The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
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Re: The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
#2How do dog friendly work places deal with employees that are allergic to dogs?
Re: The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
#3How do dog friendly work places deal with employees that are allergic to dogs?
As someone allergic to dogs I was wondering exactly the same thing. I assume this simply makes it impossible to work there if you have a dog allergy since (even with an isolated office) any contact with coworkers who are around dogs all day would be enough to get my eyes itching and my nose running pretty badly.
Edit: Note that I don't think this is necessarily bad - not having people allergic to dogs be able to join up is a price they are probably willing to pay because the perk is a huge factor for keeping dog owner employees happy.
Re: The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
#4I think what this shows is that you really need to work at what culture you want at your company and take steps to improve something if it's not working and deemed important. It would have been much easier to just ban dogs and move on - instead management come up with a process that could maintain the dog presence and keep people happy.
Re: The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
#5How do dog friendly work places deal with employees that are allergic to dogs?
As someone allergic to dogs I was wondering exactly the same thing. I assume this simply makes it impossible to work there if you have a dog allergy since (even with an isolated office) any contact with coworkers who are around dogs all day would be enough to get my eyes itching and my nose running pretty badly. Edit: Note that I don't think this is necessarily bad - not having people allergic to dogs be able to join…
I'm also allergic to dogs (and cats), and so policies like these would just make me go somewhere else. I don't particularly understand what advantage there is in bringing a dog to work anyway... yes, you probably love your pets but the same goes for children, that doesn't mean they should be with you when you work.
Re: The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
#6How do dog friendly work places deal with employees that are allergic to dogs?
It would probably be enough to make people allergic to dogs say "oh, ok, sparkfun isn't the place for me" - as a hayfever suffer I know I will never risk working somewhere next to farm fields (and therefor probably SF's new location as a good example possibly), it's just one of those things you (sadly) factor in. I do wonder if there is legislation in any country that would over rule this bit of company culture though...
Re: The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
#7At my current job I bring my dog to the office every day and there are no issues whatsoever, but I have some personal rules when it comes to bring my dog to work:
- no dog if there are allergic people around,
- no barking,
- no wandering around,
- DEFINITELY no pee and poo in the building,
- CLEANING outside the company building,
- I am responsible for the dog's actions.
Disclaimer: my dog is trained by me and really knows how to behave in the office and outside the office.
Unfortunately in some past jobs I stumbled upon people that treated their dog permit like a kindergarten — just dropping the dog in the office and not taking care of it. Some fabulous examples was dog pooping in the middle of a group of people during the SCRUM meeting ;) Or a dude bringing his 3-month puppy peeing on the floor every 15 minutes. Some people are not mature enough to bring their dog to the office :)
Re: The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone allergic to dogs I was wondering exactly the same thing. I assume this simply makes it impossible to work there if you have a dog allergy since (even with an isolated office) any contact with coworkers who are around dogs all day would be enough to get my eyes itching and my nose running pretty badly. Edit: Note that I don't think this is necessarily bad - not having people allergic to dogs be able to join…
I'm also allergic to dogs (and cats), and so policies like these would just make me go somewhere else. I don't particularly understand what advantage there is in bringing a dog to work anyway... yes, you probably love your pets but the same goes for children, that doesn't mean they should be with you when you work.
Would you like to be left alone without a toilet for like 10-11 hours a day, 5-days-a-week? Then you know why some people insist on taking their dog to the office ;)
Re: The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
#9How do dog friendly work places deal with employees that are allergic to dogs?
As someone allergic to dogs I was wondering exactly the same thing. I assume this simply makes it impossible to work there if you have a dog allergy since (even with an isolated office) any contact with coworkers who are around dogs all day would be enough to get my eyes itching and my nose running pretty badly. Edit: Note that I don't think this is necessarily bad - not having people allergic to dogs be able to join…
I (fortunately) never met anybody allergic to dogs, so I have no idea how sever it is — would you get allergic reaction by just meeting me without the dog? If yes, then the dog rules don't really matter, as you will be allergic to me anyway.
Still, in coworking spaces I would just leave my dog at home and try to agree on some 4h-4h working schedule so my dog isn't alone longer than 6-7 hours.
Re: The problems SparkFun has letting people bring dogs into work
#10I think what this shows is that you really need to work at what culture you want at your company and take steps to improve something if it's not working and deemed important. It would have been much easier to just ban dogs and move on - instead management come up with a process that could maintain the dog presence and keep people happy.
I suspect there are still a bunch of people unhappy with the dogs around, even with the tribunal.
We allowed dogs at our office (until we moved to a new building that forbade them). It was fun when there were a handful, but when there got to be about a dozen it was terribly distracting and only fun for the owners. I think most people are relieved we don't have them anymore.