Greetings to all dog lovers out there! Would you want your favorite pet with you in your workplace?
A subscription dog toy company, Bark, in Columbus, Ohio, hosts 40-50 dogs per day in their office.
To make this possible, the company made sure that the office itself is dog-friendly.
There’s an indoor dog play area with rubber flooring, as well as an outdoor dog run and two decks. All the chairs and sofas in the office are outfitted with fabric that is custom-lined with an impermeable membrane that ensures that any accidents are easy to clean up, making it similar to hospital-friendly fabrics (though because the membrane coats the inside of the material, it doesn’t look any different from regular upholstery). And the conference rooms’ floor carpets are made out of woven PVC flooring that won’t tear as easily as normal rugs if a pooch ends up trying to turn the carpet into a chew toy.
There are also custom, bunk bed-like cubbies that are built into large wall dividers, which four-legged companions can share with their humans. These act as an acoustic and visual buffer in the office, which helps workers stay focused and keeps dogs from seeing too many other dogs and getting too excited.
Even the desks are dog-friendly. “Our workstations have built-in couches so that our pups can sit next to us if we choose to work at a desk for the day,” Muhl says.
Studies suggest that having dogs in the workplace help reduce stress and improve the focus and performance of employees. Perhaps we can suggest to our bosses this kind of workplace. What do you think?
Image: Sean Airhart/ courtesy NBBJ
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That's a lot of doggos!
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