Table 2.

Quotes leading to first-order categories.

“Going to the office without a dog is really more relaxed, because I also say, now I can have a date with a colleague, now I don’t have to go for a walk, now I can have dinner or something. Well, it is, it is a liberation sometimes”. “Well, I sometimes find it stressful to have a dog at work because I have this responsibility”. “If I’m so busy, I still have to go out”. “Bringing dogs with you of course also means obligation. Of course, you always have an eye on what they’re doing”, “There are sometimes situations where they bark. But that’s relatively short. So, if this were to degenerate into barking through permanently”.	Increased responsibility at work
[Answer on the question what it would mean for the dog-owner if the dog could not come to work anymore] “I would have to look what I can do with him the three days a week, so who takes care of him. It’s like a kid suddenly who doesn’t have a day care place anymore” “Because if you can’t bring your dog to work anymore, then you have a really big problem”.	Increased responsibility in general
“So there is no regulation, there is only a gut feeling and I would discuss it with all employees”. “So if you find out[that it doesn’t work] after the dog had a chance, after a long enough period of time, after you got to know the dog” “I would rather say there were no motives not to allow it”.	Trial and error mentality
[Interviewee talking about breaks when the dog needs one] “Which is not a problem, no one’s looking at the clock and says that’s not OK. I wouldn’t say now that, somehow, the productivity suffers. Well, no more as if there are people standing at the coffee machine for too long, so it’s not like we have a fixed time anyway, but you have to do what has to be done and how long that takes…so if you can do the work in 5 h, you can go home and if you need 10 h, then you need 10 h”.	Autonomy in job design
“[W]e have regular personnel sprints, i.e., four-eye interviews with the management and employees, and that’s where we talk about something like that [dog behavior]. Both positive and negative”. “So there was a time when a dog actually growled at this typical example of postman or something. But there was the solution that the colleague really brought a dog psychologist with her”. “[W]e have an agreement with all dog-owners that we also address critical situations, which can also lead to us prohibiting the bringing of the specific dog”.	Open communication
- “[I]t’s always like this when they are just walking around and sniffing at people and greeting that it’s always positive, so that it sends out positive vibes” -“[W]hen a dog is in the office, the mood rises”. - “[T]he two smaller ones are cooler too, bringing back or throwing balls. That’s something that the colleagues do more often” -“I honestly notice that the dog helps her because she goes out with him twice, she goes out twice and that’s sometimes very good and when she comes back with him after 20 min I get the impression that a few knots have loosened in the 20 min and it seems to be the fresh air”. -“[T]hat sometimes I can work even better through him because I get mental breaks or have to go out at noon and thus create new energy again”.	Positive work environment and stress release
-“It generally strengthens social cohesion because it is also something where people support each other”. -“[A]nd there you can see we also support each other a lot. We already have this small community, of course, because you can better assess what is missing among each other”. -“It actually goes so far when we have business trips or even holidays, we each other also take over the dogs”. -“[B]ecause then we laughed a lot and then the dogs found each other and therefore it was relatively easy for the integration for me as well”.	Social cohesion
-“Also, you just talk about them, this is often also a topic to talk about, both with customers and with service providers”. -“[W]ell it is actually always kind of nice when you have the little dog in advance sitting on your lap and then you already have a small topic to start the conversation right away”. -“[S]o even if I’m only with a team because my dog is running there, or vice versa, that’s just a lot more social exchange in the whole agency”. -“[T]he dogs definitely contribute to the exchange across the teams because the dogs are such a connecting element”.	Communication increase
-“But I’m thankful that it works that way now in this job at least”. [Interviewee after being ask what would happen if he could not bring his dog to work anymore] “and I would not think very well about the company any longer like I do right now”. “Has that ever come up during interviews?” -“Yes absolutely, that has definitely an influence for a lot of colleagues”. [Interviewee after being ask what would happen if he could not bring his dog to work anymore] “That would, yes, that would definitely lead to demotivation”. [Interviewee after being ask what would happen if he could not bring his dog to work anymore] “I have a dog and I can never see him and I would ask myself if that is really the place where I would have to work”. “I actually asked when I had my interview if I could take my dog with me”.	Appreciation and commitment
-“So we make sure that. at the latest during the at job interviews the applicant finds out that there are dogs here”. “I would say that the applicant, that we are no longer interesting for the applicant. And so, it is not so much my decision, but actually their decision, because that is our environment”. “So if someone here would say “Ah, do you really have dogs here, I can’t bear that at all”, then I would also immediately think, OK if he also starts like that, then he doesn’t fit in here either”.	Company fit
“[B]ut it is also a factor for every dog-owner, how my employer deals with the fact that I have a dog and because as an owner one has a responsibility and must plan continuously”. “So if something is important for an employee, then I do”. “So we want to give our employees as much freedom and entertainment as possible and work-life balance and life-life balance and opportunities, and for me that[being able to bring the dog to work] includes that”.	Values and implications