How Working from Home with Pets Can Benefit You as an Employee—And Fido

Working remotely comes with a lot of benefits: greater flexibility with your schedule, no time-consuming commutes, and improved productivity are just a few. 

However, one benefit that deserves to be recognized is the effect it has on you and your pets. Studies show that pets help lower blood pressure, relieve stress, and conduct a positive, calming atmosphere - at least until you must chase one around the house, screaming, trying to get the random plastic out of its mouth. When you combine this mostly serene experience with your work, the effects can be unsurprisingly positive. 

As a remote-first company, Hoodoo Digital, now Rightpoint, is happy to foster this kind of connection between its employees and their pets. The impacts are wide-ranging; however, one thing is clear: pets drastically improve our work, and for many, our lives. 

Freedom for ferrets 

For Raymond Justice, an SDET at Hoodoo, working from home allows him to better care for his two ferrets, Sully and Sunny. While ferrets do sleep and eat in a cage, they greatly prefer to have space to explore since they are very sensitive pets that need lots of mental stimulation. Without this kind of enrichment, much like humans, they can get depressed. Instead of going into an office, leaving his ferrets caged all day, he can allow his ferrets to roam freely, satisfying their inquisitiveness and desire to bond. 

For him, working remotely has presented more opportunities for his ferrets to get to know him.  “I can have those early morning play sessions with them, and I think that has a lot to do with how quickly they have bonded with me,” he says.  

According to him, ferrets are energetic and curious creatures that always want to know what you are doing – so much so that he often feels like they are checking in on him, making sure he is working hard. After all, it helps to be accountable to someone, even if they are an adorable little ferret. We suppose that’s the reason why a group of ferrets is called a business. (Seriously.) 

Raymond also remarks on the positive mental impact of being home with his ferrets. While he considers himself a very positive guy, he realized that he recovers from bad days faster when he looks at his two chaotic “fur snakes.” (Excuse us while we refer to ferrets as chaotic fur snakes from now until the end of time.) 

No waiting for walks 

Hoodoo Content Marketing Manager, Kim Melton, loves the absence of a commute. As a result, she has more time to walk her doggo (a sensitive Rhodesian Ridgeback named Apollo) in the morning – or push her boyfriend’s deaf bulldog, Hannibal, in a stroller (yeah – that's a thing). And by working from home, she can take a lunchtime stroll with them again, providing some much-needed exercise and stimulation. Not just for them, but for her, as well. 

More frequent walks have resulted in more obedient dogs who are eager to please by displaying their best behavior (most of the time). Still, as to be expected with almost any dog, there is the occasional meeting interruption; it’s hard to ignore a baying hound in the background, so it’s important to be quick with that mute button. 

Like most dog moms, Kim also feels less guilty during her workday knowing that her dog isn’t moping around the house wondering where she is. Even in a house filled with dog beds, a big backyard, and a bunch of canine friends, she feels better when she can swivel in her desk chair to see him completely content sleeping, or rather snoring, soundly on her bed. Without this pang of guilt that she might experience in an office, she is able to strengthen her focus – even if it involves working outside on a sunny day while Apollo rolls in the grass. 

Cuddles with cats 

Jack Wetmore, an AEM Architect at Hoodoo, is the “pawrent” of two vastly different cats: one tiny but fierce dilute calico named Brie; and one fluffy, orange, gentle giant with severe anxiety (and one brain cell) named Tormund.  

His freedom to work from home has brought him closer to his cats since he can play with them during lunch breaks or give greedy Brie more of the treats she seems to constantly demand. And while Brie has gravitated toward his wife, who also works from home, his presence at home during the day has made him and Tormund inseparable. When he isn’t in meetings, he occasionally leaves his office door open so that Tormund can take long naps nearby – which seems to soothe not only Tormund’s anxiety, but Jack’s as well. “I get a happiness boost just by petting my cats between meetings,” says Jack. “That’s something I wouldn’t get if I had to go to an office every day.” 

Jack also notes how being close to his kitties every day improves his work performance. Without having to worry about Tormund’s separation anxiety, he is free to focus on being more productive. “It helps to have the stress relief of a purring cat during the day,” he says. “If they’re happy, I’m happy."

Here are the Hoo-Pets, some of our best employees.