Since my last post addressed dogs, it is only fair to note that cats can also be troublesome office mates for teleworkers. Along with our two dogs, we have two cats. Our cats rarely venture into my home office, and when they do, a 30-second scratch under the chin is usually enough to make them happy.
Chaotic Cats
Years ago, a former employee claimed she could not get work done at home because of her cats. When she started her workday, the cats would get up on her desk and walk across her keyboard, demanding attention. They would jump back up on her desk if she put them on the floor. If she put them out of the office and closed the door, they would cry until she let them back in. The cats occasionally used her work documents as a litter box, further complicating her ability to generate timely (and clean) deliverables.
The guidelines discussed in my last post about dogs also apply to cats. Get a phone with a mute button if Kitty likes to “meow” to announce her presence. Remove cats from the office if they disrupt your ability to communicate effectively and focus on work. Ensure you have an office space that can be closed off from the rest of your home and isolated from noise.
Though barking dogs is home-based workers' most common pet problem, our cats may have created the most significant disturbance. Two instances come to mind. The first was when one of our cats presented us with a live mouse during our company meeting. I’ve never heard such screaming and commotion, and I must admit I did not know that even the male employees would crawl on top of the conference table to escape a mouse. After a bit of chaos, we were able to catch the mouse, put it outside, and resume our meeting.
The second incident was actually during a job interview. I was working in my office, which is adjacent to the conference room, where another employee was interviewing an applicant. Things were going fine until my kids ran downstairs to my office screaming.
As I sprinted up the stairs, I raced out of my office and embarrassingly muttered an apology to the prospective employee. Our cat had gone into diabetic shock and was having a seizure. We got syrup into our cat to stop his seizure, and my wife took the cat to the vet. When I returned downstairs, I said the only thing I could say to the prospective employee was, “Welcome to the virtual company.”
