Office Petting Zoos Help Calm Stressed-Out Employees
Workplace stress abounds in offices across the U.S., as hours grow longer and tech advances often force employees to bring work home.
To help alleviate pent-up tension in the workplace, Washington, D.C.-based Squeals on Wheels is bringing petting zoos to the office, providing employees with some friendly — and often fluffy — companionship during the day.
Rabbits, puppies, teacup pigs, hedgehogs and even bearded dragons make appearances during the animal office parties offered by the company, the Washington Post reports.
As people work longer hours and stress builds, businesses are seeking solutions to lower employee blood pressure and allow them to check out of their long workdays, at least temporarily.
The correlation between animals and decreased stress has also led to a rise in office dogs from tech-savvy businesses like Google and Amazon. The trend in favor of workers' four-legged friends has spread coast to coast, from offices in San Francisco and Seattle to Washington, D.C.
Even so, few commercial landlords allow office animals, which means those who do have more relaxed rules about animals could set themselves apart in a competitive office leasing environment.
