Expecting a new addition to your family? Then you can likely expect to get some time off from work. Two to three months for new mothers. A few weeks for new fathers. But what if your new bundle of joy is a fur baby and not a baby baby? What then? How much time could you expect to get off? In all likelihood, none. Zip. Zilch. Nada. A big fat zero. But that’s not right. New puppies need just as much time to adjust to their new surroundings and new parents as a newborn baby would.
To some, furternity leave may sound like a ridiculous perk to offer employees but in today’s hyper-competitive landscape it makes sense. After all, if you want to attract and keep top talent you may need to go beyond just offering competitive pay and standard benefits. All things being equal, the company that has a foosball table in the lobby, keeps the office stocked with free snacks, and offers furternity leave may be the company that wins out. And the trend appears to be catching on.
According to the New York Times, “[a] few companies appear to have gone far beyond Take Your Dog to Work Day. An Italian company allowed a woman last year to take paid time off when her dog became sick. And employees at mParticle, a data company in New York, are offered ‘paw-ternity leave’— two weeks of paid time off for those who adopt a rescue dog…”
Furternity leave provides other logistical benefits as well aside from merely just providing time off for people to bond with their new pets. Such as giving people time to train their dogs, take them to the vet to get their shots, and ensure that they are getting along with any other pets that may already reside in the home. After all, the last thing that any new pet owner wants is a Turner and Hooch like situation where you come home to a house that looks like a war zone, couches chewed up, shoes destroyed, family heirlooms strewn about the floor. If furternity leave can prevent such scenarios from unfolding then we should be all for it.
In fact, maybe we should even take it a step further and allow pet owners more time off, period. Early dismissals so that they can get home at a reasonable time and walk their poor dogs who have been holding it in since early in the morning. The ability to work from home several days a week. Extra vacation days to accommodate all of their normal vacation plans plus a few extra dog-centric staycation days.
A little bit extreme? Maybe? But just think about how many more orphaned dogs would get adopted if there were real tangible workplace benefits to doing so. Just think about how much happier people would be and therefore by extension how much better of an employee they would be if they had a pet in their lives. Viewed through that lens furternity leave wouldn’t just benefit new pet owners or their dogs. It would benefit everyone. And that’s a good thing.
Is Furternity leave the Greatest Idea Ever?
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