Unleashing the Furr-Recovery Method: Interacting with Pets in Teleworking Replenishes the Self's Regulatory Resources: Evidence from a Daily-Diary Study

Going to the office - What's in it for the dog?

Benefits and challenges of dogs being present at the office were analyzed from three perspectives: the company view, the dog owner (employee) and the dog view. For companies, office dogs may serve as a branding symbol, leading to higher employee satisfaction and productivity, increased stress resilience and fewer turnover intentions. Yet, companies need to apply pet policies, risk management strategies and mitigate nuisance such as barking, loose fur or excrement. Additional breaks to walk the dogs are required and other employees or customers may be irritated. Employees take advantage of stress reduction, social support, higher job satisfaction, not having to leave their animal at home. Still, an office dog is an added responsibility in terms well-being, safety, distraction from work and emotional involvement. Although the animal perspective has not yet been scientifically addressed, we propose potential benefits such as less separation distress by having the owner nearby, higher social engagement and additional walks during breaks. Challenges for dogs may involve unwanted attention, aversive environmental stimulation, being restrained via leash or crate, irritation caused by conspecifics, emotional contagion or individual requirements.

'Pawing' uncertainty! how dogs attenuate the impact of daily hassles at work on uncertainty

PURPOSE

This study relied on the integrative model of uncertainty tolerance to delineate an argument proposing that daily hassles trigger uncertainty, and this influences adaptive performance. Furthermore, relying on the "furr-recovery method" -where interactions with dogs allow dog owners to recover from negative situations or job demands - this study tested whether having a dog would moderate the relationship between daily hassles and uncertainty.

METHODOLOGY

To test this proposed model, daily data during ten working days was gathered with a sample of white-collar workers who were teleworking (N = 233 × 10 = 2,330).

FINDINGS

Multilevel results showed that daily hassles influenced adaptive performance via perceived uncertainty. However, the relationship between daily hassles and uncertainty was conditional on the ownership of a dog, in such a way that the relationship became weaker for those who had dogs. That is, those who did not have dogs had increased levels of uncertainty after daily hassles when compared to those who had dogs.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Managers may consider the adoption of pet-friendly work practices (for instance, telework - working from home allow employees to work nearby and interact with their dogs during worktime) as dogs appear to have a beneficial effect to help employees effectively cope with daily hassles and reduce their uncertain reactions.

ORIGINALITY

This study advances knowledge regarding the pawing-effect (the reduced uncertainty to daily hassles on dog owners) on employees' uncertainty to daily hassles and opens new venues for research regarding their role in work-related outcomes. Further, future research could examine how human-dog interactions or the quality of their relationship may benefit owners and explore the benefits of bringing dogs to work periodically.

Negative Impact of Telework, Job Insecurity, and Work-Life Conflict on Employee Behaviour

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed a large-scale adoption of teleworking in various fields, accepted by many employers as the ideal solution to protect their employees against the risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. Working from home generated substantial savings for organisations and also contributed to alleviating employee stress. In addition to the potential positive effects, telework during COVID-19 favoured counterproductive behaviour, job insecurity, and intention to retire because of the negative outcomes generated by the growing conflict between personal life and working from home and professional and social isolation. The purpose of this research is to define and analyse a conceptual model capable of highlighting the way in which telework, job insecurity, and work-life conflict led to professional isolation and turnover intention, and finally, to the counterproductive behaviour of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was implemented using employees in Romania, an emerging European economy severely affected by the recent pandemic. The results have been analysed with the help of structural equations in SmartPLS, thus reflecting a significant influence of teleworking on work-life conflict, professional isolation, intentions, and insecurity during the pandemic. The insecurity of employees trained in teleworking contributes significantly to enhancing work-life conflict and professional isolation.