FRANKLIN, TENN. — Mars Petcare’s CESAR® Canine Cuisine brand has awarded $75,000 to nine businesses as part of the new CESAR Workplace Grants program. Powered by the Mars Petcare BETTER CITIES FOR PETS™ program, the grants aim to help businesses become more dog friendly.

According to the CESAR Purpose at Work 2.0 Program study, conducted in partnership with Mars Petcare, Weber Shandwick and KRC Research, 93% of dog owners in pet-friendly workplaces had positive attitudes about going to work. Additionally, 87% of employers reported that pet-friendly office policies increased the likelihood for their workforce to return to the office in person.

“At our Mars Petcare office, we understand the impact that having your furry colleague nearby has on boosting workplace morale and given how many hours we spend a week in the office, it just makes sense to have dogs there,” said Sarah Dunsmore, people and organization director at Mars Petcare. “I’m so inspired to see how all these organizations, from Buffalo to Albuquerque, are planning to use these grant funds to establish new dog-friendly policies or enhance their current programming and can't wait to follow along on their dog-friendly journeys over the next year.”

To help businesses incorporate more pet-friendly policies in their offices, the CESAR brand launched the CESAR Workplace Grants program earlier this year. The program will help companies implement or enhance their dog-friendly initiatives with the goal that employees will experience the benefits of canine co-workers. The program will grant a total of $75,000 to nine companies.

The CESAR brand is introducing the nine businesses receiving the first-ever CESAR Workplace Grants. | Source: The CESAR brand

Recipients of the grants include Center 615, Compeer Buffalo, EOA Architects, Five Ton Monkey, Laura U Design Collective, MAS-HVAC, Northwood Office, Pottstown Area Economic Development (PAED), and Smith Gee Studio. Funded initiatives range from inviting dogs to offices for the first time to updating existing pet amenities to implementing formal dog-friendly policies, and more.

“We are so excited for this opportunity to welcome our dogs to our office, with the help of the CESAR brand,” said Cheri Alvarez, chief executive officer of Compeer Buffalo. “As a mental health nonprofit, we understand the psychological benefits of pet interactions. Welcoming our pups into our office will provide emotional support, stress relief and comfort to our hardworking staff, allowing them to replenish themselves so they can better serve our community.”

In addition to grant funds, each receiving company will be offered CESAR Canine Cuisine products for their canine co-workers, as well as access to pet behavior training resources from Mars Petcare, and a consultation from the Civic Desigen Center to ensure program success.

Alongside the CESAR Workplace Grants program, CESAR and Mars Petcare launched the PETS WORK AT WORK™ toolkit, a free online resource guide to help businesses incorporate pet-friendly initiatives into their offices.

Read more about the PETS WORK AT WORK™ toolkit.  

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