Not having pet-related benefits leaves a gap as you think about your wellbeing programs.
By Pam Foster, PetFriendlyOffice.com
When it comes to a pet-focused company that offers pet-related benefits, IDEXX is a prime example. The company has approximately 11,000 employees in a variety of office locations around the globe from R&D and operations to administrative departments and reference labs.
To learn about their pet-related employee benefits, including therapy dogs (like Bruce seen here) … I had the joy of sitting down with Michael P. Johnson, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at IDEXX.
First, IDEXX offers a number of pet-related benefits. Michael told me, “We work for a greater purpose here. Our purpose is to enhance the wellbeing of people and pets. Along those lines …
- “We offer pet insurance to our employees, as we do with our human healthcare insurance.
- Several of our locations are pet-friendly and have been for quite some time.
- We have pet bereavement leave, a global benefit offering one day of leave per employee to mourn the loss of a beloved pet. We think that’s an extremely healthy thing to do with someone that's been part of their family.
- And we provide therapy dogs in several locations across the globe.”
Therapy dogs for your employees! How does that work?
I imagine there are many companies offering therapy dog visits for employees, but I hadn’t come across one, so I was captivated by the concept.
I asked Michael to explain the idea behind it, and how it works for IDEXX employees.
He told me, “Therapy dogs are a natural fit for IDEXX, and the IDEXX Therapy Dogs program is part of our broader focus on employee wellness. As an animal healthcare company, we understand the human-animal bond and the wellness benefits that come along with that.
There’s so much research that says just spending 10 minutes with an animal completely changes the game as it relates to stress, mental health, and mental well-being.
While we’d love to welcome pets everywhere, it’s not possible at all our locations for a variety of reasons. For example, some sites are laboratories or USDA-regulated areas where health, safety, and compliance standards prohibit animals.
Instead, we bring therapy dogs to these locations in acceptable inside or outside areas where our employees can enjoy them, spend some time with them. These therapy dogs are incredible.” (Pictured here, Meadow on the left, and Bruce on the right.)
Michael noted that generally, therapy dogs are brought in once a month. In some locations, it's a little bit more frequent or they’re brought in for special events. In any case, this benefit is wildly popular.
Michael said, “On days when Therapy Dogs are onsite, employees are able to sign up for time to visit with a dog. “The moment we announce that therapy dogs are coming, it's the first thing that gets filled up on that day … like within five minutes.”
Michael also mentioned that typically, the dogs are located in a common area, so employees are also able to drop by spontaneously for a quick visit and scritch behind the ears (for the dogs, not the employees 😉).
Can you tell me more about the pet-friendly offices at IDEXX?
Michael explained that in the buildings that allow pets in the office, a majority of the space are pet friendly. There are just a few different rules and regulations for pet owners to follow.
He noted, “We love having pets in the office – it adds to the energy and warmth of the environment. To help us make sure the office remains a welcoming and respectful space for both people and pets, we do have a few important guidelines. You have to look after your pet, have to ensure that they can deal and manage with the hustle and bustle of our office. We have an accident rule. You only get a certain number of mistakes or accidents and then your pet has to come up for evaluation.
There’s also a temperament question. Pets accused of being overly aggressive for any reason just aren't able to continue to come in.”
How did you know that your current benefits were the right pet-related benefits to offer?
Michael said, “We do an annual employee engagement survey, which provides our employees a chance to share their perspectives on what resonates the most and what they want to see. We also do a number of focus groups where we measure the effectiveness and utilization of all our benefits, and we go from there.”
Michael gave me a couple of different examples.
First, their therapy dogs came up as a solution in locations that couldn’t allow pets in the office. “Therapy dogs seem to speak to that,” Michael said.
Second, Michael told me, “We just really try our very best to listen to our employees. One of the things we heard when the therapy dog days started was … man, it would be really great if we could try doggy yoga; with therapy dogs or bring your dog to do yoga.
Oh my goodness, they loved it. It's just like the therapy dog response. Once we announced doggy yoga, all the slots are gone in five minutes.”
This all sounds terrific to me.
What would you say is the biggest advantage of offering these pet-related benefits?
Michael explained, “Staff retention is a concern everywhere. Coming out of the pandemic, I think many different companies saw attrition, they saw employees trying to deal with issues.
We made a really concerted effort to lean into our employee value proposition and our purpose with pet-related benefits and others. The moment we did … while everyone else's attrition started going up, ours started falling. It’s continued to fall month over month
This idea of being connected to our purpose of doing things with pets, expanding the programs when they're successful, listening to employees and learning about how they want to engage in this way… it's been incredibly positive.
It's also been a great addition to our talent attraction program. Candidates ask about our well-being programs and benefits. When they hear about things like doggy yoga, their eyes light up.”
Would you recommend that other companies consider pet related benefits … and what’s your big reason why you’d recommend them?
Michael said he absolutely recommends them for a few different reasons:
“One is, we love pets here, and certainly pet-related benefits speak to the entire family that people often times have. As a matter fact, my pets might be the most well taken care of members in my household,” he said with a chuckle. “So not having pet-related benefits just really leaves a gap as you start thinking about your well-being programs.”
He noted that it’s also a pretty amazing way to build loyalty across an organization and a company.
His advice for companies exploring the idea of pet-related benefits?
“I think HR professionals often get nervous when you start thinking about pets in the office, that can feel like a big proposition,” he said. “People may only think something bad is going to happen. I would just start small. Listen to your employees and think about how you can make incremental steps along the way. We started with therapy dogs at one location and then we expanded to four locations. Then we added doggy yoga. You get the point.
This is the journey you have as you start thinking about these programs and benefits.”
Editor’s Note: I’d like to thank Michael Johnson along with Shelby MacLeod, IDEXX Director, Brand & Corporate Communications, for sharing their time and insights with me.
About IDEXX
IDEXX is a global leader in pet healthcare innovation. Our diagnostic and software products and services create clarity in the complex, constantly evolving world of veterinary medicine. We support longer, fuller lives for pets by delivering insights and solutions that help the veterinary community around the world make confident decisions—to advance medical care, improve efficiency, and build thriving practices. Our innovations also help ensure the safety of milk and water across the world and maintain the health and well-being of people and livestock. IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. is a member of the S&P 500® Index. Headquartered in Maine, IDEXX employs approximately 11,000 people and offers solutions and products to customers in more than 175 countries and territories. For more information about IDEXX, visit www.idexx.com.
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