Canadian companies will give parental leave to care for a new pet
They even coined a special term for this phenomenon, "pawternity," in which they played with the word "maternity," replacing the first syllable in it with the word "paw".
Most pet owners know that it takes some time for a small new pet to adjust to a new place, which it is desirable for it to spend in the company of new owners.
Previously, many working Canadians (like everyone else in the civilized world) had to take a week off from their annual leave to do so. Now some Canadian companies will give their employees paid leave to care for a new pet. The phenomenon is called pawternity, which uses the word "maternity" but replaces the first syllable of the word with "paw," which stands for pet's paw.
The managing partner of Talk Shop Media, a communications agency with offices in Toronto and Calgary, says the average age of her company's employees is 28 to 30, and such workers are clearly interested in the bonus.
"As a company owned by a woman, we are very considerate of working parents," she says. — But the world around us is changing, and so are ideas about certain things. We realize that the concept of family takes on new meanings these days, that families today come in many different forms, and that can include our four-legged friends. So we're excited to expand our parental leave policy to include pets."
Parental leave to care for a new pet will include three days of paid leave and two days of unpaid leave.
