Aida has two dogs, Honey and Mia, who often accompanied her to work at the London Google offices. “I brought them to work since Mia was a 4-month-old puppy,” Aida says. “I rescued Honey when Mia was 1, and then she also started coming to the office at least once a week.” In addition to starting Dooglers, Aida also helped with dog-related events, like the London office’s puppy pop-up, where Googlers brought their pups in for other employees to take a break with.
Now that most Googlers are working from home, the Doogler groups have figured out ways to bring some of the company’s dog-friendly atmosphere into the home. In June, Danielle helped organized a virtual pet parade over Google Meet. “Each pet got one minute to be introduced and spend some time on screen, showcase a fun fact or trick, and then make room for the next one to be featured,” Danielle says. Slots filled up quickly, mostly with dogs, and the event also featured a shelter that was looking for foster homes and a Googler from the San Francisco office to introduce his foster dog.
Even while working from home, Googlers have still found ways to “bring” their dogs to work and involve them in “office” life. And given the circumstances, it seems we’re all better for it. “It’s not hard to feel happy when you just look at them. They’re so friendly and fun to be around; that’s why people have emotional support animals,” Urs explained, when I asked why dogs are such a welcome presence at Google. “It’s a good thing to have friendly faces around the office who just want to be around you and are happy to be petted and get your attention.” And the same applies to our home offices, too.
One of those people is Max Dzitsiuk, a software engineer who works on augmented reality algorithms. While he usually works from the San Francisco office, he’s currently living and working in his home country of Ukraine. Before he moved to San Francisco to begin working at Google, he volunteered at a dog shelter in his hometown. “Once I moved to the U.S., I used some of my Google volunteer time to work at Bay Area shelters,” he says. He also joined the Doogler group. Instead of adopting, Max is dedicated to fostering dogs that he finds permanent families for; he often brought his fosters to the office. “My team liked to stop by my desk and play with the dogs.”
While in Ukraine, he’s using the Doogler group to promote the work he’s doing with rescues. He recently shared that he’s raising funds to bring four rescue dogs to the U.S. “Thanks to the Dooglers, we were able to finish up all the necessary tests and treatments the dogs needed before making their long journey,” he says. “I can’t wait to post an update about their trip. I’m so glad to be working with people who care about this issue.”
Not only can Google employees bring their dogs to work with them, but Google’s dog friendly nature carries over into another facet of their operations. Instead of noisy lawn movers, Google rents goats to help cut down the amount of weeds and brush at Google HQ. The operation of 200 goats (plus herder and a border collie) is kind to the environment, and as Google puts it: “A lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers.”
In addition to these guidelines, it’s clearly stated in Google’s code of conduct that Google isn’t cat friendly company: “Google’s affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our corporate culture. We like cats, but we’re a dog company, so as a general rule we feel cats visiting our offices would be fairly stressed out.”
I was reading an article recently and it mentioned that Google is a dog friendly company and allows it’s employees to bring their dogs to work! Everyone from the Senior VP of Operations to less senior staff have the option to bring their dogs to work with them! How cool is that?!
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Now of course there are some limitations to the allowance, but they are totally legitimate limitations. Evidence of fleas, excessive barking, biting, chasing, and other similar actions are considered unacceptable and the dog will have to be taken home upon the first complaint. Limitations are also imposed if other employees who are allergic to dogs are being affected.
#1… Google hired a dog as their official unofficial mascott — a Pug.
While I realize that dogs in the workplace would not be feasible in a number of establishments, it sure would be nice to see more employers thinking outside the box like this and being more accommodating of their employees’ personal happiness — including their individual wants, needs, and lifestyles. All you need is a simple dog policy.
#3… Google allows their employees who are dog owners to bring their dogs to work!
To be respectful of all workers at Google — those who enjoy dogs and those who don’t — they have an Official Dog Policy at Google.
I’m sure in some respects, that Google gets more out of their employees because of their dog policy. For example, you might be able to put in more hours if you didn’t have to rush home to let the dog out all the time. There are definitely proven benefits to having dogs in the workplace, including being a stress reliever.
Animal Cruelty | Google Publisher Policies
Google has always been known to be a canine-friendly company, but the one thing that apparently had escaped the notice of the media all along was a little paragraph tucked away amidst all the corporate jargon on the company’s investor relations website detailing the code of conduct that bounds the tech giant and its army of employees around the globe. Unbeknownst to the media that has been covering the company for years, the webpage actually devotes an entire paragraph detailing its ‘Dog Policy’ that spells out in no uncertain terms that love for man’s best friend is a part and parcel of Google’s official company policy. According to the text, “Google’s affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our corporate culture. We like cats, but we’re a dog company, so as a general rule we feel cats visiting our offices would be fairly stressed out”.
Google is apparently pretty cool with the idea of its employees bringing their canine companions to work, where they are taken care of by caregivers. Of course, the animals need to be amiable and not go around the office barking, chasing or otherwise scaring or disturbing people looking to get some actual work done. Reports even indicate that many Google buses actually have “Dog Friendly” signs on them, but apparently nobody ever bothered to find out, in all these years, if it is just an informal understanding between dog lovers working at Google and the company’s management, or an actual official company policy that is important enough to merit a mention on the company’s investor relations page. Advertisement
The whole issue came to light when at the ongoing World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, the CEO of Welltower, Mr. Thomas DeRosa, said that he believes that as part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives, major corporations should offer daycare for the elderly parents of their employees, by setting up in-house systems for the same. According to him, it was Google’s dog-friendly policy that inspired him to suggest that something similar be done for seniors who need private care for their age-related frailties, but cannot really afford the prohibitive costs associated with the same.