It’s Everyone’s Favorite Employee Perk. It’s Also Some People’s Worst Nightmare.
Slate · L · trust 39/100
Few people are as knee-deep in our work-related anxieties and sticky office politics as Alison Green, who has been fielding workplace questions for a decade now on her website Ask a Manager. In Direct Report , she spotlights themes from her inbox that help explain the modern workplace and how we could be navigating it better.
Dogs-at-work policies are supposed to be a workplace perk. And to some people, spending a day at the office with a beloved canine companion—or having a colleague’s golden retriever wander over for a midday petting break—sounds like heaven on earth. But for others, dogs in the office are an unwelcome distraction and a genuine obstacle to getting work done. They may have allergies or phobias or simply struggle to focus amid furry interruptions. And in a workplace where dogs are treated as universally delightful, admitting you’d rather they weren’t there can feel vaguely taboo. In fact, dogs at work can pose such an issue that I originally wrote about this back in 2018 —but the absurd stories since then have continued to pour in.
To employees who love dog-friendly offices, it’s all sunshine and rainbows, as these people recount:
I’ve been bringing my dog to work for four years, and it’s one of the biggest reasons I’ve stayed at my current job. She sleeps under my desk most of the day, so she’s not a distraction, but she’s so much happier not being away from me all day, and I swear, having her around lowers my blood pressure when work gets frustrating. I’ve even formed closer relationships with some of my co-workers because we’ve gotten to know each other better when they stop by to pet her.
I don’t have a dog, but I work in an office where a dog makes regular visits, and it’s an enormous perk for me. It works because it’s a small office and he’s a good-natured sociable dog. He drops by generally only one or two times a week, so he’s not especially disruptive, and those that want to get to take him for walks.
Personally, having dogs (not just my own, but any dog) around is such a huge, huge benefit to my mental health and happiness at work that if my office stopped allowing them, I’d start looking for a new job or I’d work from home. After salary and benefits, it’s the most important thing about a job to me, personally.
But in any office of more than a few employees, you’re likely to find some people who don’t love dogs—or, in the case of allergies, can’t even be around them:
I was able to land a fantastic job with a big raise after years of stagnant, dead-end work. My first day, I walked into the office, and it was full of dogs. It’s a dog-friendly office, which was never advertised or communicated during the hiring process.
I’m allergic to dogs—VERY allergic. Within 10 minutes of arriving at work, I find that my eyes are red, itchy, and watering, my nose is stuffed up, and I get a headache from my swollen sinuses. This is what happens when I’m on medication! If I skip the meds, I break out in hives, start to wheeze, and run the risk of my throat swelling closed. I went to my doctor, who referred me to a specialist. I’m already on the strongest meds they give out, and they said as long as I “expose myself” to allergens, this will keep happening and might get worse over time.
I tried to work with my company to fix this. They put me in the far corner away from the majority of the pooches, where I’m near a door that I can prop open. They also have a company that cleans biweekly, and they let me work from home one day a week. The nature of my job demands that I be in the office at least four times a week, so I really have no wiggle room. Even working from home once a week has been a stretch and caused some negative feelings on my team, even though they hear me sneezing every 20 minutes when I’m there!
It’s been two months, and while I love the work, love the company, and love my co-workers, I’m miserable. I’ve considered looking for a new job, but every job I’ve seen in my field has a “dog-friendly” office. I’m at a loss. Their dog-friendly office isn’t ME-friendly.
And, of course, some people are afraid of dogs:
I work at a small business, and I am mildly afraid of dogs. Logically, I’m aware that this is mostly irrational, but I tense up and can’t focus on anything else when a dog is nearby. The chairman of our company has a dog, which he often brings to the office. He has also been known to encourage other people to bring their dogs to work. You can imagine how I feel about this. However, many people like the dogs.
A couple of years ago, I made a request, via my then manager, for measures to be taken to keep the dog away from areas where I am likely to be. It was agreed that the dog wouldn’t be brought to the area of the office where my desk is, but nothing was said or done about communal areas. The chairman either has since forgotten about this agreement or doesn’t care. I don’t want to be seen as a killjoy, nor do I want to pick a fight with the chairman, but I don’t want to have to put up with this.
Not wanting to be seen as a killjoy is a common sentiment among people who don’t love their dog-friendly workplaces. No one hopes to come across as the grinch who dislikes dogs in an office full of dog people, or get blamed for ruining a perk that other employees enjoy. So people often stay quiet or ask only for the smallest accommodations even when the situation is making it difficult to do their jobs. To complicate it further, office dogs are unusual among workplace perks in that you can’t simply opt out. If you are allergic, are afraid of dogs, or just find them distracting, you’re sharing the space whether you want to or not.
Moreover, even for those who like having dogs around, the arrangement works only if the pets are well-behaved. Nothing turns a supposedly dog-friendly workplace into a battleground as quickly as a canine with its own agenda.
Our office building (we’re one office in a building of about 20) used to be dog-friendly. Then two dogs ……
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