A while ago I wrote a page about taking your cat to work. I queried why it happened so infrequently. The workplaces I have been in all my life were pretty cold at an emotional level, almost hostile if I am honest. Looking back I don’t how I put up with it. Since building this website (with the participation of others) I have visited Google offices several times. They are amazing offices, very relaxed and a home from home but even they lack a soul that a cat brings to the workplace. In fact they bring much more including some fun and emotional warmth. For me that is important, making the workplace somewhere that you enjoy going to. Surely it must make an employee more productive? Provided the cat was not too much of a distraction.
I went in search of “cat in the workplace pictures” as a follow up. And guess, what? I could hardly find any. Almost the only workplace that has a cat is the office at home. There are a lot of home workers these days so you will see cats in home offices. Here is a nice example.
Below is another nice picture of a cat in the workplace. This is an example of a cat actually working 🙂
Source: Uploaded by user via Trine on Pinterest
Please note that the pictures below are embedded files from Pinterest. They may disappear one day. If so you’ll understand why they are no longer on the page as I have no control over that event.
The next are all cats and books – either a library or book shop. Cats and books go brilliantly together.
Perhaps one of the most celebrated cats in the workplace was (still is?) Station Master cat in Japan. She helped improve customer service and company profits.
Look, if the Prime Minister of the UK can have a cat at No 10 Downing Street so can lots of other workplaces. He is Larry the mouser of Downing Street fighting with the Foreign Office cat Palmerston. He was rehomed from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.
A cat in a workplace usually refers to a home office, shop, café or industrial unit but rarely the conventional office. Isn’t it time for a change?
A couple of pages relating to cats at work are:
What I would call enlightened and progressive thinking with a touch of gentleness and humanity – the places who give their resident cats a job title. There was one in the paper today. A ginger tabby who walked into Linton Zoo and looked after the lion cubs and other newborn animals. He was the nurturer-in-chief. He died very recently. He is sorely missed by the zoo staff.
Cats thrive in closed work environments where they have a somewhat free reign. Google “hotel cat” so see some examples of cats living it large in swanky metropolitan hotels. A couple even have job titles!
http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/110104-algonquin-matilda-jm_5978.grid-6×2.jpg
Nice thought Dan. If there is a cat in a business it is more likely the business will be managed by a decent employer as you say. Therefore it should be a good place to work. And warehouses, theatres, storage facilities should all employ a cat as you suggest. It has to be a win-win. But people aren’t imaginative enough. They play safe too much.
A City of Phoenix worker was arrested and jailed for abuse on a dog. Just wanted to share an example at how Arizonian’s view of animal abuse changed over the last 30 years for the better. Poor dog. Animal cruelty makes me so mad!