From puppies to lizards, South Korean workplaces go pet-friendly

YONGIN, South Korea – In a meeting room at an animal-health company south of Seoul, Ms Baek Na-eun settled into a chair for an interview with a pet cushion beside her. Nacho, her white pomeranian, sat quietly throughout.

“Making money to look after Nacho is the reason I come to work,” said Ms Baek, 28, who asked for permission to take her dog to work at Green Cross Veterinary Products soon after she started working there nearly three years ago.

Her routine, once almost impossible in South Korea’s corporate culture, is becoming less unusual as employers experiment with running pet-friendly offices in a country where just over a quarter of the population now lives with a pet.

A June 2025 report by South Korean finance holding company KB Financial Group’s Management Research Institute found that 5.91 million households, or 26.7 per cent of all South Korean households, keep a combined 7.63 million dogs and cats.

The same report found that 87.2 per cent of pet-owning households and 68.2 per cent of non-owning households agree that “pets are members of the family”.

The animal health company launched a programme called Pawffice in December 2025 as a monthly trial tied to its Happy Family Day, when employees leave early to spend time with loved ones, including their pets.

The company expanded the policy in 2026 to a daily option after five dogs were brought to the office on the first occasion to a mostly positive response from staff.

Ms Baek saw only benefits in having Nacho by her side.

“Whenever I need a quick break, I take my pet out for a walk. It really helps me clear my head and shake off some stress, which I think has a positive impact on both of us,” she said. “Going on these walks with my co-workers has actually made our communication a lot smoother.”

Employees who wish to participate are asked to submit documents, including a guardian consent form, a pre-registration form, and proof of vaccinations. After that, they can bring their animals any day of the week.

About 50 of the company’s 130 employees are based at the Yongin office, where the Pawffice system operates, while the rest work at a plant in Yesan or in sales positions elsewhere.

On a typical day, a handful of dogs can be seen napping under desks or playing in a pet zone set up in the middle of the office.

Ms Cho Yoon-min, 42, head of human resources and the programme’s administrator, takes her puppy to work almost daily. She says she adopted the dog in part because the programme gave her the confidence that she would not have to leave the animal home alone all day.

The company, whose mission statement is Better Life With Healthy Animals, sees Pawffice as both an employee welfare initiative and a strategic move as it looks to expand further into the growing pet market.

“Many of the job applicants are animal lovers, and they do regard the policy favourably,” Ms Cho said.

Alongside Pawffice, the company subsidies 50 per cent of veterinary prescription costs for employees’ pets and runs a volunteer group that cares for abandoned animals.

Another visitor was not a dog, but a pet lizard named Mela, carried to the office in a cage by Mr Kim Dong-hyun, 30, who works for the company’s special-animals division.

He said he began taking lizards to the office years ago, even before the Pawffice programme started, as part of a campaign to win internal approval for a reptile-care business. He built a small vivarium on his desk to show colleagues that reptiles were calmer and more sociable than they are often perceived to be.

That business, which develops and sells lizard food, became South Korea’s top-ranked reptile-food brand within two to three years of its launch, the company says.

It also produces in-house branded harnesses and accessories that, according to Mr Kim, reflect a broader shift in how Koreans view reptiles – from wild animals to companions.

He estimates that about 15 employees now keep lizards at home, most of them having picked up the hobby from him. He occasionally takes his own reptiles to the office to help with food palatability tests or product photo shoots.

“Employees come over and ask questions whenever I bring one in. They find it fascinating,” Mr Kim said.

Not everyone welcomes the trend, however. The KB report shows that while 71.4 per cent of pet owners say they follow pet-related etiquette, only 19 per cent of non-owners believe pet owners around them actually do so, suggesting a gap that pet-friendly workplaces must address.

At Green Cross Veterinary Products, the pet zone is physically separated from desks used by colleagues with allergies. Air purifiers run continuously, and an anonymous feedback channel lets non-participating staff raise concerns. So far, most messages so far have been practical questions rather than complaints, Ms Cho said.

Ms Yang Yu-ri, 28, an employee who does not keep pets, said her only initial worry had been that the dogs might fight among themselves.

“The programme had instead made it possible for me to have unexpected conversations with colleagues I had rarely spoken to before,” she added.

Still, for Ms Baek, the programme has brought changes to her weekly routine. She commutes from Cheonan, roughly 80km south of the office, and on Fridays, she now drives up with Nacho, so the two can continue straight to weekend outings in Seoul or neighbouring Gyeonggi province. KYODO NEWS