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Topic: Work
A recent study from the Virginia
Commonwealth University found that employees
who brought their dogs to work, experienced lower
stress levels throughout the work day, reported
higher levels of job satisfaction, and had a more
positive perception of their employer.

The study was conducted over the span of a week at Replacements, Ltd., a dinnerware
manufacturing company in Greensboro, North Carolina. Seventy-six of the company's employees
participated in the study and were broken down into three groups: 18 dog owners who brought their
dogs to the office each day, 38 employees that owned dogs but did not bring them to the office, and
19 employees that didn't own pets.
At the beginning of the day, all of the study participants had a saliva sample taken to determine
levels of Cortisol, a hormone that measures a person's stress. There were no noticeable differences
in starting stress levels across all employees. But as the work day wore on, Randolph Barker,
business professor at VCU and lead author on the study, found noticeable differences between the
stress levels of those with and without dogs by their side. Barker then had members of each group
report their stress level at four different times throughout the day and found that the workers
accompanied by their dogs reported the lowest amount of stress at all points in the workday. The
most stressed out group turned out to be dog owners that left their pets at home. The benefits go far
beyond just reducing worker stress, though, Barker said. Dog owners who were allowed to bring their
dogs to work, reported higher perceived organizational support (the feeling that one's employer cares
about his or her personal and professional development). Comments from participants in the study
indicated an array of other possible benefits, including increased productivity, higher employee
morale, and increased co-worker cooperation, Barker said.
"Dogs were a communication energizer," Barker said. Dogs in the office tended to spark
conversations between those with and without pets, and "people who didn't typically talk to one
another, were now more engaged" with dogs in the office, Barker said.
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Barker said there are issues that companies should consider before enacting dogs in the office
policy, including whether or not the pets are well-behaved, employees potentially having pet allergies
or a fear of animals, and the organizational culture of the company.

Questions 1-4:

Complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each
answer.

• To measure the stress level of the study participants, (1) ________ was taken for the analysis
of Cortisol levels.

• The employees who brought their dogs to the office not only experienced (2) _______ amount
of stress at work but also had higher (3) _________.

• Dogs helped (4) _________ office communication between employees with and without pets.

Questions 5-8:

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage.?

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

5. The study found that employees who left their dogs at home experienced higher level of stress at
the beginning of the work day.

6. Not only did office dogs reduce work stress, but also helped their owners increase work
productivity, level of job satisfaction and co-worker cooperation.

7. People who had dogs in the office only start conversations with those who were also with pets.

8. Pet allergies, fear of animals or office culture were some reasons why pets were not allowed in the
office.
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Question 9: Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D

The most suitable title for the Reading Passage is

A. Benefits of having dogs as pet

B. Reason why dogs are never allowed in the workplace

C. dog – a loyal pet

D. Study: Office dogs reduce work-related stress

Vocabulary Review
I. Scan the passage for the following words (on the left) and read the sentences containing them carefully.
Match these words with their definitions (on the right).

Words Definitions

1. perception (n) a) to go with someone or something

2. accompany (v) b) to put something into action, especially to change something into law

3. productivity (n) c) to cause sth to start or develop, especially suddenly

4. spark (v) d) an idea, a belief or an image you have as a result of how you see or understand sth

5. enact (v) e) the effectiveness of producing something

1.    2.    3.    4.    5. 

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II. Complete the following sentences using the suitable words in the box below. 

Sometimes you have to change the form of the words to make them grammatically correct in the sentences.

   perception        accompany        productivity      spark       enact 

1. Children must be     by an adult.

2. I have read a lot of advice on how to     creativity.

3. Congress     a tax reform.

4. The public’s     of homosexuals is gradually changing.

5. The company has launched a new campaign to increase    .