Pet Life Magazine, New Zealand Pet Life Magazine Issue 3 Winter 2017 | Page 7

MODERN-DAY WORKING DOGS
More and more companies are allowing dogs (and other pets) in offices – and one
pet-friendly tech company in Auckland says you’d be barking mad not to, writes
Inger Vos.
Vend chief people officer Pene Barton begins this interview by
apologising for her dogs in case they cause a disruption while
we talk.
Pene has two pugs, Pepper, 8, and Steak, 10, who are allowed
to go to work with her at the Auckland headquarters of the fast
growing tech company that specialises in point-of-sale and
retail management software.
It’s company policy that all its employees can take their dogs
to work with them, and Vend has actively looked for offices that
will allow dogs as it has expanded internationally. It has dog-
friendly offices in London, Melbourne and Toronto.
Pene is one of 10 employees in the Auckland office who bring
their dog to work.
The office has an off leash policy and the dogs wander around
and amuse themselves. There are plenty of couches on which
the dogs can be found sleeping, or they curl up under a desk.
“It’s part of the Vend culture,” says Pene, who describes work
as fun, social, incredibly flexible and fast paced. Vend even
allows bereavement leave for pets.
“The dogs bark, they’re noisy and they leave fur about the
place.
“If people don’t like that then they probably wouldn’t thrive in
our environment.”
It’s been scientifically recognised that bringing dogs to work
has key benefits.
Studies have shown that dogs in the workplace boost
productivity. Colleagues become nicer to each other and more
trusting after patting a canine. Playing with dogs reduces
stress.
Pene says any frazzle at Vend certainly drops when all of a
sudden a dog runs between your legs or through the office.
“You can get out of your chair and play with the dog, engage
with it. You can’t replicate that feeling with anything else. There
is something nice about it. It keeps people down to earth.”
The pets have rules of behaviour that is expected of them.
It’s called petiquette and it’s pretty simple: they are not to be
hugely distracting – employees don’t take them if they have
back-to-back meetings – and they are not to be a health and
safety risk in that they attack someone.
“We tell clients that come in that there are dogs in the office.
The most that has ever happened is a dog has barked at
someone … one dog doesn’t like people wearing red and will
bark at them, or if my dog wears a costume he doesn’t like
that,” says Pene, who sometimes likes to dress Pepper up as,
for example, a shark.
Vend has called in dog trainers to sort out some problems but
the dogs are generally well behaved and get on. “It’s no one’s
territory.”
The pets actually are part of the furniture, and are used as a
marketing tool.
Jump on the Vend website and there they are. Pepper, for
instance, features in a video on the recruitment process at
Vend, and is in charge of the recruitment page chatbox. Then
there is Tinks, whose photo features among “some of the
people that make Vend Vend” – she is in charge of cuddles.
Pene says allowing dogs in the workplace is very attractive
for people looking for work and “it’s a big thing” in Vend’s
recruitment.
“That is why people join us, for sure. People are attracted to
bringing their dogs to work.”
And it helps keep employees, too. “People who bring their dogs
to work – that’s a pretty hard benefit to give up.”
Frog Recruitment director Jane Kennelly agrees.
“Dog-friendly companies are highly sought after as places of
employment,” says the founder of the recruitment company
that works with a number of large corporations and SMEs that
allow dogs in offices.
“There are not as many absentees … or burnout. Productivity
is up.
“Research shows that employees that have dogs slobbering all
over them are more likely to trust each other … Stress levels
are reduced when there’s a little bit of heart running around on
four legs.”
Jane started the competition Top Office Dog a couple of years
ago to give some “kudos” to all the dogs in New Zealand that
brighten up the workplace.
Last year, the second year of the competition, 80 dogs were
entered.
The winner was Alfie, a feisty Jack Russell who loves balls and
aerosol cans and works as spokesdog at Western Bay of Plenty
District Council.
Alfie had arrived at the council’s pound with a fractured leg and
in a lot of pain, but his fun and affectionate ways completely
won over the staff and they all contributed to his vet bills.
Jane says Alfie – who was so excited about winning that he
did a poo on the carpet in front of TV cameras – is a good
example of how muc h people like dogs and how dogs create
cohesiveness in the workplace.
“They loved him so much they had a collection to get his leg
fixed. Now he’s the poster dog for vaccine control.
“A Top Office Dog is one that seems to be very well behaved
but really I think it is about the impact that they have on their
environment. With Alfie, he mobilised a whole group of people
to help him and in return he has enriched their lives.”