欢迎来到闺蜜星期五
Pet companionship is associated with overall better health and well-being. Research studies show that having a pet may lead to a more active lifestyle, 降低血压和胆固醇水平, 在家的压力也更小, 在工作和应对健康挑战时. That's why the 美国心脏协会 created Best Friend Fridays. We're bringing awareness to the positive impact our four-legged friends have on our hearts and our minds.
Best Friend Fridays gives everyone a chance once a week to celebrate the bond between pets and their owners. It’s an opportunity to spend a little extra time with your pets and show them off to your friends and coworkers.
宠物使我们成为更好的人.
Whether you work from home or in an office or other workplace, your pet can help you reduce stress and increase productivity.
研究表明养宠物有以下好处:
- The simple act of petting a dog helps decrease blood pressure.
- Dogs help people feel less shy and isolated and improve social relationships.
- Dog ownership is associated with a lower risk of depression.
- 三分之二的员工表示工作压力很大, 40%的人说他们的工作妨碍了他们的健康.
- 在一项对宠物主人的调查中, 44% responded that they would consider a career move for a pet-friendly workplace, and 37% would sacrifice vacation time and take a pay cut to be able to bring their pet to work.
宠物是家里的好同事.
如果你在家工作, Best Friend Fridays can help you make it a habit to take short breaks during your workday to walk or play with your pets. 这对你们双方都有好处!
Your dog could join you for a “virtual commute” – a brisk walk at the beginning and end of each workday. 这会帮助你清醒头脑, 摆脱压力, stay active and create healthy boundaries between work and personal time. Or try a “virtual carpool” by walking with neighbors who work from home and their pets. And an outdoor dogs-and-owners happy hour is a great way to end the week.
Instead of shushing your pets or locking them in another room during a videoconference or Zoom meeting, take a moment to introduce them and encourage your coworkers to do so as well. One study showed that when a dog joins a collaborative setting, 团队成员对队友的信任度更高, 团队凝聚力和同志情谊.
你的工作场所对宠物友好吗?
One of the goals of Best Friend Fridays is to encourage employers to embrace pet-friendly policies. 如果你在现场工作, ask your employer to consider allowing people to bring pets to work once a week or on specific Fridays.
以下是允许宠物进入办公室时需要考虑的一些建议:
- Form a committee or team to coordinate Best Friend Fridays at your company to make sure everything runs smoothly.
- Decide if you’ll restrict participation to dogs and cats or if other types of pets are allowed. Think about whether you need to limit people to one or two pets in the office at a time.
- Avoid scheduling large in-person group meetings on Best Friend Fridays so pets are not disruptive.
- Ask pet parent employees to register their pets and provide proof of vaccinations.
- Managers should make sure no one in their department has allergies or objects to pets being on site.
- Communicate clearly that pets will be on site so people will be mindful of paws underfoot.
- Pet parents should make sure pets have received a clean bill of health from a recent veterinarian visit as well as flea and tick prevention treatment.
- Eligible pets must have demonstrated skills like staying in an office, 安静，不给其他动物制造麻烦. The American Kennel Club offers a Canine Good Citizen™ program and test for dogs to help ensure good behavior. Some employers ask employees to provide proof of passing this test before allowing dogs at work.
- Pet parents should bring and use pet gates, crates, cages and leashes as appropriate. 有些公司要求所有的宠物都要用皮带.
- Pet parents must agree to walk dogs only in designated areas and clean up after pets.
- Every pet should have a back-up human buddy who can help as needed and take the pet out if the pet’s owner is in a meeting.
Sources: the American Kennel Club, the Society for Human Resource Management
给你的宠物一些爱.
你将如何庆祝“闺蜜星期五”? 首先, why not temporarily change your social and/or work profile photo on Fridays to one of your pet or you and your pet? It will get people talking about pets and how much they do for us.
Show your animal companions a little extra love and appreciation every Friday!
