Animal Connection: Pet dogs in the workplace 'may ease stress'

Taking your pet dog to work could help to relieve work-related stress and improve colleagues' levels of job satisfaction, a study has found.

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University compared workers who took their dogs to work with employees who did not take their dogs to work, as well as people without pets.

Their preliminary results suggest that dogs in the workplace can help to reduce the impact of stress for their owners.

In addition, the presence of dogs at work seems to make the job more satisfying for other employees.

Principal investigator Dr Randolph Barker, whose findings are published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management, said: 'Although preliminary, this study provides the first quantitative study of the effects of employees' pet dogs in the workplace setting on employee stress, job satisfaction, support and commitment.'

The researcher concluded that the presence of dogs in the workplace can make a 'positive difference' to levels of perceived stress.

There are approximately eight million pet dogs in the UK, according to figures from the RSPCA.

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