Working with your furry friend can be the dream job you never knew you needed. According to a study published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management, bringing your dog to work can reduce your stress levels throughout the day. The study found that employees who took their dogs to work had consistently lower stress levels than those who did not bring their pets to work or did not own pets at all.
The study was conducted at Replacements Ltd., a company in Greensboro, N.C., that has allowed employees to bring their dogs to work for 15 years. Participants took saliva samples each morning to measure their cortisol levels, the stress hormone, and completed surveys about their stress levels four times a day. Dog owners were asked to bring their pets every other day so scientists could compare their stress levels when the dogs were present and when they weren’t.
The results showed that dog owners who brought their pets to work had the lowest stress levels, with scores on a standardized test consistently 10 to 20 points lower than those of employees who did not bring their pets to work or did not own pets at all. Interestingly, pet owners who did not bring their dogs to work had the highest stress scores, more than twice as high as those who brought their animals to the workplace.
