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Amid an ongoing employee disengagement and burnout crisis, one company is using an unusual method to boost office morale: adopting office cats.
In May of 2024, San Francisco mobile gaming company Avia made the decision to adopt two disabled cats from the Bao Shanyuan Charity Organization, which works to provide safe havens for rescued cats. Jai Bao is a black and white feline who lost nearly all his teeth due to a medical condition, and TangTang, who sports fluffy grey fur, lost an eye due to previous owner abuse.
“Many of our employees love animals and have pets of their own, so we took a company-wide vote among all employees who collectively decided to adopt them and let them share our workspace,” says Vickie Chen, CEO of Avia, which has around 300 workers.
While Avia has a dedicated staff member who’s responsible for caring for the cats full-time, the company also has a volunteer schedule that allows employees to volunteer to look after the cats daily. On weekends, the cleaning staff helps pitch in.
The company conducted an employee survey earlier this month to see how workers now feel about their new furry coworkers, and found sentiment was overwhelmingly positive. Around 35% of employees said they interacted with the cats frequently, and only 13% had no interaction with the animals. Most employees also reported a reduction in stress due to the presence of Jai Bao and TangTang; around 65% said the presence of cats decreased work-related stress, and around 88% said having them in the office creates a more relaxed and pleasant work atmosphere. And roughly 71% of employees said they were already involved or interested in taking care of Jiabao and TangTang.
“Our team members largely want to take care of these cats, and they’ve been a major boost for team performance and morale,” says Chen.
And while Avia does not have a formal RTO policy in place, the cats are serving as an incentive for office attendance. Around half of all workers surveyed said the cats have made them more motivated to come into the office. The company says around 90% of employees currently go to the office 2-3 days per week.
This isn’t the first time a company has used pet policies to drive worker engagement. Amazon has a program that allows employees designated spaces for their dogs to play and offers discounted pet insurance, according to the company’s website. But it remains a rarity. While allowing pets in organizational facilities is associated with higher work engagement and well-being, according to a study published last year in the National Library of Medicine, such practices are relatively unfamiliar to managers.
Of course, not everyone is on board with Avia’s office cats. While most employees support the office cat initiative, a few individuals raised concerns about employee allergies. To mitigate this, the cats primarily stay in their designated “house,” which is a separate room accessed using an employee card. When the cats are outside, they are kept on a leash, and the person walking them is instructed to ensure they avoid areas where employees with allergies are present. (While TangTang prefers to lounge around, Jiabao enjoys exploring and walking around the office on a leash).
All considered, Avia’s CEO stands by the company’s felines.
“It’s not only a boost to our company’s culture, it also shows our values of inclusivity and compassion, and provides employees with a shared responsibility,” says Chen.
Brit Morse
brit.morse@fortune.com
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