If You Had An Office Dog Or Cat To Pet, You Would Be More Productive At Work With Less Stress

A lot of major companies like Google allow pets in their offices, as do many companies in the Netherlands too. And no, not specifically animal welfare groups, but even businesses.

And that's because pets around the office have been known to increase productivity.

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In fact, research a few years ago from the Virginia Commonwealth University showed that people actually experience less stress when a dog is around. I mean, could you be stressed out with this face looking at you?

In the study, the researchers took saliva samples from factory employees to examine them for the hormone cortisol, secreted when you're stressed out. As it turns out, only the employees with a dog near them had low cortisol levels at the end of the day.

"It's definitely good for the work atmosphere to have a dog in the office," Marie-Jos¨¦ Enders, human-animal relations at Open University, told Business Insider in an interview. "Not only does your cortisol level drop when you stroke a dog; you also produce more of the hormone oxytocin, which makes you feel more relaxed and happy."

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"If your boss is giving you a hard time, a dog can make it easier to put certain situations into perspective. You can just take a bit of space and walk the dog," said Enders.

"An animal at work makes people more motivated - they like their work more and they experience less stress."

It's not just dogs either, according to behavioral psychologist Lotte Spijkerman. In the same piece, she goes on to say that dogs and cats have roughly the same psychological effect on people.

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"They reduce stress and increase productivity, mainly because they interact with you of their own accord and, when they pop over to your work station, it's a good reminder that you might need to take a break," she said.

Aside from that, office pets may also help you talk to people."People with a dog are perceived as friendlier," said Enders. "We know from psychology that if you find someone nicer, you move with him or her faster. And if someone looks like you, because he also has a dog, for example, it could be easier to make a deal."