How the care of stray dogs and cats creates a friendly corporate culture

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Reem Khokhar 5 min Read September 15, 2025, 08:00 AM ist Goa-based Anupama Mehra with her community dogs. Summary Through shared initiatives to care for community animals, employees find common ground and forging stronger tires that Preeti Khanna provides 35 dogs around the export house she works in Gurugram. The marketing professor (54) brings food to them every morning and feeds it as soon as she enters the office. She started the practice during Covid, in an individual capacity, feeding, vaccinating and sterilizing the dogs. Some colleagues watched her every day and began to contribute funds to Khanna’s care expenses. The chairman of the organization even erected an emergency fund for the dogs. When Khanna is gone, she has two team members tackling the nutritional duties. The corporate world is filled with more stories of competition than compassion. But there are working professionals and businesses across the country who ensure that the dogs and cats are well cared for around their workplaces. They exist together peacefully. Some businesses also contribute to animal welfare organizations, build shelters and take adoption drives and community animals as their mascot. This sense of purpose and compassion often permeates the organizational culture, building tolerance, strengthening working relationships, promoting inclusivity and providing another strong reason to get to work. Although it is usually individual employees such as Khanna who initiate and maintain care, some organizations have community welfare as an important focal point with related policies and initiatives. For example, Ratan Tata was known for his compassion for animals. In fact, the Tata Group’s Bombay House headquarters has a designated area for their community dogs. Others like Lemon Tree Hotels have a “pooch policy”. It was initiated 23 years ago by the group’s founder Patu Keswani, when a community dog ​​walked and adopted a community dog ​​in the Gurugram site of the Lemon Tree Hotel. “She called Sparky Keswani, and she dragged all over Patu – in his office, boardrooms, other departments – and was part of many meetings and discussions,” says Niket Sood, Vice President (Commercial Strategy). “Patu loved to have her around so much that he decided that all lemon hotels would adopt a stray dog.” Under this policy, many of the group’s hotels in more than 70 cities adopted at least one community dog. Pups are usually adopted from the street, fed, vaccinated and sterilized and living on the premises as part of the hotel family. They have naming-Parky was the Vice-Presenting Dog, mascot and senior food critic. She even had a four -legged “executive assistant”, Street Arthur. The dogs are mainly cared for by the security personnel. Check out the full image a Mars Petcare India station to install mobile shelters for street dogs. “Although a dog shelter has been built in the hotel site, the dogs are free to choose their favorite places,” Sood adds. Mars Petcare India’s work with community animals goes back to 2002, when the US brand entered the country. It has since hosted initiatives such as adoption drives, Animal Shelter volunteer opportunities for Mars Associates, and an annual ‘Love My Indie’ Dogs show in partnership with Hyderabad’s The Blue Cross. Such initiatives give the co -workers “a shared meaning of meaning”, says managing director Salil Murthy. “There were several cases where people who were afraid of dogs, after joining the company, adopted dogs,” says Sood. Even for those who prefer to grow their distance, familiarity and comfort over time, he adds. “Although they may not participate in the care of the animal, they do not care that they have them around.” However, not everyone in the workplace is comfortable around community animals. When Anupama Mehra, 52, noted that the dogs in and around the Goa-based school of which she is the principal wander, she takes the responsibility to feed, vaccinate and sterilize them. Some of her colleagues observed her and formed a ‘dog group’ for collective care. However, with children in the area, management was initially not encouraging. Mehra and her group thus found an area in the premises where the pooches were free during the school hours and later dropped on the rest of the campus. She also started awareness sessions for children, and colleagues and parents who were not focused on dog behavior. Even if colleagues do not participate, only quiet observation can lead to a better understanding and awareness of animals. Aditya Natarajan, 26, provides cats around the office of the e-commerce business he runs in Mumbai, nourishes, vaccinates and sterilizes it. “While the workers at my production unit do not have the bandwidth or funds to adopt a cat or support these efforts, they are tolerant of them,” says Natarajan. Some neighboring offices also help Natarajan, one of them opens their windows for the cats to come in and take shelter. Such compassion extends to the build -up of stronger working relationships and organizational culture. “This shared passion creates a deeply involved culture that is reflected in our constant high internal engagement scores and external recognition of our workplace,” says Murthy. “In addition, we strengthen care for community dogs and cats, build resilience under pressure and encourage it.” Mehra and her colleagues have this shared purpose and fulfillment of seeing the children’s growing comfort with animals and interest in animal welfare, this has led to stronger relationships and better cooperation with these colleagues, which bridge the void that usually exists in a boss and subordinate relationship. It is a regular part of their day to enter each other at work. The ‘dog group’ paved the way for Mehra to get to know her colleagues outside their professional and compassionate sides, and discover them as well-rounded people with different skills and interests. “I knew them earlier as teachers who reported to me. In doing so, I must get to know them closer and discover a very different side of them. ‘ Write to us at [email protected], catch all the business news, market news, news reports and latest news updates on live currency. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. More Topics #Features Read Next Story