Bring Your Dog to Work Survey: Workplace Pets Could Be Distracting

Today is National Take Your Dog to Work Day. Not all workplaces allow employees to bring in their dogs and other animals in on this day and other days throughout the year. But some argue that allowing pets in the workplace could increase worker satisfaction, and thus might have an impact on productivity. So what do people think about bringing animals to the workplace? And how many would like to participate in this holiday?

Pet Owners

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 36% of respondents said they currently own multiple pets. And another 25% said they own one pet. 60% of pet owners currently have dogs. Another 60% own cats. And 17% have other types of pets like birds and fish.

Workplace Pets

Overall, just 5% of pet owners said they often bring their pet(s) into work with them. 7% said they bring their pets to work sometimes. And 4% rarely bring their pets into work. Dog owners were 7% more likely to have brought their pets into work than other pet owners.However, just 14% of respondents said that their workplace definitely allows people to bring their pets into work throughout the year. 46% said their workplace does not allow pets. And 9% were unsure. The remaining respondents didn’t have a job where a pet policy would be applicable.

Worker Impact

But workplaces might want to rethink their pet policies if they want to increase employee morale. 34% said they would be happier at work if people could bring in their pets. 25% think allowing pets would improve workplace productivity. However, 69% think that allowing pets in the workplace would be a distraction. And 63% think that having pets in the workplace could lead to health or safety issues.You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: TGIF: Bring Your Dog to Work Day Edition from FlickrWhat do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on June 25, 2015 via AYTM’s online survey panel.