Happy Take Your Dog to Work Day!
Friday, June 22nd is “Take Your Dog to Work Day”. This day has a very special day in our hearts here at Optimal, because we consider every day to be “Take Your Dog to Work Day”. That’s right, we have a dog-friendly office, and anybody working at Optimal is allowed to bring their dogs in during the day. You may have figured this out if you saw our holiday card, or the April Fools’ joke this year – our dogs are kind of a big deal to us.
Many customers ask us why on Earth we’d allow people to bring animals into the office, but in reality we at Optimal wonder why we didn’t implement this policy sooner. It’s been shown that pet-friendly offices are less stressful and have happier employees. And speaking from personal experience, it’s nice to get out of a long meeting and be greeted by a furry, happy face.
So who are the dogs of Optimal Resume? Allow us to introduce you…
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- Buster (left) and Sugar (right)
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- Jo Lewis
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- Gabi
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- Fredzio
Buster & Sugar – The beginning of it all. Five years ago, CEO Mark McNasby adopted two Labrador retriever puppies and wanted a way to care for them during the day. Being the CEO, he decided to turn the office dog-friendly, and it’s been that way ever since. Buster is known as the world’s calmest dog as evidenced by this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seR3WHTrYLY), whereas Sugar’s main duty is to unearth trash cans to eat the tasty contents within (tasty to a dog, that is).
Jo Lewis – Jo is a rescued boxer owned by Jeff Lewis, our customer service director. Jo is described as a “spaz” by her owner (for good reason), and her favorite pastime is disrupting Jeff’s training sessions.
Fredzio – Fredzio belongs to our Chief Technical Officer, Michal Oglodek. He’s a miniature Yorkshire terrier who enjoys chasing oversized dog toys and making weird growling noises at Gabi. Despite his small size, he still enjoys playing with the large dogs.
Gabi - Gabi is the youngest member of the office; a German Shepherd mix adopted by yours truly. She does the usual puppy things – looking cute, licking other dogs’ faces, digging up potted plants in the reception area, destroying $30 worth of toys in a week…the usual.
So if you ever call Optimal customer service and hear dogs barking on the other end, chances are it’s due to one of these pets. Our dog-friendly policy may not be the norm, but our employees (and their dogs) certainly appreciate it.
As a dog owner, working in a university setting I have been trying to figure out how to have my dog as an office friend…but I am not the CEO!
I just love this story, as it lifts my heart to know that there are companies embracing ‘man’s best friend’ into the office atmosphere.
I am inspired to keep trying to find a way to do just what your office is doing! Bye the way, we are Optimal Resume users at our institution–great tool for students.