Meet the new-age pet-friendly Indian offices

(Vikas Agarwal, General Manager, OnePlus India with Laila, the Chief Happiness Officer)


Living all by yourself in a city while being a pet owner can be quite a stressful experience especially when you have to leave your furry friend behind as you leave for work.

Sure, a lot of people would argue that ‘work from home’ can be a probable solution to this problem, but what they forget to consider is that most often than not, that is a temporary affair.

However, if the number of Indian companies that are embracing the pet-friendly outlook so prevalent in the West is anything to go by, it’s safe to say that this separation could well be a thing of the past.

Yes, letting your pet accompany you to your workplace is something that companies across the country are including in their list of ‘perks’ in order to make the work environment not only more inclusive but also stress-free.

“One of the downsides of having long work hours is the fact that people are unable to give enough time to pets. And, there’s no better way to solve that problem but by allowing employees to bring their pets to office so that they’re stress-free.” said Vikas Agarwal, general manager of OnePlus India.


(The Human-Dog Interaction at InMobi)

By allowing employees to bring their pets to work, an increasingly number of workplaces are quietly ensuring greater productivity from their employees and shattering the age-old perception that such an arrangement could hinder regular work-flow. What more, this move also benefits pets since they get to interact with other dogs and are with their owners the whole day.

Though pet-friendly offices are a relatively new phenomenon in the country, for One Plus, it is a part of their work-culture. “Pets have been a part of the OnePlus company ethos since we started off in China two and a half years ago. The in-house dog called Una also went on to become the company mascot and our very own happiness specialist. The idea was to recreate this very culture in our office in India,” added Agarwal.

Staying true to their word, the OnePlus India team adopted Laila nine months ago and christened her their Chief Happiness Officer. But being a pet-friendly office also comes with its sets of responsibilities.

“The OnePlus India office has no cubicles or partition. We have kept it an office so that dogs can roam around the entire space freely as opposed to having just a designated area for them.” he informed.


(InMobi's Chief Cuddling Officer Becky)


Similar is the story of another Bengaluru-based startup that decided to go down the pet-friendly route. As of today, Becki, a white Persian cat is as much as a regular fixture at the office as is any employee replete with a designation- Chief Cuddling Officer. Becky belongs to Rebecca D’leema, a senior manager with InMobi. And, she’s not alone. Accompanying her is 25 odd employees who regularly bring their pets to work.

Taking their belief in a pet-friendly environment a notch higher, just last month the company hosted a Human-Dog Interaction project where they brought a professional trainer and her dog on board to help employees overcome the fear of dogs and teach them how it’s possible to co-exist. The result was an incredibly happy office which saw people touching a dog for the first time in their lives amidst echoes of ‘Aww’ resonating throughout.


(Chumbak's in-house dog Hugo)


At Chumbak, on the other hand, even customers of the brand are allowed to get their pets to their Indiranagar studio which boasts of a vast terrace. Employees are also seen taking a break to play with the in-house Labrador Hugo.

But it’s not as rosy as it sounds. Having a pet-friendly environment also comes with numerous challenges, the chief being an agreeing landlord. According to Agarwal, a supportive infrastructure, dry cleaning the office every week and having a doctor on call are some of the prerequisites for any company that’s thinking of going pet-friendly.

But, all this going the extra mile makes sense when one notices the effect a pet-friendly office has on its employees. According to Agarwal, the employees of OnePlus India are more productive, absolute stress-free and happier.