Pawfect Employee

Boss awards his dog ‘Employee of the Month’ 15 times in lockdown

In the absence of his human team to keep him company during office hours, yappy.com founder John Smith decided to reward his dog with ‘Employee of the Month’ 15 times, following the Border Collie’s devotion to her owner during the pandemic.

Wall showing employee of the month frames

The images of Lottie, the eight-year-old Collie were recently shared on the company’s Instagram account, revealing the often hilarious and always-adorable framed photos of her antics on a dedicated wall at the company’s Manchester HQ - from dressing up to take ‘Tiger King’ inspired Joe Exotic selfies with owner John to celebrating their loo roll stash as the nation’s stock fell low.

John, who set up the online personalised gift shop for dogs, cats and their owners in 2018, initially took the photos to share with his team of 25 staff on Microsoft Teams to try and virtually lift their spirits during what was a challenging time for many UK workers, who suddenly found themselves working remotely from home for the first time in their lives.

“Like many UK business owners, during the first lockdown I found myself suddenly juggling the demands of running a business and trying to ensure that the morale of my staff was kept intact at a time when the whole nation was coming to terms with working from home and communicating virtually for the first time. When it became possible to make trips into the office for a change of scenery, I still didn’t see many staff at all, and most days found myself working alone five days a week. On those days, Lottie was a lifesaver and kept me going with cuddles and constant entertainment. I decided to start sharing photos of our days with the team to keep everyone smiling. Lottie was a total star and definitely deserved to be awarded ‘Empawee’ of the Month for simply making the whole team smile on busy days and for keeping me company.

“Dogs have this amazing sixth sense and ability to know how you’re feeling and even five minutes of tummy-tickling or going for a short walk with them can help reduce stress levels and calm you down on difficult days - they really are man’s best friend.”

Stroking 3 puppies on the floor

Yappy.com recently advertised for a Chief Puppy Officer (CPO) to take charge of the company’s growing pack of office dogs. John comments on why the position was created:

“Dogs have always been welcome in our office, but as more staff who’ve recently got a dog gradually return to the office, we needed a policy in place to ensure that they can also juggle their roles as new ‘pawrents’. The Chief Puppy Officer will play a key role in making sure that the team can continue to create amazing new gift products for our customers and their pets.”