One of the great changes that the COVID-19 pandemic brought was the migration to start working from virtual spaces. Since 2020, home office is a growing trend and it has proven that it provides important advantages for both companies and workers. We`ve already explained the positive aspects of remote work in “The Digital Workplace boom: A trend that is here to stay“, but now we want to talk about the benefits of working from home when you have a pet.

From the moment we decide to dedicate part of our lives to a pet, we know that it will bring with it a lot of joy to our houses. However, having a pet demands time that sometimes we lack due to the schedule that we carry between work and other things. Since companies began to establish home office as a modality, pet care not only became easier, but also gave way to multiple positive changes in the owner-pet relationship.

Working from home with a pet can have a lot of benefits for mental and physical health. For example:

1. Stress reduction: Spending time with our pet is really comforting and helps reduce anxiety and stress. This can improve the ability to concentrate and increase productivity.
2. Improved mental health: Physical contact with a pet can release oxytocin, a hormone associated with  well being and relaxation. This can help reduce stress and improve mental health.
3. Improved physical health: Interacting with a pet can help improve physical health. Walking or playing with your pet can help improve physical condition and reduce the risk of inactivity-related diseases.
4. Reduced loneliness: Working from home can be lonely, but having a pet around can provide company and reduce feelings of loneliness.
5. Improved emotional well-being: Caring for a pet can help develop a sense of responsibility and grant a purpose in life that transcends the tangible.
6. Greater flexibility: Working from home with a pet can provide a greater level of flexibility in terms of hours and the place of work. This helps reduce the problems that come from leaving your pet alone for long periods of time.
7. Increased creativity: Spending time with a pet can help inspire new ideas and increase creativity. Animals can provide a fresh and different perspective on work problems and challenges.
8. Improved productivity: Working from home with a pet can help establish a regular routine and schedule, which can improve productivity and efficiency.
9. Enhanced Teamwork: While working from home with a pet can make you feel lonely, it can also help improve teamwork by enhancing communication and support among team members who are also working from home with pets. The similarities between peers facilitate a  fluid communication and more collaborations.

However, it is important to keep in mind that working remotely with our pets at home can present new challenges in addition to those that already exist on a day-to-day basis, such as distractions and organizational problems. A new dynamic must be adopted in terms of planning work and free time. Therefore, it is very important to establish a specific place of the house to work in which pets cannot access so as not to generate interruptions and establish clear limits during work time and breaks.

As we’ve mentioned before, it is proven that living with pets at home helps us to release large amounts of stress and by playing with them, we can forget about our problems and at the same time make them happy. Pets are very special members of the family since they are the ones who are with us at all times and always give us pure and unconditional love.

You have to be flexible, and willing to adapt to changes and find what works best for both of you. Walking your dog during meetings can be an efficient strategy to clear your head and have new and renewed ideas.. Also, with all the remote work tools that exist today, we can walk our pet and continue reading emails or answering chats.

It is important to be able to plan the work and have a routine in which you eat breakfast, walk the dog, have lunch and take breaks. It is useless to be working all day without taking breaks because you run the risk of burnout. You must take advantage of the planning tools of your company, so that each person manages their work and their times in the best way. Platforms like Workdeck offer a virtual workspace that facilitates organization and work performance.

In case your current company does not have this type of management tools, we invite you to discover Workdeck, a platform to have your virtual office and manage your projects, expenses, purchases and much more.