National ‘take your dog to work day’ is June 24 this year, bringing with it the chance to liven up the work place with man’s best friends! Can you imagine how much fun a day like that is going to be? Well imagine if you worked for one of the companies across the U.S. that allowed you to bring your dog to work with you everyday! It’s not just the small places like mom and pop stores or pet stores that are allowing this. In fact, large companies such as Amazon and Google are two of the places where your dog is just as welcome as you are (maybe more so)!

According to a recent survey by American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, about one in five companies now allows pets, and three percent of dog owners have brought theirs to work a couple dozen times. One of the reasons why more companies are choosing to allow dogs in the workplace is because it is an inexpensive way to heighten moral, liven the mood, and give employees the chance to de-stress. Instead of hiring expensive moral coaches, allowing dogs in the workplace seems to achieve the same outcome – happier employees, which leads to a more successful work environment.

Jennifer Fearing, a former economist for The Humane Society of the United States and co-author of a book about creating a dog-friendly workplace said, “Most dog owners feel guilty about leaving them alone all day and feel tension between trying to get what we want done at work and being the guardian to our dogs we think they deserve. She goes on to say, “From an employer standpoint in this era of benefit cutting, this is something employees value, but costs us nothing to provide.”

The most common argument against allowing dogs in the workplace is that many people have allergies to the dogs that it actually disrupts their working environment. Perhaps this is the main reason why only 1 in 5 places allow them. Each of the places that do allow you do bring your dog to work have certain guidelines that must be followed in order to maintain a healthy environment and happy employees.

Do you work at a company that allows you to bring your dog with you?