Pets become perks at work to help some reduce stress
At the Marcus Thomas marketing agency, a pat on the head goes a long way.
Not for the employees. For the dogs.
Dog bowls and leashes are as common as the computer monitors at the agency that allow employees to bring pets to work.
"Dogs are part of the culture here. Fun is one of our values," said Beth Hallisy, a partner at Marcus Thomas.
"Most of them are just extremely well-behaved dogs," Hallisy said, trying to ignore a dog barking in the background. "That one is misbehaving."
The pet policy at Marcus Thomas goes back 18 years ago, but pet-friendly policies are spreading.
A survey last year by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association found that one in five companies allows pets at work. The HON Co., an office furniture manufacturer, commissioned a survey of 600 consumers and found that 30 percent were allowed to take pets to the office.
Twenty-four percent took dogs, 12 percent fish and 8 percent cats.
Small companies - often tech or creative businesses - tend to be most receptive to pets, according to the Web site dogfriendly.com.
Businesses of all size have been forced to drop employee perks in the slumping economy. Services like fitness and day-care centers disappeared early at a lot of businesses, and smaller pleasures like office parties and water coolers are gone, too.
A survey by the Challenger, Gray and Christmas consulting firm in Chicago found that 20 percent of business had reduced employee perks.
The firm recommended low-cost perks like casual attire and pet-friendly offices.
Only two dogs have been banned for misbehavior under a "three strikes" policy at Marcus Thomas.
"We've had some stolen lunches and some disrupted meetings, and some dogfights and some accidents," Hallisy said calmly.
In those cases, "we just kind of suggested to the owners that their dogs might not be workplace ready."
