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

Exploring the Relationship Between Human-Animal Interactions at Work and Mental Health: Unraveling the Dynamics for Individuals With Higher Neuroticism

Daily interactions typically can be a reflection of a person's mental health. Despite the existing literature emphasizing the importance of social interactions for mental health, few studies have focused on human-animal interactions, particularly in the work context. Thus, this study sought to expand knowledge and relied on the affective events theory to test (1) the mediating role of the daily affect ratio in the relationship between daily human-animal interactions and mental health and (2) the moderating role of neuroticism in the previous indirect relationship. To test the hypotheses, a daily design was used (N = 53 × 5 = 265). The multilevel results revealed that (1) daily human-animal interactions are positively related to mental health through the daily affect ratio; however, (2) the affect ratio depended more on daily human-animal interactions when individuals had higher levels of neuroticism, which means that (3) neuroticism intensified the indirect relationship between daily human-animal interactions and mental health through affect ratio. Overall, opportunities for human-animal interactions under telework settings may be a well-suited strategy for employees who score higher on neuroticism.

"Pet effect" patterns: Dynamics of animal presence and caregiver affect across (tele)work and non-work contexts

Human-animal interactions (HAI) may relate to animal caregivers' affect, also referred to as the "pet effect". However, studies have not explored these associations in work contexts or evaluated longitudinal patterns of HAI with other activities across work and non-work contexts, and their associations with caregiver emotions. We therefore assess momentary associations between HAI during (tele)work and non-work time and positive and negative caregiver affect (PA/NA), identify person-level patterns of longitudinal HAI state trajectories, and analyze cross-level moderating effects of these patterns on momentary associations between HAI and PA/NA. First, we evaluated associations between momentary HAI and caregiver PA/NA including the moderating role of momentary work state (teleworking vs. not working). Second, using a data-driven approach, we applied sequence analysis to determine heterogeneity in state trajectories amongst caregivers using working activity and animal presence in five possible states (working at work/teleworking with animal/teleworking without animal/not working with animal/not working without animal), which we labelled as animal-work constellations. Similar trajectories of animal-work constellations across caregivers were grouped into clusters with recognizable patterns. Third, we assessed whether such patterns moderated momentary associations between HAI and caregiver PA/NA. Caregivers (Npersons =  324) completed ecological momentary survey data during five days with 10 prompts per day (Nobservations =  16,127) between 2017 and 2024. Results showed that momentary associations between HAI and affect were moderated by momentary work state and person-level animal-work constellation pattern, contextualizing the "pet effect". Our results highlight the importance of microlevel investigations of animal-work constellations and validates the novel use of sequence analysis to explore the role of context and time.

How Guilt Drives Emotional Exhaustion in Work-Pet Family Conflict

Work-pet family conflict has emerged as a novel form of work-life conflict, reflecting the increasingly significant role that pets play in modern families. Guided by role theory, work-pet family conflict is anticipated to produce outcomes similar to those of traditional work-life conflict. Accordingly, we developed a conceptual model to examine how work-pet family conflict affects employees' emotional exhaustion. Drawing on role theory, we tested whether the experience of guilt serves as an affective mechanism linking work-pet family conflict to emotional exhaustion. Data were collected from 356 pet owners to empirically test the model. The results revealed a significant relationship between work-pet family conflict and emotional exhaustion, mediated by employees' experienced guilt. This study underscores the relevance of work-pet family conflict as a distinct form of work-life conflict and highlights the role of guilt as a key emotional driver that contributes to employees' emotional exhaustion in this context. Hence, organizations can delineate strategies to mitigate work-pet family conflict by offering flexible work arrangements, implementing pet-friendly policies, providing pet care benefits, and fostering a culture that supports work-life balance. These measures can potentially help employees better manage the demands of both work and pet responsibilities.

Pet your cat, walk your dog: The spillover effects of morning quality time with pets on outcomes during and after the workday

For decades, psychologists have explored dynamics within the realm of human-animal interaction. Organizational psychologists are no different; research has found that exchanges with pets and other animals have the potential to influence important work outcomes, such as performance, well-being, and satisfaction. Relatively little is understood, however, regarding the potential spillover effects of human-animal interaction from the non-work to work context. To address this gap in the literature, the present research-synthesising Broaden and Build Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory-explores the daily spillover effects of morning quality time with pets on affective, behavioural, and cognitive outcomes for employees, both during and after the workday. It is also suggested that openness to experience may act as a cross-level moderator for these daily relationships. An occupationally heterogenous daily diary sample of employed pet owners from the United Kingdom (NLevel 1 = 405, NLevel 2 = 81) was used to test these relationships. Using a mixed effects modelling approach, it was revealed that morning quality time with pets was associated with reduced Negative Affect (NA) during the workday, and reduced incivility and withdrawal upon returning home from work. Moreover, higher levels of trait openness to experience strengthened the negative relationships between daily morning quality time with pets and daily workday NA and afterwork incivility. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Pets at work: integrating pet-friendly initiatives into human resources for enhanced workplace harmony

AIMS

The representation of companion animals, or pets, has been changing recently. Research concerning how pets influence employees' work-related well-being has also started to take its first steps. This research aimed to analyze (1) how managers perceive pet-friendly practices and their main effects at work, and (2) the impact of such practices on employees' well-being and work engagement. Relying on the social exchange perspective and the self-determination theory it was hypothesized that pet-friendly practices would positively influence employees' well-being and work engagement by satisfying their three basic needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness).

METHODOLOGY

Two studies with mixed methods were conducted. The first and exploratory study resorted to semi-structured interviews with six managers. The second was a two-wave study conducted with a large sample of workers (N = 379).

RESULTS

The first study highlighted the primary advantages and disadvantages of pet-friendly practices, along with the various obstacles and limitations, and proposed managerial strategies to overcome them. Managers generally expressed interest and enthusiasm about the topic but also pointed out challenges in implementing a pet-friendly strategy due to the limited number of empirical studies demonstrating its benefits. The second study's findings indicated that pet-friendly practices positively impacted employees' work engagement and well-being by fulfilling their needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

ORIGINALITY

Overall, Portugal is seen as having a conservative culture, which slows the dissemination and implementation of these measures. To overcome these challenges, several managerial recommendations have been proposed. Raising awareness and fostering discussion on the topic are crucial steps toward integrating pet-friendly policies into human resources management.

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.