WEBVTT It is a pleasure to be here with the chief engagement and everyone here on behalf of the Caesar brand. For anyone who didn't come to SHRM this year in Las Vegas, we had an amazing booth with, uh, two incredible dogs there I grew up with, actually with four Shelties. And for everyone is like, oh, what's a, what's a shelty in terms of a, a dog breed? Well, think of Lassie. It's, it's like a colly. And so I have a, a special connection to dogs and, and, uh, really what we're gonna talk about today is the changes in kind of corporate culture and workplace trends, and how, you know, there's a great opportunity to enable employees to be able to bring their dogs to work in a safe, secure, in a fun way, because dogs are cute, fun, furry. So I, I think that, you know, you're gonna get a lot out of this, and hopefully you are in a, maybe a leadership position or can start having more of these conversations in the workplace about bringing your dogs. So I'd like to kind of get off. We, we've done a ton of research over the years. In fact, this year it'll be 73 studies that I've led on all aspects of the workplace. There's been a huge emphasis, though, as everyone knows, who's listening on this, on wellbeing and wellness over the past three years, coming out of the Covid Pandemic. And in fact, there's still a lot of P T S D and suffering. We did a study, uh, that found that 78% of workers have struggled for at least a year. 46% have struggled for over three years, and then 91% of workers are less productive of work due to these issues. So this is a longstanding issue. We're gonna be talking about wellbeing kind of moving forward in two years, five years, 10 years. This is, this is definitely part of the overall workplace dialogue moving forward. And another study, you know, we did, uh, with a big company called Oracle, is we found that people during the course of the pandemic reprioritized what matters to them. So in terms of what matters to them coming out and rethinking about people's priorities, uh, from a workplace and personal life perspective, work-life balance course is right at the top. Prioritizing mental health wellbeing, which is also kind of work-life balance at the same time. And then flexibility over location schedule, whether you're hourly or knowledge worker. Everyone wants some degree of flexibility and a meaningful job, not just showing up to do the same thing every day, but to, to, uh, you know, have that level of kind of meeting and purpose behind what you do. And so I think that as, as we kind of open up this conversation, a running theme is, you know, how do we create an environment that's inclusive of people and their own needs, and in this case, family members being a dog, uh, so that we can improve people's, you know, health, happiness and joy in the workplace and outside the workplace. And the fascinating thing about when we say work, work can be done anywhere, as we've seen over the past three years, especially for knowledge workers. They can work from coffee shops, uh, corporate offices, remote offices, their home, you know, basically anywhere. And so I think that we need to be able to support employees and their preferences and, you know, if, if they have a dog or, or some pet to be able to enable them to be able to have that type of consistency wherever they are. Uh, and we really, for the most part, over 50% of companies have a hybrid work arrangement. And most companies eventually will have some sort of hybrid work arrangement, because employees want flexibility and in terms of where they work, how they work, and, um, I think that, you know, from a job satisfaction standpoint, that that's gonna consistently be a running theme. And, uh, I call it like the tru between employers and employees. Employees want that freedom of flexibility, but employers want, you know, um, to ha to have a little bit more control and to support socialization, collaboration and creativity in the workplace. So it kind of meets in the middle allowing all parties involved to benefit. Uh, like I was saying before, COVID has really given rise to new, new, uh, themes and trends when it comes to work life. In fact, 23 million American household acquired a pet during c o So of course, if you acquired a pet, you don't wanna wave goodbye to this pet. And now that more, uh, workers have, have to go back into the office space, you know, they wanna be able to bring their pet with them. And that's a very, very important thing to them. Very personal. And in a sense, it's a perk. If you're a company that supports dog friendly office environments, you know, those workers are more likely to stay with you or change their job or company to be able to work at your company. So we gotta think about it like that. Um, and this idea of consistency, I think is really important. Wherever people work, whether it's at home, co coworking space, office space, coffee shop, wherever they wanna be able to bring their pet wherever they go. You know, they don't wanna just wave goodbye or, or give it off to like a, a dog walker. They wanna be able to have that type of support. And people want consistency when it comes to their office environment. So if they're used to having their pet on their left side, they wanna continue to have their pet on their left side where they can pet them in the office. And, uh, that goes with everything too. It's not even just, you know, when it comes to dogs and pets in the workplace, you know, they want the same notepad next to them. They want the same maybe picture of them and their spouse and children. So I, I do think that that level of consistency when it comes to the employee experience is very vital as we move forward. Um, one of, one of the great stats from Mars Pet Care in in one of the recent surveys is that 87% of employers with dog-friendly office policies say it made employees more likely to return to the office. So for all you employers that are taking this hybrid working approach where people have to spend some of their time per week in the office, that that's something that that should be thought of. And employers and employees who, who think about dog-friendly offices and, and offices and companies that support dogs in the workplace, they think and, and, and, and view it as, you know, a a kinder, better friendlier environment that's more open and more flexible. So there's always these positive associations when it comes to dog-friendly office environments. So I think what's gonna be a really, really insightful conversation now is I'm talking to Sarah Dunsmore, and she's the people and organization director at Mars Pet Care North America. And just like we were talking about with SHRM and, and kind of everyone here has some sort of HR role is connected to HR and employment in some respect. You know, Sarah, you know, works at a company that's obviously very supportive of dogs. And so she's gonna be able to answer a lot of your questions and a lot of my questions because, you know, as much as I've been very involved with the, uh, Caesar brand and, and, and, uh, you know, you know, in Nashville and in shrm, uh, I think that she brings a very unique HR perspective that all of you will relate to. So Sarah, so great to have you on here. Uh, how are you doing today? I'm great, Dan. It's so great to be here and I'm really looking forward to having some conversation around this topic. It's a really exciting topic, particularly as you think about hr, contemporary HR people, strategies in the world that we operate in today. I know, I feel like every day I'm reading an article about how HR and in terms of a role is evolving, and this is definitely something that people need to think about. So can you describe your role at Mars Pet Care and your experience in the people and HR function? Absolutely. So, um, I have been with, uh, Mars Incorporated for a total of 17 years. Currently, I'm the people and organization director, as the slide says, for the demand and corporate functions in North America. Um, before that, I was the country director for the Australian mask pet care business. And so I've spent the, you know, I think, so people here 17 years with Mars, and they think that is a long time with one employer. And, and it is important to recognize I've worked across many segments within the Mars, um, business across many geographies, including the uk, Australia, um, and Asia, um, as well before I relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, um, in March of 2022 last year. So, you know, I think part of the reason I've stayed, um, for 17 years with a business, you know, is, is core to it. It is a, as a purpose driven organization, and, and at Mars Pet Care, our purpose is about making a better world for pets, right? And part of my role is thinking about what are the HR strategies that we can bring to life that really unlock growth of the organization to serve the purpose that we work for. So thinking about what's happening in our external environment that we need to be cognizant of, and then what do we need to do from an internal perspective to stay up to date, to stay relevant, and to obviously attract, retain, and develop employees in our organization. And I think that's kind of why we're here today, right? Thinking about, you know, north America pet Care has had a, uh, pet-friendly, uh, office environment for over 10 years. So this is something that we've been doing for a long time. It's core to our purpose, it's intrinsic in everything that we do, but I think there's some really great synergies that are now playing out within the workplace as it relates to, uh, getting people back into the office and maintaining a, a hybrid working environment. Absolutely. And I remember going to the, uh, the Morris Pet Care offices in Nashville, and I walk in and it's like a, a little figure of, of the m and ms to greet me. It's like, oh, wow. Like, yeah. I mean, Mars has so many brands, including obviously the Caesar brand, but it's, it is, you can build an entire career at the company because you can kind of move around so much. Um, but for, from your perspective, obviously being at, at the company for a long time and seeing all these external trends, which are also, as you were saying, you're reflecting internally, right? You're reacting to these trends to try and have more, you know, dog-friendly, you know, office environments and policies, but also other things, of course, that you're concentrating on because there's so much that's changed over the past three years. How would you say in the, you know, from your perspective, what would the be the biggest challenges from a workplace and HR perspective that you've seen since let's say 20 20, 20 21? Yeah, I think it's a great question. One that we're faced with as HR leaders all the time. I mean, you mentioned mental wellbeing. I think wellbeing has been a big focus for us in hr, probably for 10 years. And I think that's holistic wellbeing. And I think since 2020, we've really made that shift to understanding what is playing out for our employees from a mental wellbeing perspective. And, and whilst we saw, I mean, the rise of flexible working, I mean, covid demonstrated to many organizations that were struggling with adopting true, true, flexible working. It is possible, but there is a synergy there, right? We've increased this flexibility, we've increased this remote working, but our mental wellbeing and the cases of mental stress and burnout and work, work-related stresses increased as well. So, you know, I think those two, working hand in hand is something that we've gotta understand and un understand and, and kind of unlock for our employees around how do we take everything that we've learned around the flexible workplace and hybrid working over the last two years and maintain an environment where, um, we are supporting associates wellbeing at the same time. And then I think the third element that we've seen is we've now got an incredibly volatile gig workforce. People, if they don't get what they want from their workplace, it's very easy to change employees quickly. So our retention and our, um, attraction strategies are more important than ever. And I think this is why we have to think outside the box around what are some of these contemporary work policies that address all those external factors and make our workplace a really enticing workplace culture through the workplace culture. Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, as much as everyone was like, oh, it's a recession and all this, there's always competition for top talent. I mean, ever since I started my career, you know, the war for talent was a thing, right? Like, that's not going anywhere. And so you have to constantly kind of evolve and advance your culture to, to stay relevant, like you were saying, keep up with the times and support needs. And I love that you said holistic wellbeing. We've done, you know, a study with Deloitte for the past two years about mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. And you're gonna get into this of course, on, uh, you know, the benefits of dogs in the workplace and how that connects to holistic wellbeing mm-hmm. Which I think is really important. And one of the big benefits from an employee standpoint, uh, like I was saying before about covid that really reshaped and trying to transform the workplace and how we know it hybrid wasn't even a word before covid, right? Like that, that was kind of just invented in terms of how people operate in their environment, you know, kind of post covid and how they do their office structures and environments. How did the Covid pandemic make employees rethink wellbeing, the type of work environment they wanna work in and the role of pets in their life? Yeah. Well, here we go. So it's really interesting. I think over the last few years, employees have really grown accustomed to these new work schedules. Many working from home, and sometimes for many of us for the first time in our careers. And what that enabled and unlocked was the ability to be, you know, have your own schedule, be close to family, and in many instances, be close to your pets. I mean, you talked about it at the start, have your dog sitting there on the left side to say hello. And actually at times, you know, the dog being at home with the pet gave you a break, right? You had to take the dog out, you had to go for a work. So you could see this real work-life balance kicking in. And as we've come out of that pandemic, we're sort of moving forward to a place where employees are now starting to say, we wanna, we want both, right? We wanna unlock the flexibility and have hybrid, but we also wanna see employers come back into the office. And I think, you know, statistically, we know through that Caesar brand survey, you know, 87% of employers saying that actually it, having a pet-friendly office fundamentally removes a barrier for employees today in getting back into the office, because we're actually asking them to come back into the office away from that routine that they've created. And the ability to bring your dog back into the office really helps you feel like, actually, I'm kind of getting the best of both now, right? And I don't wanna leave that dog at home, and it's, and I'll be able to bring it back into the office. And it's having a really positive impact, a, on them returning and b, on them feeling engaged and happy in the workplace at the same time. I love that. And I couldn't agree more. We actually have a comment. Hello. I'm an HR director in Beverly Hills, California. We are dog-friendly, personal injury law firm. That's really cool. Yeah, I mean, we're hearing this more and more, again, it's like, it's the battle for talent also, like a lot of, a lot of people who are leaders within organizations, if they bring their pet to work, that kind of communicates, hey, it's okay for others to bring their pets to work as well. So yeah, leadership is extremely important for making dog friendly offices work in the first place. Uh, one of the things that, um, I think is really cool, Sarah, is, you know, when I talk to, you know, people who have dogs, I, you know, had a dog as well, um, they think that the dog is actually part of their family, right? So they don't wanna leave their family member at home. They want the, the dog to be with them wherever they go. You know, I have friends who, you know, will only go to dog-friendly restaurants, you know, and so I, I, I do think the dogs are definitely a deep rooted part of their lives. I had one friend that I, I mentioned this at s Shem, got four dogs during Covid, and she previously never had a dog in her life. And now she's this, uh, a massive dog fan who, you know, works from home and had switched their employer because their previous employer didn't let them bring dogs to work. So I think that it is becoming a big variable and a perk, and something that a lot of organizations are considering more now because of the past three years especially. Mm-hmm. Uh, what would you say the top benefits of pets in the workplace are as it relates to HR and, um, how, how do they, you know, how do they use this to evaluate office culture, employee satisfaction, recruiting, intention and retention? I mean, these are like the hallmark, you know, things that HR measures as, you know, it's like how do we leverage the, these benefits of pets in the workplace to enhance all of these aspects? Hr? Yeah, I mean, it may be obvious, but I mean, I, I mean, I've been working in a pet friendly, uh, office since I arrived in North America, and more so broadly globally. I mean, pets just quite simply put, make, make great coworkers. They're really enjoyable to be around. Um, the Caesar brand survey that we conducted, we found that two thirds of dog owners say that having their dog at work improved their overall happiness. Um, and, and I can speak to that, right? You know, we've seen an increase in our employees returning to work. Um, so when we talk about we want to balance the hybrid and we want people to work from home and come back into the office, you can look at your office attendance to say, actually, is the pet friendly environment enabling people to come back into the office? And, and the answer quite simply for us, and through the survey that we've done is yes, it is. Um, we've just had, at Mars, we've had a bring your, um, pet to work or bring your dog to work week, right? And we saw a huge uptake in the amount of, um, employers coming back into the office. And you can see that it increases their morale, it increases their engagement. I mean, having pets in the office can just create sort of an opportunity to connect with someone that you wouldn't normally connect with. You can pass someone in the corridor. If you didn't have a dog with you, you probably wouldn't say hello, or you wouldn't stop to have that friendly pat with that dog. And this is what it does. It sort of breaks down barriers and creates these really incredible moments where people can connect and can enjoy, uh, time together that they probably wouldn't have had if they hadn't have had that dog as a barrier point to whereas an opportunity to connect with them. So I think looking at things like just your overall attendance, the morale, the overall engagement, and how much you're seeing relationships build beyond those that maybe traditionally wouldn't have been built had you not had dogs in the office. Yeah. It's like, it's almost like having a dog in the office. It can be a conversation starter, right? Okay. Like, oh, you have a dog. Well, I have a dog, or I had a dog, or, you know, my brother has a, or sister has a dog. Like, I think that, that, that can spur conversations. And of course, like if you have a mutual interest or if you have a kind of a few, you know, if multiple people have dogs in the office, then the relatability, the connection and conversations can occur just from that as well. Mm-hmm. And that, that actually, aside from like the health benefits, I think that that might be o often overlooked. I don't know from your standpoint if, if you've seen that, but I do think that, you know, I even outside of work when, you know, people bring their dogs to like a park, you know, and another dog comes up to that dog and then the owners talk and maybe they, you know, uh, you know, become friends or whatnot. So I, I see that happening outside of work. So why wouldn't that be able to happen at work? Yeah. I mean, I think there's not, you know, uh, yeah, Mars, we have, I mean, it's part of our culture. We have a very pet-friendly office, but there's nothing like having a meeting where it's been a long day and things can be a bit stressful and there's a dog just to break the tension in the room for you to sort of talk about that dog, who it belongs to. And I mean, they're endearing. They're, like I said, they're great coworkers, so they general feeling the stress levels you can feel go down instantly. And this sort of sense of connection and collaboration absolutely help, helps. And we know statistically as well through that survey, that's what employees are telling us, actually their happiness and their overall kind of engagement increases as a re as it relates to having those dogs in the office. And what HR and people, specific policies and programs do you offer at Mars Pet Care that other companies can implement to become more dog-friendly? Yeah, it's a great one. So, I mean, um, I think it's really important to think about what, what would it, what would it look like to make a dog-friendly office? And so, I mean, we've got some great examples at Mars Pet Care. We have a fantastic, um, wiffy enabled dog park, right? So when you're bringing them into the office, you know, they're gonna need to go for a walk, you know, they're gonna need to go outside, but you don't want it to impact your working day as well. So the chance to do those walking meetings or those outside meetings while also making sure that the dog is looked after, during that workday. Um, thinking about dedicated dog areas, we've got, um, an indoor area that we, um, have that we can drop the dog off. So if there's a big meeting or, um, a meeting that you would prefer not to take your dog to putting that into the indoor care taking area to be looked after for that time. And then I think just overall, like how do you make sure the dogs become part of the workplace? So how do you have dedicated dog spaces, dedicated meeting areas, spaces where you can go and get a coffee, but you can also take your dog with you. They're the kind of policies and practices that, um, organizations need to think about that we've done that really help sort of integrate and make this a collaborative environment. So make it great for the employees and great for the dogs at the same time. Yeah. A lot of people who are tuning in today, and we have some great questions that we're gonna get to at the end of my, of our conversation here. They're curious about, you know, what this dog-friendly environment looks like, you know, what would you suggest to these companies and HR teams who are curious and eager about creating this type of environment that supports pet, uh, different pets like dogs? What can they do first? Yeah, that's a great question. And I'd say at its core, I'd say this is about being collaborative. So a workplace that works for the humans and a workplace that works for the dogs. Um, and I would start small if this isn't, I know we've got some people on the call already that have said that, that they have a dog-friendly workplace, and this might be a new space for you, but you know, you don't have to move from not having dogs to dogs every day. So starting small and thinking about, you know, we're, we're hr um, strategists, so thinking about test and learn as we go. So maybe it's a dog-friendly Friday to think about what's the general reaction, how is it received, what does it look like? What are the questions that we get? And we can learn as we go so that we don't have to think about sort of like taking this from nothing to everything overnight. I think, you know, thinking about also, um, what are the spaces that you wanna section off that maybe become the dog-friendly, the pet-friendly spaces and the, you know, the, the not pet not pet office spaces as well, so that you've got designated areas for everyone to feel part of the, the, um, ch potential change that you're going through. We have this really great leash system at Mars as well, which I didn't realize until I came to North America. So, so the leashes enable you as an owner to, to, to, to, to, um, communicate to everyone. Um, is my dog one that absolutely loves, um, being pet and likes to be walked up to, or is my dog one that needs their space? So a green leash means good to go. I can come up and I can have a cuddle and a pet and a yellow one. That means leave me, leave me to be, and I prefer my space, which I think is great as well because that means all pet owners can benefit from this. You don't have to be a pet owner that says, well, I can only take my dog if they're great in crowds. You can take, all pet owners can be part of this process. It's just about making sure what are the things that we need to implement so that everyone understands the sign signs and the symbols of what's important. So I think thinking about sort of little things and being incremental as you move into being a pet-friendly workplace. Yeah. What I love about what everything that's happened at Morris Pet Care is you serve as a best practice. You've tested things, things have worked, maybe haven't worked, and you've learned and, and you've leaned more into the things that have really been successful. And that's why we're here today to kinda show you, hey, these things have, have worked for Mars Pet Care and you know, they could work for you as well, or you should at least get some inspiration for what's possible. That's why I like too, it's like nothing has to be a full best practice, but at least you could take something from it or see, hey, maybe at our company if we do these types of things and follow these steps, maybe that will help us be more successful creating a dog-friendly environment. Mm-hmm. And I was recently in Nashville, like I've, I've said a few times, which was just such a great experience, uh, at the Mars Pet Care offices and there was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the doggy daycare on site, which is yet another benefit and perk and, and great thing that you do. Uh, how does this benefit help encourage and support employ dog owners? Yeah, so it's a great, I love the doggy daycare. It is a great benefit really that's about recognizing it's, it's still a commitment and there's a lot of responsibility that comes with pet ownership. Um, and you still have work to do. So doggy daycare is all about bring your dog into the office and if there is a time in the day that you need support or you need help because you need to go offsite or you need to do specific training, that you can take them to the doggy daycare and they can be looked after. And I think that's also a great benefit for the dogs as well. I think for anyone that's on the call that has become a pet parent during the course of their lifetime, we know part that comes with a huge responsibility, right? You've got to socialize them and train them and bringing them into the office. And part, particularly for Mars Associates, it means actually they get to be socialized at the same time in a really controlled environment, which is a huge benefit as a pet pet owner as well. And I think, again, it comes back down to the mutuality. This isn't just about creating a workplace where employers can bring their pets back in and maintaining all those benefits. It's also about creating a culture where because of that benefit, they can perform at their best. And you know, and this is what Caesar brand is all about, it's about making sure that we are creating a world where we are more inclusive of dogs and we're starting with the workplace to do that. Yeah. The way I always like to talk about this, which builds off of everything you said, is it's really not just about the policies and guidelines and procedures and programs, but also about the culture shift. And they're both related, but you need both in order to make something successful at a company is what I found over the course of my career. Uh, what a lot of people are asking for now, of course, which is, I mean I'm sure you get these questions a lot, is what are some of the HR challenges that you and your peers have experienced with implementing these dog-friendly policies? Yeah, I think there's a lot of simple ways to success, successfully implement dog-friendly policies, but they're also, there can be barriers. And I think for example, we do understand that not everyone is a pet owner. And sometimes people, people can react negatively. I don't wanna be around dogs, I have allergies. What does that mean for them? Right? And my encouragement would be, you know, I wouldn't let that, um, stop you from looking into this cuz there's lots of opportunities to think about. Um, cuz we know we can see the benefits from the workplace if we move to more pet friendly workplaces that encourage dogs in the workspace. I think I talked about it before, but designating specific areas that are dog friendly versus people only areas is really helpful. Thinking about meeting rooms where actually this is a meeting room where we are dog-friendly and this is a meeting room where it's, you know, employees only. So you can start to think about how does it work? And, you know, we've got some great resources as part of the Caesar brand, um, grants funding through the, um, ma making a better world for pets. We've got the Bri, uh, what is it? Pets Work at Work toolkit, which is really about this is where to start. How do we help, um, employers and HR professionals think about what are some of the barriers and using those toolkits to think about what are some of the strategies that we can deploy to, to enable that. Yeah. And there's no one size fits all too. We have a, we have a question by Wilson Forney who says, has anyone seen this work in a healthcare facility like a primary care office? And the reality is, you know, it might not work there, but that shouldn't be able to stop you from supporting, you know, dogs in some ways, right? And, and doing things like the doggy daycare like, like, uh, was just mentioned. Um, but Sarah, do you have any, any other additional comments on top of that? Yeah, I mean I think, I mean I definitely, leading on the resources, right? So the pets work at work resources, which is part of the better, better cities for pets programs. Um, and I would think about segregation, right? Think about, um, how can we make it work whilst also not being holistic? What are the platforms or the opportunities that we can start small before we go broadly to everyone? Like thinking about small trials is probably a way to overcome some of those sort of immediate barriers that come to mind around the type of workplace. Absolutely. And you've mentioned a lot of this so far and so many great detailed examples, but are there any other ways that Mars Pet Care makes it easy for employee pet owners? Well, of course we're here today to talk about the Caesar brand and the Caesar brand, uh, offering $75,000 worth of grants across 15 organizations. And, sorry, I dunno if I made you push, pull your slide first head, Dan, I might have jumped. No, no, no, I, no, it's perfect. I I, I'd love to mention this too and we can re reiterate at the end as well, because I think this is a good program. So yeah, feel free to talk about it. Well, I mean, you know, I feel I can, I've been in HR for a long time, right? And I know that sometimes we talk about the natural place to go to is what are all the challenges, what are all the barriers that come up and how do I overcome them? And of course I think this is a great place to start, right? So, you know, the Caesar brand is committed to making the world a more dog leaf dog friendly place. And we're starting with the workplace and we've got this great campaign offering $75,000 worth of grants across 15 organizations. And this is a huge opportunity, um, that Mars is supporting to help organizations start to go, well, how would we make this work? What would that look like? And that's exactly what the grants are all about. So thinking about what are your unique, uh, challenges in your workplace, or potential barriers and using this platform to be able to think, I'm gonna do something differently in this space. Because we know statistically, if we go back to Dan's, um, statistics at the start, this is a benefit for the workplace. This isn't just about doing something nice for employees. There is a direct correlation around how they perform, how they feel, how they're engaged, and how you as a business will ultimately perform. So remembering there's a direct correlation is really important. Well, we have some really great comments here. Heather Varney says, yes, even having some dogs come in as therapy dogs would be nice at work. Honestly, if you were at Sherm, and I don't know if you were at Sherm, but yeah, at the Caesar brand booth, I mean, you just saw lines of people coming there because, you know, and I, I had not even experienced this before. Like, they view it as a break. You know, it's, you're at a conference, you know, for instance, you're at a conference with 40,000 people and it's exhausting. And you're hearing, you know, keynotes and workshops and all networking and doing all these things in Vegas is a very intense place. And then you have two dogs sitting there that are just, you know, on their best behavior, probably better behavior than most humans. And people are just loving it and, and are relaxed and it's, they serve as almost, it's almost like, uh, they symbolize a break. Yeah, they definitely do. They definitely create a sense of, I don't know, I would say calmness is what I get when I walk into the office at Mars when we've got our, when we've got our dogs in the office, and just a sense of fun and collaboration, which is a really nice thing to have if you think about engagement, motivation, and just overall happiness in the workplace as it relates to culture. And Katie Shuda says, I going back to what we were saying with, uh, you know, taking dogs to a hospital. I work at a children's hospital and we have therapy dogs that visit the kids. That might also apply to the question about working in the healthcare clinic. So people, people do make it work. Yeah, I think another one as well, um, I mean all of those companies as well at Mars is we have a predicate policy as well, right? Which is again, another way to write down and to document and to make it known for all what are the rules and, and, and the processes that's going to apply as we start to introduce dogs into the workplace. So thinking, I mean, this is a HR fundamental thinking about a policy. We've called it petiquette policy, but thinking about a policy that lays out the rules and the expectations and, you know, we've had great years of success and we have over a thousand people that work at our Franklin office in Tennessee. Not all of them are dog owners, not all of them are pet parents yet we've, we've made it work because we've started with those, um, pet policies, we've put in those dedicated spaces. We've been clear around what's pet friendly dog area versus what's not. We've got that outdoor area, you know, and I think these, again, this is where we sort of break down those milestones to make it work for us. Excellent. Yeah, and another comment too, and this, this actually has come up a few times, uh, from my conversations. Our, uh, Wendy, Chuck says our previously landlord allowed it. However, our current landlord does not allow it. I hope they catch up to the times. It's nice to Yeah, it was nice in our previous space that was ahead. Other times, yeah. I'm even locally, I'm, I'm seeing more office spaces support dogs and like anytime people talk about their office space that supports dogs, they typically have a smile on their face. Yeah. And it might be a good one to use the research. So we, we know, shared some statistics at the start of the call. I mean, I think maybe yes, historically people were ahead of the times cuz intuitively they knew that there was a benefit. But I mean, the Caesar research is really clear. I mean, I think it was two thirds of dog owners are saying that the ability to take their dog into the workplace increases their engagement to go back into the workplace and increases their happiness in the workplace. And then 86% of employers are saying they are seeing a direct correlation with the engagement of their workers when they can bring their dog. So it could be a really good example to use the research and the statistics to help convince, um, some of those people around the benefits that they truly are there. Absolutely. Well, if anyone else has any other questions or comments, we'd love to have a conversation and continue the conversation around that. Um, I think that this, this is a kind of an ongoing movement to bring pets to work, you know, and dogs to work and to create better environments that are inclusive and support people who have different needs and, and, uh, desires and like an environment that is fun, engaging, uh, welcoming and all these great things that we hope all office spaces have. Because really our goal chief engagement's goal as, as, uh, you heard, uh, Zach say, uh, yeah at the start of this and Sarah's goal and Caesar brand's goal I have, you know, is how do we make the workplace better for everyone, right? How do we make it more inclusive and better? Because, you know, I always say once we unlock, you know, once we support people from a human level that unlocks workplace potential and productivity. So if people are safe and satisfied and happy and their wellbeing is, is improved with dogs in the office space, well they're probably gonna work harder. They'll stay with you longer. All these typical HR metrics that we use to evaluate company's talent management. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is a real opportunity for anyone. And, you know, lots of examples I think shared as well as what I've shared today around, it's a contemporary HR strategy, right? Like if you wanna play in the space of doing something contemporary that is in service of really, again, going back to some of those HR challenges that we've talked about, this is a really great opportunity and you know, I'd really encourage everyone to reach out and look at the, the, the grants and think about what that could do for you to unlock, um, bringing dogs back into the workplace. We truly believe at Mars, you know, making a better world for pets, and we're starting with a better world for dogs and the workplaces in enabling that. Um, I think this could be a really great, uh, way to think about how do you balance and integrate all of the values and the benefits we've got out of hybrid working, but now kind of encouraging that connection and that collaboration back into the workplace whilst also benefiting from being pet parents at the same time. I think it's an incredible initiative and, you know, I can speak passionately about 17 years at Mars and you know, we've, we've lived it for a long time and we only ever see great benefits from having pets in the office. Absolutely. And as Caitlyn Emel share shared in the webinar chat, you know, if you want more information when it comes to, you know, pets, uh, you know the whole Better Cities for Better Pets program, you can go to better cities for pets.com for more information. Also, if you see in the, in the PowerPoint the latest slide, it shows the caesar.com/dogs-work. If you want more information about the Caesar workplace grants that Sarah was talking about, uh, just a minute ago, that will give you more information. So this is a ton of information that the Caesar brand is providing you. So if you're thinking about, you know, either kind of maintaining your dog-friendly office culture and environment, or, you know, en enabling it, then these tools and resources and, you know, even, you know, incentives can really help you get started. And we really hope that, you know, all of you have, you know, gotten a lot out of today and, and have inspiration and tools and resources and insights that can really help you push forward in, in all of our, you know, missions to improve the workplace environment. So Sarah, I want to thank you so much. Uh, it's been great to get to know you and your kind of views and perspectives from an HR standpoint on these topics. Um, is, do you have any final remarks for the audience? No, it's, it was great to be here, Dan, great to join. It's a topic I'm very passionate about. Um, and you really hope that people use the resources that Caitlin's putting the chat cuz there are some fantastic resources that I think could be really enablers of everyone, um, leaning into this space. Excellent. Well thanks everyone for joining wherever you are and, uh, hope to connect with you soon and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and, and follow the Caesar brand as well.

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