Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

It’s no secret that our emotions impact what we eat, when we eat, and how much we eat.
In fact, sometimes it seems that the strongest cravings hit when our emotional and mental
wellbeing is at its weakest. Emotional eating is a way to, in the short term, relieve or suppress
negative feelings, such as sadness, stress, anger/frustration, and/or boredom. However,
emotional eating can also lead us to make poor food choices, such as skipping or forgetting meals, consuming fast food frequently or consuming alcohol and/or caffeine in excess, all which may have health consequences, including unintentional weight gain. To help prevent emotional eating, focus on the following steps:

Identify the difference between emotional hunger and physiological hunger.

• Emotional hunger typically comes on suddenly with an urge to resolve the
  “hunger quickly”, often involves a desire for a specific type of food or food group,
  and usually results in overeating. In contrast, physiological hunger tends to be
  more gradual, allows us to stop eating when we are full, and doesn’t typically
  cause guilt that is experienced with emotional hunger.

Establish a healthy eating routine.

• Aim to eat two to three well rounded meals each day. Meals don’t have to be
  complicated: the easier and quicker = the better. Try pairing a protein source
  (chicken, salmon, ground turkey or lean beef, etc.) with various grilled, roasted, or
  steamed vegetables and seasonings/sauces of your choice for a quick,
  inexpensive and easy meal!
• Ensure you’re consuming enough of the right foods. Consume plenty of fruits,
  vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy products while limiting
  your intake of highly processed foods, added sugars, salt/sodium, and alcohol.
• Talk with a registered dietitian to develop a healthy eating routine that meets your
  individualized needs while helping to manage causes and symptoms of emotional
  

Manage overall stress.

• There is evidence to suggest that increased cortisol, the hormone released
  during stress, may result in an increased appetite, leading to overeating and
  potential weight gain. Rather than turning to food for comfort, be sure to control
  stress by journaling, exercise, practicing mindfulness/meditation, and/or social support.
  
  

When it comes to stress, my belief is that you need a full tool kit of remedies for the different levels and types of stress that life tends to throw your way. Daily stresses or, “good stress” is defined as eustress. For me, this form of stress is fairly manageable with a routine that keeps my body grounded and focused, and allows me to burn off that extra energy with exercise. Eustress is short-term, it can cause your body to feel excited or energized, can serve as a motivational force to get tasks accomplished and is deemed as they type of stress people can “cope” with. 

However, when life decides to start pulling back the bow, stress can get more difficult to manage. When the arrows start flying, that’s when you need an arsenal of serious stress coping tools. This is the stress we all dread and is more challenging to cope with and manage. It’s called distress; it causes anxiety, can lead to physical illnesses or pain, and it can cause a decrease in performance.

[Read More: How Stress Affects the Body and Your Health]

It can make you feel pretty crummy if it sticks around a while. Tension can build from stress so watch for signs of this in your neck, upper and lower back, temples, and head. For me, these pains are red flags that stress is starting to cross over into the distress area. Without immediate attention you can become more susceptible to developing a cold, suffering headaches, or sleeping poorly. This is an area you want to stay away from so don’t ignore these symptoms! 

You want to be armed with different tactics depending on the stress, so let’s discuss some options to help you build your own stress reliving tool box. Just as perception of what leads to positive and negative stress varies from person to person, stress management techniques are also individual. I need physical activity to help my mind decompress at the end of the day as compared to some who need to take a hot bath before bed. The key to winning the battle against stress is to find what works for you. Below are some of my tools for keeping different levels of stress at bay and how they can help your mind, body and soul get through stressful situations.

Exercise 

This can happen in many forms. My daily go to is something that increases the heart-rate and challenges the body. It offers my mind a chance to wander, to think about non-work related items, and to day dream. When I really need to pound it out, I use workouts to push my physical limits. At other times, if I have a lot of head and neck tension from stress, I don’t always choose heart-thumping cardio exercise; sometimes a Yoga class is the right choice to ground my thoughts and body.

Research has proven that exercise packs a punch when trying to reduce stress. This natural medicine can put stress in its place by increasing endorphins which help improve your mood. Exercise can also take your mind off of the daily pressures just by allowing you to divert your focus elsewhere. Other benefits of exercising can include lowering blood pressure, reducing anxiety and depression and improved sleep.  

Mind, Body, Connection

There are times when your mind will just take over and it causes a disconnect from your body. Call it what you will, up in your head, the ego, losing your mind, etc. Whatever you refer to it as, the risk is that you’ve become separated from what your body is telling you. We’ve all seen examples of this. Think of the guy on his cell phone that starts to cross the street without realizing there are cars coming right at him. Or maybe you’ve had the experience of driving home from work and suddenly finding yourself at your driveway without realizing how you got there. You show up to work with two different shoes or mismatched socks, or you drop the kids off at swimming when they should be at violin practice. These are signs that your mind is probably in overdrive dealing with the stressful factors of life. Your coping abilities are being pushed to the limits.

To avoid these scenarios, meditation is a great way to clear your mind. Studies have shown that even short bouts of meditation and shutting your brain off (or even trying) can have significant impacts on stress. The benefits of meditation surpass just stress relief and tip-toe into physical and mental benefits. If you’re not in to meditation or Yoga, check out these alternatives for mental relaxation and stress relief.

Take Comfort

A little self-love goes a long way.  Consider a long bath with a splash of lavender oil and a good book!  Old-fashioned rest can be just ask effective for relieving stress for many people; put your phone down and your feet up with a bowl of popcorn and your favorite TV series or a movie. Or, maybe taking your time in the kitchen and cooking your favorite dinner brings you comfort. Sometimes a complete wind down (as opposed to a workout) is the best choice to manage your stress. Think about what will take your mind off of the daily pressures and bring joy back into your life. Literally, slowing down to smell the roses can put stress into perspective and signal to your body that everything really is going to be okay. We have other tips for stress relief so we hope you'll click below to learn more. 

I know I'm not the ONLY one who exercises early in the morning.  While I don't have stats on the percent of exercising adults who workout before 7:00am, I know there are quite a lot of us; I see my tribe at the gym when I'm there at o'dark thirty.  (Seriously, why would commercial gyms open at 5:00am if there wasn't a demand for it?)  Still, whenever I get into a conversation with a friend about exercise and it comes out that I'm on the treadmill at 5:00am, I get the "are you out of your bleeping mind" look. 

The thing is, adulting is hard. There are a lot of pressures flying in (and sometimes sticking around) from different directions. We're wearing so many hats - wife, mom, friend, volunteer, employee - that without fail, when one of those important elements in life is out of whack with high stress, the other areas suffer too. 

I know it sounds cliche, but exercise is my fix.  When I'm not moving my body regularly, the carefully-laid house of cards I've built that has the appearance of everything going smoothly in my life is going to get blown over by the slightest of stressors.  Enter the 5AM workout.  I don't mean to sound dramatic, but I've tried other times of the day and it just doesn't fit for my life.  I have to be at work by 7:30am so I can leave by 4:30pm for kid pick up and once I'm in mom-mode, forget the afternoon/evening for "me" time. I suppose I could try the lunch-time thing if I thought my coworkers would be okay with me sweating in the office (even after a shower...yes, I'm one of THOSE people).

To be clear, when my alarm goes off at 4:30am it's not like I'm all bright eyed and perky.  I stumble to the kitchen, turn on the coffee pot and then sit on the couch to go through some basic seated stretches while I wipe the sleep from my eyes. I am never happy about the 5:00am workout, and I don't hit it every day, but I'm always glad when it's done and my whole day is better for it.  

I've done the early morning workout since I started adulting after college, and I've learned over the years to listen to my body so each early meet up with the treadmill, the weights, or the pool isn't always a time trial to beat yesterdays effort. I'm more forgiving for a light day and for skipping a day which has its own benefits for my psyche. 

When I managed corporate fitness centers for NIFS years ago, I used to get asked what was the best time of day to workout, and my answer was always the same: it's whatever time you actually will workout.  That's still my answer; 5:00am isn't for everyone. But there are a lot of hours in the day to choose to move your body.  Even a short 10 minute stint can be powerful for your health.  Carve out the time, no matter the hour and no matter how brief. Your body, your family, and your friends will be glad you did. 

In the first two blogs from this series, I wrote about offering healthier food at work and moving more throughout the day. Our last topic in this series is the one that excites me the most because I love the idea of being able to positively influence the work space for my colleagues. Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to hire a design expert. All I’m asking is that you consider the idea of RELAXATION in the workplace (gasp).

Try closing your eyes on some of these ideas to envision what makes you feel calm and takes you away for a moment. If you can conjure up a few mental images that bring peace, just apply those to the ideas below and you’ll be in good shape. If that’s not up your alley, you could even ask for volunteers at your company. You might be pleasantly surprised with what kind of workplace wonder they conjure up.

Retreat - Relaxation or meditation rooms are a great option for giving your employees some breathing room, or a place for some peace and quiet during the day. Since our culture hasn’t given in to the afternoon siesta idea yet, I think this is a nice runner-up. If your building has some unused space, it can easily be transformed into simple room for meditation, quiet break areas, or dare I say some quick shut eye. A natural, calm color of fresh paint, a comfortable chair, a small table, non-florescent lights or a lamp, a few pieces of artwork and you’re all set. Think spa-day, massage room or Zen like atmosphere, and you’re on the right path for offering a perfect retreat. Employees can then schedule time in the room with an online calendar system. However, you may have to limit the amount of time that can be spent in the room so everyone has a chance to benefit from the space.

Kids’ corner – We all yearn to be carefree like a child again but we know that’s not possible in the world of adulting. However, you can offer a space where employees can live out there childhood pastimes and creative ventures. This also doesn’t take much to put in place, but you will need some extra room for this one as well. This nook can have items like puzzles, cards, board games, Sudoko, coloring books and fine-point markers. The goal is to make a creative, fun space for your employees to escape into the enjoyments of non-work related activities that reduce stress levels, are carefree, and offer some mental decompression from their job. Another added benefit is that your employees might run in to some social banter that they don’t get from standing in the cafeteria line. Some may enjoy the opportunity to socialize with other employees. 

Home away from home – Some sites are calling these hang out rooms, or community centers, but I prefer the term, living room. I think that conveys the message clearly and you immediately are taken to a comforting area where you can relax and kick up your feet. Designing a small area where employees get away from the work environment for a few minutes seems to go over really well. They might choose to have their lunch there, read a magazine or book, listen to some calming music, bring their coffee or tea, chat with other co-workers, and just momentarily escape from their everyday work responsibilities. Not only is this convenient for your employees but it’s also a beneficial way to give their mind a break so they can go back to their job refreshed and rejuvenated.

That’s it for now! I hope you’ve enjoyed my tips on improving your work environment and offering healthier more active meetings. Even if you try to implement just one of these, you could get some really positive feedback from your employees. It doesn’t take much for them to feel appreciated, so see where you can go with this and my hopes are that you’ll gain a growing fan base at your organization.

Daily stress can make you unhappy and irritated, which in turn affects your overall health. Meditation is a simple addition to your daily activities that can help improve your quality of life and put you in a more positive mindset.

How Meditating Helps You Emotionally

Although you may feel like there is no time to meditate because of everything on your plate, it actually helps you become more focused and productive to get those things done and feel more calm while doing it. You can correct your thoughts from a more negative mindset to a positive one and understand why you feel the way you do.

Your mood will fluctuate and meditation can keep things on a more even keel to prevent anxiety. You can then handle outside situations that arise without feeling out of control. Just a few minutes a day will help reduce overall anxiety, stress, and even depression.

How to Get Started

Here is a step-by-step guide to start a simple meditation practice.

1. Take a comfortable seat with your legs crossed and ensure your posture is proper.
2. Place your hands in your lap with both palms facing up.
3. Let go of tension in your back and soften your jaw.
4. Keep your eyes slightly open.
5. Focus all your thoughts on your breath. As you breathe in, imagine it is all positive blessings that surround your life. As you exhale, blow out all negative thoughts and distractions.
6. Continue until you feel relaxed and peaceful.

Meditation doesn’t need to take a large chunk of time. Even 10–15 minutes daily can make a big difference in your health and wellness. Try it first thing in the morning to start your day off right, at the end of the day to de-stress, or in those moments when you feel the most overwhelmed—whatever works best for you!

When a corporate fitness center isn't possible, how do you get your employees to move more?  Check out our free download for tips for adding exercise, click below!

The elements that make up corporate fitness haven’t changed much in the almost 20 years I’ve been connected to the business. We’re still working hard to attract as many employees as possible to our programs, we’re still running fun, lighthearted games, we’re still tracking memberships, and we’re still helping employees with their exercise programs through prescription and assessment services. Group fitness is still a staple, and you still typically see corporate fitness centers with staff only in larger businesses.

Sure, equipment has changed, and there are a ton of new (albeit not necessarily better) certifications available for practitioners. Big players have more bells and whistles to win new business, but the core elements that make up a sound corporate fitness program for your employees are the same as they were years ago.

Corporate Wellness, However, Is in Flux

And yet, corporate wellness as a broader header under which corporate fitness sits has changed dramatically over the last decade. It’s still in significant flux. While the somewhat dated biometric screening and health risk assessments are still fundamental in many corporate wellness initiatives, they are losing popularity. As businesses look past the limited utility of those elements, they are turning toward opportunities to educate their employees into becoming better health care consumers as well as looking toward creative outlets for stress management along with getting back to basics by meeting basic human needs.

So why, then, is corporate fitness still doing what it’s always done? Can corporate fitness partners be part of the wellness evolution by offering solutions beyond the typical elements outlined above?

How NIFS Is Offering Evolved Solutions

We think so. Here are some of the ways we’re doing just that:

• Personal training has a niche market; it’s the people who benefit from it and who can also afford it. We work with clients who have a lot of employees that can’t afford the luxury of a personal trainer. Rather than tell them they’re on their own, we built Personal Fitness Quest to meet that very real need. Here’s how that alternative to personal training works for us.
• Where clients have allowed it, our staff have stocked and promoted activity centers. These simple nooks, typically carved out of high-traffic areas like the cafeteria, provide a small space were employees can take a break and focus their minds on something other than their work. They can realize the stress-relieving benefits of coloring, play their teammates in Jenga®, or listen to a relaxation meditation on an MP3 player.
• Our staff are capital-S serious about their work; they believe completely in what they’re doing to help improve the health of the employees with whom they work. But sometimes work is a little too serious, and we understand our role is to provide a light and welcoming environment. Employees need to feel understood, and they need a place to decompress. Some days they just need a good laugh. Check out how one of our managers put a laughable spin on the benefits of being a chicken.

Corporate fitness would benefit from the lessons that old-school corporate wellness is feeling by evolving into a service that promotes holistic well-being, perhaps with an emphasis on fitness. How are you promoting more than just exercise in your corporate fitness program?

Looking for more on what can make your fitness program tick? Use the button below to download our quick read with three tips for a successful corporate fitness center.

Depending on where you live, if you drive yourself to work, your daily commute could be up to 90 minutes each way. The average American will spend 25 minutes commuting to work according to U.S. census data. Unfortunately, this is taking its toll on your overall health in more ways than the obvious: accumulating even more minutes of sitting throughout your day.

Let’s talk about what is really happening to your health as you are driving yourself to and from work each day, and what you can do about minimizing those negative effects by replacing them with positive habits you can incorporate into your commute.

Traffic Jams, Weather Delays, Road Rage = Another Opportunity for Stress!

There are things that happen on our commute that we did not plan on that put us behind on our already hectic schedules or just annoy us. It is easy to become anxious when these things happen and start or end the day with added stress from the experience. The truth is these things are typically 100% out of your control, so this should not be a source of stress.

Next time you find yourself in this situation, simply take a few deep breaths. According to the American Institute of Stress, to decrease the damaging effects of stress on the body you should take focused and intentional deep breaths. This will allow you to truly relax by decreasing your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure, thus decreasing your overall response to the added stress.

Commuting Can Be a Pain…Seriously

When you have to sit for long periods of time, make sure you are sitting correctly. This comes back to ergonomics, but setting up your car to meet your needs has many elements to consider. The USDA APHIS Ergonomics Program does an excellent job of teaching you how to set up your driver’s seat properly as well as the risks associated with not setting it up correctly: increasing your risks for low back pain, neck strains, and many other common musculoskeletal injuries. Take a few minutes to properly adjust your vehicle to prevent these issues from occurring.

The Link Between Longer Commutes and Increased Prevalence of Obesity, High Blood Pressure, and Low Cardiovascular Fitness

Research from Washington University has shown a high correlation between longer commutes and increased prevalence of various health conditions such as metabolic syndrome, obesity, and high blood pressure. An obvious way to combat this is to ride your bike or walk to work, but realistically this is not always possible for many adults. Sometimes the commute is simply too long, or the city you are working in does not have the infrastructure to support this.

When commuting by foot or bike is not possible, it is even more important to find time for physical activity at some point during the day to help minimize these risks. One way that you can do this is to use a fitness facility on your way to or from work. This is a great option because not only will it allow you to access activity, but it will break up the time you are spending in your vehicle. 

Take This as an Opportunity to Make Time for Your Well-Being

If you have the option of using public transportation, your options here can be endless! One study has shown that people who use active travel (walking, public transportation, and biking) compared to those who drive themselves to work report higher levels of positive well-being. If active travel is not an option, maybe you enjoy listening to music, audiobooks, podcasts, or just being alone with your thoughts. The commute can provide a great opportunity to do these things. Many take this time as an opportunity to learn more in an area that they are interested in but just can’t seem to find the time to do, or to simply just unwind from their hectic schedules.

Although the commute is likely not your favorite part of your day, it does not have to completely derail your employee health if you take these things into consideration. Take a few minutes this week and reflect on your commute and think about where you may be able to incorporate some of these healthy habits to improve upon and maintain your good health.

Consider how you can provide better wellness and fitness services to your employee, click below for ideas from NIFS.

Sometimes employers go all in on their investment in a corporate fitness center. Thousands of square feet are dedicated to treadmill upon treadmill, thoughtful changing facilities, ample group exercise space, creative equipment solutions, and around-the-clock dedicated fitness staff.

But that’s not the reality for most employers. It’s important to remember that corporate fitness doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. You can provide programs, services, and (probably most importantly) an environment that’s conducive to movement. So if you’re trying to improve the exercise options you provide onsite for your employees, but you’re on a tight budget, consider these ideas.

1. If you have dedicated staff for an exercise program, invite them to be a Jack (or Jill) of all trades.

Most exercise professionals with a college degree have a background in more than just exercise. It’s common for an exercise science curriculum to fold in public health, nutrition basics, stress resilience, and other health-related disciplines. We work with one client who has a small fitness center and no additional budget for fitness programming, and rather than lock our staff down to the four walls of the fitness center, they are out and about providing healthy lectures, offering stretch breaks at key shift-change intervals, and coordinating extra workplace wellness services like onsite chair massage.

2. Consider group fitness classes.

Sure, dancing to music isn’t for everyone, but group fitness has come a long way. You don’t have to be coordinated or be able to keep the beat to enjoy a great class. And if your office includes meeting space with tables and chairs that can be pushed to the walls, you probably have everything you need to run a class. Instructor costs can be paid for by employees, subsidized by the employer, or paid in full by the employer. Check out our quick read: Three Keys to Adding Group Exercise at Work.

3. Think long and hard about your environment.

How are your employees encouraged to work, and how are your leaders and managers incentivized to run their teams? Are employees expected to sit glued to their screens all day to make a quota? Do your managers have substantial pressure to meet the same quota? These kinds of unwritten cultural norms make it almost impossible for an employee to take a 10-minute walking break. Can that mindset be shifted over time? This article suggests that employers have to start taking a look at creative ways to address employee stress.

What about your physical space? Maybe you can’t have a dedicated space for employee exercise, and even group exercise classes in an unused meeting room seems out of bounds. Perhaps simple signage encouraging the use of stairs instead of elevators would be a starting point to encouraging employees to move more.

Think about incentives for exercise differently. Good, old-fashioned behavioral economics around loss aversion could help you build an inexpensive incentive model for encouraging more frequent exercise in a sedentary workforce.

Don’t let a lack of physical space or dedicated staff derail your brainstorming about ways to inject more opportunities for activity at the office. The options are only limited by your creativity (not your budget).

The debate in corporate wellness:

Last year I spent a lot of time reading about current debates in corporate wellness. There are two vocal camps (albeit vocal in very different ways):

• The camp that publicly proclaims we must soldier on with the health risk assessments, the biometric screenings, the weight-loss challenges, and the “cost sharing” of health insurance with employees. That camp is mostly plugging their ears at (and not responding to) the questions from the other camp.
• The camp that keeps asking that pesky “why” question. But they’re not asking “why” like a toddler who presses on, and on, an on without purpose. Those in that second camp are asking why we must persist with corporate wellness practices that don’t work.

Some in the industry rise above the fighting to offer their long-held positions that are alternatives to more traditional corporate wellness. Check out the work being done by Rosie Ward and Jon Robinson at Salveo Partners, or Bob Merberg’s Health Shifting blog for some insights.

An alternative view:

I admire their work and their passion. I offer my own considerations here based on a blog I read focused on well-being for caregivers of the elderly. (Half of my work life is spent focused on health and fitness services in senior living communities.) The blog is about how The Eden Alternative assesses well-being, the dimensions they use, and how they apply them to their employees and those they serve.

Traditional wellness uses areas like physical, intellectual, and occupational wellness to map out how an individual is experiencing well-being in their lives. The Eden Alternative instead looks at identity, connectedness, autonomy, security, meaning, growth, and joy.

How does the worksite look if we build a corporate wellness strategy around optimizing those elements for employees? Here are three areas to consider.

What are the ways we cultivate and sustain connectedness for staff?

This is about more than your break room, or your subsidized healthy foods in the company cafeteria. This isn’t really related to your corporate IT policies for use of social media. But the answer(s) to this question could be about establishing policies that allow employees to provide family support in caregiving roles under reasonable circumstances. Or it could be about establishing a well-thought-out mentoring program at your company.

How are we communicating and following through on areas of autonomy for employees?

No one really likes to feel like they don’t have control over a particular area of their lives, and studies show that lacking autonomy at work can increase stress. If your micromanaging, timekeeping structure has employees taking bathroom breaks in shifts and feeling chained to their desks, it might be time to rethink how you can improve this area of your workplace culture. In a call-center environment, highly scheduled time on the phones is central to business success, and while you can’t change that paradigm, you can invite your team into building the schedule. They’re smart (or you wouldn’t have hired them, right?), so they might have productivity-increasing, autonomy-boosting ideas that you can actually put into practice.

Do we provide opportunities for our crew to engage in work that’s meaningful?

Not everyone has the good fortune to work day in, and day out, in a job they love. And there’s a decent chance that some of the people on your team are in that tough spot. Maybe you can restore a little meaning in their career by providing opportunities for them to engage in a passion through their work. The catch here is that you have to know your employees well enough to know what they’re passionate about. Start with that discussion and see where the ideas lead you. Establishing a day of service might spark enough enthusiasm for some (“I don’t LOVE my job, but the company I work for is solid”). Others might benefit from a mentoring experience to move into a new role with the organization.

You may have noticed that a lot of this alternative approach boils down to building relationships with colleagues. It’s a scary thing—getting to know your staff. But the rewards for individual well-being are far greater than we could get from any health assessment report or biometric screening. When we’re struggling (so much) with true employee engagement in corporate wellness, we need to step back and look at what we’re inviting them into. If it’s not meaningful, if it doesn’t add value (and I don’t mean money) to an employee’s life, why would they engage?

Change is hard—no one really likes change. But this might be a change your employees can get behind. So what do you think? Are you resolved to do better in 2016?

This recent article we shared on Twitter explained the positive effects that a pet can have in a work place, and based on how much traffic we saw from that single posting, it would seem that many of you are pet lovers like me.  What do you think about pets in the workplace?

Most employed people are on a constant search for methods to reduce stress in the workplace, improve their personal health, or maybe even increase productivity at the same time. I mean who has ever heard of not being stressed while getting loads of work done, what??! The article mentioned that employers actually notice a benefit from the having pets around, bringing energy, fun, and companionship. I see pets as great company and comfort. A great example given was the case that pet owners may work longer hours if they are able to bring their pet into work. This would save them from the rush to get home at the end of every day to let their pet out. I know that letting my dog was always a constant thought in the back of my mind. I noticed a higher stress level, worrying about her and how she is holding up at home. Does anyone else have that constant worry?

Randolph Barker, a professor of management in Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, performed a study in 2013 of dogs in the workplace. The results showed an actual decline in stress among workers, while those who didn’t have pets in workplace showed an increase in stress as the day continued. Among other studies, interaction with pets can lower blood pressure and improve a person’s mood. It is crazy to think the littlest things, like pets (sometimes they are little), can be so beneficial!

Before everyone gets all antsy and starts bringing their pet to work, it is suggested that a written policy be enforced. This can prevent liability and keep a clear policy with all things considered - allergies, cleaning up after pets, and the possibility of aggressive behavior. If this option is not considered, there is always The Take Your Dog to Work Day event sponsored by Pet Sitters International, who set aside a day in June to allow those with pets celebrate pet ownership and bring their pets into the work place. This would be a fun day to see so many pets in the work place! Personally, I know my day would brighten up pretty quick! Think about suggesting this to your employer. Who knows, they might consider the day or year round event!