It’s a zoo around here
August 16, 2010 by Maureen Wall Bentley · 1 Comment
The virtual structure of Aartrijk—with some 20 consultants across 10 states, working from home offices or small corporate ones—has one particularly great advantage: We can work alongside our pets.
Our CEO, Peter van Aartrijk, regularly brings his gigantic labs, Molly and Betty, to the HQ office, where they welcome visitors with a lot of licking and pleas for petting, and then they settle in at Peter’s feet. Guinness, one of my two prison cats (they were part of a Pets for Prisoners program, which explains a lot), is almost always on the sunny spot of my office floor, while the other one, Harp, forces me to mute calls because of her caterwauling.
And while all that may sound like a distraction from the work we do for our clients, it actually is quite the opposite: Our animals calm us and amuse us, which enables us to focus and enjoy our work. And that’s not just us: In a nationwide survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, 73% of responding companies found having pets in the office created a more productive work environment among—and 27% had a decreased absenteeism rate.
But if you don’t have your furry favorite by your side at work, we’re happy to share ours. Just visit the Aartrijk Zoo.
About Maureen Wall Bentley
It’s a zoo and aquarium around here. One of our three cats, Dax, is sleeping in my inbox; Coal, one of our three dogs, is sleeping at my feet under my desk and another of our cats is fishing for guppies sitting on top of our 50 gallon tank. We have a pond just outside my office with a waterfall and the sound of it is very comforting and helps a great deal with concentration.
There is no question in my mind that the survey results you referred to are absolutely correct. Just the physical contact with our animals, it’s been shown, lowers blood pressure. There hasn’t been a greater time for that to occur than right now as we all struggle with the economy and the everyday stress we face.
Here’ s to all the pet owners (in reality the “ownership” part goes both ways). May we all live up to the image our dogs and cats have of us.