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Dog Training in Arizona
Call: 602-992-8743
E-mail: tdrugmand@cox.net
Certified remote collar trainer specializing in problem behaviors, basic obedience and competition. Serving the following cities in Arizona: Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, Paradise Valley, Glendale, Cave Creek and Carefree.
 Dog friendly workplaces can attract top talent. |
Old Dogs Need New Tricks to Attract Top Talent
By June Paradise Maul
WORKSPOT
Printed in GO JOBING
Your Phoenix Recruitment Magazine-Summer 2007
Businesses today are looking for innovative approaches t attracting and retaining the talent needed to compete successfully. Sign on bonuses. Strategic Compensation. Flexible benefits. Elder and child care. Each of these involves additional costs. And none have been shown to significantly retain employees-let alone increase loyalty and productivity.
In today’s competition for talent the most significant advantage comes from identifying innovative approaches not only to attract talent but to retain it. And, if the innovative approach provides clear business benefits and can be implemented at little or no cost, it is a real winner. Employees want more flexibility and want to improve their work-life balance. Employers want more productivity and increasing commitment to the job. There are non-traditional benefits that do attract and retain employees by improving their work-life balance while improving their productivity. The virtual workplace is one example. Companies such as Jet Blue have their entire Call Center at a work at home arrangement. And yet other companies are becoming even more creative and offering benefits that would have never been considered before like a “dog friendly workplace.”
So what is a “dog friendly workplace?” Where are they? And (some of you might see this as outlandish) why? Everyone is asking-do these out-of-the-box benefits work? The answer to that question depends on your culture and commitment.
Basically, dog friendly work environments enable employees to bring their dogs to work. In some companies they can only have them in their work space such as their cubicle or office. In others they come to meetings and even greet customers.
Most of the companies that are dog friendly are small to medium size companies. Others such as Google and Amazon are far from small. The majority of companies that are dog friendly are the high tech industry. Other industries include health care, retail, manufacturing, construction, movie, as well as consulting and advertising companies.
Have you even seen one of these dog friendly workplaces? If you haven’t yet, the odds are, you soon will. Recent studies by a number of different organizations show that the number of dog friendly workplaces is increasing at over 25% a year.
Can it work? And, what are the benefits of this new benefit?
The results of a few studies on the “dog friendly workplace” done over the past couple of years have shown there are a number of different benefits to this innovative new concept. A recent study by Dogster, found that employees would work longer hours (66%); would take a pay cut (32%); believe the dog friendly workplace is an important benefit (70%); would switch jobs if the company offered a dog friendly workplace (49%). The employees surveyed said dogs in the workplace help to lower stress. One recent study of 50 large and small dog friendly workplaces across the Unites Staes done by the American Pet Products Manufacturing Association identified the following specific benefits of having a dog friendly workplace. It fosters creativity (41%); decreases absenteeism (39%); helps coworkers get along better (37%); enables employees to work longer hours (34%); makes people more productive (28%); improves relationships between employees and managers (27%); and decreases employee smoking (24%). Others report it improves customer satisfaction and sales.
Although the total scope and potential of the Dog Friendly Workplace has yet to be fully explored, some companies are further leveraging the dog friendly workplace by running dog training classes before work, at lunch, or after work. These workshops ensure well behaved canines at work. And, just as some companies have used outdoor sports and even horses as the experiential component of leadership and development programs, it is possible to use dogs as part of the learning experience focused on leadership and team development. Creating a dog friendly workplace, like any other strategic business initiative, can be beneficial if it is done the right way. And when it’s done the right way, a dog friendly workplace is one of the few benefits and talent attractors that adds a lot of value for very little cost.
STEPS FOR SETTING UP A DOG FRIENDLY WORKPLACE
STEP 1: Identify how it will help create value for business (attract and retain talent, increase productivity, etc).
STEP 2: Get employee input as to the value and focus of the benefit.
STEP 3: Identify a consultant or HR expert to quickly establish policy and practices to ensure it achieves its potential to add value.
STEP 4: Communicate policy and benefits.
STEP 5: Continue to leverage it to attract talent, retain employees, reduce stress, improve productivity, improve employee health, develop the culture, and develop leadership and teams.
STEP 6: Measure its impact on the business and its stakeholders.
SAMPLE OF GUIDELINES FOR DOG FRIENDLY WORKPLACES
BENCHMARKS: NEW AND OLD “DOG FRIENDLY” COMPANIES
Companies are adopting a “dog friendly workplace” as an approach to creating the right culture for the business or offering a benefit that employees value. Some of these companies include Amazon, Google, Replacement, Ltd., Wildfire Communications, Soft Choice Corp, CBA Design and Manufacturing, Tell Me and Max Layne & Co.
REPLACEMENT LTD.
Replacement Ltd. is the world’s largest supplier of new and used China, silver and collectables. Many of their employees bring their dogs to work daily. And well-behaved dogs are also welcome in their Showroom and Facility Tour. Initially sponsored by their CEO, Bob Page, he believes it adds to their business by reducing stress. “I have found bringing your dog to work with you can be soothing and relaxing and I encourage my 640 employees to do the same.” Ten video clips including interviews with their PR manager and owner are available at www.DogFriendly.com.
MAX LAYNE & CO
A Human Resources solutions company in Detroit, Max Layne believes that it is important to offer non-traditional benefits in order to attract the talent needed today since high quality employees are harder to find today. Their dog friendly policy began with one of their senior consultants bringing their dog to work. Their decision to become a dog friendly workplace grew out of the need to attract potential new hires and retain current employees. According to Jeremy Krol, their controller of the marketing and public relations agency in Farmington Hills (Palm, 1999), “…to keep and attract the better individual, you have to come up with different ideas and different benefits.”
Google is one of the most noted companies for building the right culture for its business and for focusing on a work-life balance. Recently identified as one of the top 100 companies to work for by Fortune/CNN Money, Google has a dog friendly workplace. It also has clear policies in place to ensure its success.
NINTH HOUSE NETWORK
Ninth House is a San Francisco based multimedia and production company that believes “One of the many things that makes Ninth House unique is the presence of all of these cute, four-legged, furry critters. Having dogs around certainly decreases the stress level. (www.dogfriendly.com)”
SOFT CHOICE CORPORATION
SoftChoice Corp has had a great deal of success as a business and claims that it is in part due to their dog friendly workplace. According to Chandran Rajaratnam, the president of SoftChoice, “…this relaxed atmosphere has contributed to employee satisfaction and productivity, helping the Toronto-based software reseller expand beyond its six Canadian branches with 22 new locations in the U.S.”
CBA DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING
CBA is a Cambridge Massachusetts marketing and design company. They believe “Dogs are a great stress buster in the workplace and many people find they tend to be better humored and more relaxed around dogs, which is great for productivity. Anything that reduces stress in the workplace has got to be a good idea for everyone.” CBA Design and Manufacturing. (www.dogfriendly.com)
TELL ME
TellMe is an innovative telecommunications company that brings people information over their mobile phones. With over 35 million customers they have created a culture and company focused on innovation and serving people. They list all of their benefits on their website. Many of the benefits are focused on the employee’s life. One of the benefits listed is a “Dog friendly office” environment.
WILDFIRE COMMUNICATIONS
A Lexington, MA company, Wildfire Communications has been a dog friendly workplace since their inception. They are in their second generation of dogs.
So, is a dog friendly workplace right for your company? That’s something you’ll need to decide for yourself. Even if it’s not, we can all learn something extremely valuable from the companies who have opted to change their perspectives and offer new ways to attract and retain their most valued assets-getting their people to love and engage in work everyday is what really counts.
About June Paradise Maul
As President for Advantage Value, June consults in the areas of Human Resources to help organizations and their leaders craft and role out strategic game plans and Balanced Scoreboards as well as training and executive education to add value to their stakeholders. And as a principle in the company Canine Lifestyles she helps organizations who want to create a “dog friendly work environment” as a strategy and company benefit to improve the company’s environment and the productivity and performance of its people. In this role she helps the company and their employees to define the benefit, develop the needed policies, and conduct workshops on “creating the dog friendly environment” and in “leadership and coaching in a dog friendly environment.” June is on the faculty for two local universities where she teaches in the MBA and Executive MBA degree programs in transformational leadership, human resource, compensation and benefits, working capital management, and achieving competitive advantage.
June lives with 2 German Shepard dogs and one Belgian Shepard. She actively trains her two German Shepard dogs with DOG-ON-IT DOG TRAINING and the Phoenix branch of SIT MEANS SIT. She is looking forward to competing with both her dogs this year in the sport of Schutzhund.
June can be reached at junemaul@att.net.