their owners needed to behave for the good of the workplace. That multi-page booklet structured such minutiae such as a dog poop pickup rotation and dog insurance, but was later narrowed down to few simple rules about confining dogs to employee cubicles, keeping dogs out of the kitchen and conference rooms and preventing dogs from barking or stealing employee food.

One unwritten rule, Wahrhaftig said, is to clean up after your dog. "Our vacuum cleaner gets completely blocked up with dog hair, just like at my house," she said.

Wahrhaftig said she doesn't know whether the dog policy helps the company lure or retain employees, but "It adds to the overall atmosphere that this is a friendly, flexible place to work."

Even temps can bring dogs to work at Athleta.

According to Wahrhaftig, dogs are a great addition to the workplace.

"It's something that can really work. We've found with a minimum number of rules that it works, and it's a nice thing for people to be able to have dogs, because it's horrible to leave your dog home alone all day."

Further, she said, "They're kind of stress relieving, they're cute, and you can go pet them or give them a cookie. It's just a neat thing."

(Contact Dane Golden at dgolden@arguscourier.com) -->

LOCAL DOG-FRIENDLY COMPANIES

Athleta:

http://www.athleta.com

Mrs. Grossman's:

http://www.mrsgrossmans.com

Paragon Label:

http://www.paragonlabel.com

MarketLive:

http://www.marketlive.com

Autodesk:

http://www.autodesk.com

ATHLETA DOG GUIDELINES

1. Please keep your dog confined to your immediate work area.

2. In the process of confining your dog, please don't put up gates in aisles or hallways that would inconvenience others. Your neighbor might not want to step over your gate.

3. Let's keep the dogs completely out of the public meeting places like the kitchen, conference rooms or product studio.

4. If your dog barks, steals food or behaves aggressively to visitors, we will have to ask you to leave your dog at home.

AUTODESK DOG RULES

1. Dogs are to be kept on a leash when inside Autodesk facilities.

2. Dogs should stay with their owner or designated watcher at all times and should be in the employee's office when the employee is there.

3. Dogs with fleas are not to be brought to the office.

4. Dogs are not allowed in bathrooms or cafe serving and seating areas.

5. Dogs are not to be brought into meetings.

6. Employees are responsible for cleaning up after their dogs should the dog have an accident inside our facilities.

7. Employees are responsible for cleaning up after their dogs outside the buildings. All receptionists have "doggy bags" for this purpose.

8. If a dog has three accidents inside our buildings the dog will need to stay at home at least until the owner can show that the dog has been through some kind of training program.

9. Any incident of aggressive behavior by a dog is unacceptable and the dog may not be brought back to work. Loud, repetitive barking or eating another employee's food is also not acceptable.

10. Employees with allergies to animals may ask a dog owner not to bring a dog to the office if that dog makes it difficult for the allergic employee to work.

11. Repeated violation of these policies will mean that the dog will not be allowed at work.