Friday was Take Your Dog To Work Day, and a brand new qualification has been launched to help keep our dogs safe if they come to work with us.

In an office environment there of course has to be a health and safety policy for humans, but with more dogs than ever joining us on the daily commute a new course has been devised to instill best practice for firms.

The iPET Network Level 2 in Creating a Dog Friendly Workplace qualification is designed for offices and businesses that regularly welcome pets.

The qualification will be regulated by Ofqual, the qualification offers the skills that a workplace needs to keep pets well looked after, but also vital strategies for keeping workers safe in a canine-friendly working environment too.

Modules on the course, which leaves learners with a recognised qualification include understanding relevant legislation, risk management, policy making and studying in detail the benefits and challenges of taking dogs to work.

A University of Lincoln study found that employees who often took their dog to work reported 22% higher satisfaction with working conditions.

Employees who took their dog to work also reported increased absorption in their work by a significant 33.4% and in their dedication to work by 16.5% – an overall increase in work engagement of 14.4%.

Nationally during the pandemic 3.2million households brought home a pet of some kind.

From 2020 to 2021 there was a boost in dog numbers from 9million to 12million, at a time when many office workers were doing their work from home.

But now that people are going back into work, there is greater demand from employees for firms to accommodate furry friends too.  

Sarah Mackay and Fern Gresty, Directors of the iPET Network, said: "There are more dogs in this country than ever before, and during the pandemic many people experienced becoming a dog owner for the first time.

"Now that people are back in the office, they want to bring along pets, and this is beneficial not only for the workplace, but for the pets too.

"However, we have seen that there is a real need to get this right, and create structures and policies which make our dog friendly workplaces a happy and healthy environment for everyone concerned.

"We hope that our course addresses this need, and look forward to welcoming existing and future dog friendly offices to our sessions." 

To find out more go to www.ipetnetwork.co.uk