Its one up for the pets, now being allowed the right to entry into their master’s office space, allowing the pet dog and its owner an uninterrupted time together. The Indian Animal Cafes, a success story in its own right and a harbinger of what we can rightly call the rise of pet-friendly offices in the country. Companies like Chumbak, Urbanclap and OnePlus India are somewhat pioneers, allowing their employees to bring their pets to work. Dispelling doubts around pets as a distraction, Vikas Aggarwal general manager, OnePlus India firmly asserts the presence of pets in the company premises as a stress buster for the employees. It’s a two-way 'BONE'ANZA (pun intended) where not just the employees but also the companies are delighted with reduced stress at work.
Pet Friendly Office Culture is welcomed by INMOBI staff.
The pioneering approach can work really well in solving issues such as separation anxiety and loneliness in dogs. Pet owners who are unable to escape a grueling routine of long working hours and spend a great part of the day at their work-place often feel guilty for unintentionally neglecting their dogs or cats. But if more and more offices adopt a pet-friendly policy, the long hours of separation will be a thing of the past.
Chumbak’s Indira Nagar studio, Bangalore, has an in-house pet named Hugo, the Labrador. Hugo is often surrounded with his four legged friends when the employees bring in their pets to work. The large terrace of the studio turns into the perfect playground for pets and the team members to unwind and let loose. The co-founder of Chumbak, Shubhra Chadda is in favour of short breaks in the office spent with pets to break the monotony and affirms that it increases the productivity of workers.
Kevin Freitas, Director of Global Compensation & Benefit, Recruiting and Employer Branding at InMobi, Bengaluru, has talked about the relaxed policies for pets owned by their company’s employees. The pets are not just allowed entry but also free access to any nook & cranny of their office space. This is in contrast to offices that have a designated space for pets albeit exuding a pet friendly vibe.
More and more Indian Startups are joining in to echo a tolerant & amiable pet office policy. Already synonymous with a young & innovative work force and relaxed norms, startups are encouraging the presence of animals as part of their individualistic culture to create a livelier ambiance.
‘Home Raaga’ is a real estate startup that boasts of animal love through its four dogs and twelve cats.
‘Pagalguy’ a platform for MBA aspirants, founded by Allwin Agnel, too lets its employees to bring their pets to office and also has an in-house cat named Ginger
Delhi-NCR Offices celebrate Pet-love
Urbanclap, Gurgaon, celebrates pet-days, whereby the staff is permitted to bring their pets along with them to office. Urbanclap’s Suhail Vadgaokar (VP Customer Experience, Brand & PR) aims to incorporate pets within the worked-up professional environments as a prominent part regularly. The first pet-day event at the company was held last year around Diwali.
Most offices do not provide strict HR guidelines with regard to furry companions. However, it goes without saying that for a pet to be an eligible office-goer it must be house-broken, well groomed and up-to-date on vaccines.
However there are some companies that feel the buildings which house their offices lack the necessary infrastructure for them to start permitting pet-entry. In the wake of lack of support from the building management some offices are not able to provide their employees with the option of bringing their pets to work and only hope that things will change in favor of animals in the days to come.
Article Resource:
Indiatimes