When dogs reduce tension

IT can be a dog’s life for the hard slogging high-teh workers of Silicon valley. But in a part of the world where a dog pound provides televisions and sofas for the benefit of abandoned mutts, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

With the high-tech labour market defined by a combination of chronic shortage of qualified workers and stressful jobs, technology companies are increasingly taking a novel approach to keeping their workers happy.

They allow them to bring their dogs to work.

Such perks can be seen as so crucial that some companies are willing to base their corporate future on being dog-friendly.

Internet powerhouse Amazon.com not long ago turned down a number of leases for a new headquarters after it transpired that the landlord did not want pets. And when America Online recently bought Netscape, one of the first things it did to assure workers that their unique corporate identity was not under threat, was to promise that they could keep their dogs at work.

The pet-friendly policy is the latest strategy of companies in the booming high-tech sector who have found that huge salaries are no longer enough to attract new workers.

They try every trick in the book to recruit promising students fresh out of college, including beach parties, clothes, free computers and other gadgets. And once on board they go to extraordinary lengths to keep the crew happy.

It used to suffice to provide stock options which gave workers the potential for huge profits on the stock market. But now a company can say goodbye to its best talent if it doesn’t offer other perks like video game centres, pool tables, gyms, sleeping rooms, espresso machines in every corridor, gourmet restaurants and cafeterias, onsite masseurs and yoga teachers, regular parties and office fridges fully stocked with gourmet dishes.

But even that is not enough.

According to the research company Meta Group, some 400,000 high-tech positions will remain vacant this year, with the biggest deficit in electronic commerce and network positions.

The shortage of supply means that salaries in the information technology (IT) industry are rising by an average of 20 per cent per year, as compared to 4 per cent in other industries. Most technology employees automatically receive a 10 per cent pay rise each year, as well as a bonus of at least 10 per cent.

The situation is unlikely to improve soon.

A recent report, "cybereducation: US education and the high technology work force", by the American Electronics Association, said that fewer students are seeking high-tech degrees despite a need for graduates in those fields.

Some of the gap has been filled with foreign workers —who are allowed in at the rate of 142,500 per year. But even that influx is not enough to satisfy the market.

Companies hope that having a dog-friendly policy will attract new workers and increase productivity. They cite research which shows that patting a beloved pet can release the same feel-good chemicals called endorphins that joggers experience.

Dog-lovers at pet-friendly companies attest that bringing their pets to the office both aids productivity and reduces stress. They cite them as good ice-breakers for shy workers, and as a good device to force people to take breaks from sitting at their computers.

But there can be disadvantages too, especially if the dog is not properly office trained and dirties the carpet, fights with other dogs, bites humans or disrupts peoples’ concentration.

Reports cited some of these reasons behind a recent decision by internet portal company Excite to ban pets at work after a chorus of barking interrupted a top-level executive meeting.

That incident prompted one popular computer magazine to publish guidelines for pet-friendly companies. These included setting up pet-free zone for workers with allergies, a compulsory vaccination programme and a punishments policy for disruptive pets.

Silicon valley insiders wonder where the trend will end and predict, only half in jest, that before too long, pets will be on the payroll along with their masters. — DPA