'It lets people know that's the kind of culture that you offer, there's flexibility, there's compassion, and there's empathy,' says expert
Losing a pet is still often treated as a private matter, something employees may be expected to manage on their own time. Yet recent studies now show many pet owners would leave their job for and be more likely to stay with to workplaces that recognize the bond they have with their animals.
A survey of 500 Canadian dog-owning employees by pet services marketplace A Place for Rover found that nearly half of dog owners would leave their current job for a more pet-friendly employer and two-thirds would feel more loyalty toward a dog-friendly company. A 2022 survey for Vetster found that 6 in 10 pet owners have left a job for a more pet-friendly workplace.
For HR leaders aware of the importance of attracting, retaining, and nurturing talent towards their organization’s business goals, those numbers raise a particular question: is it time to treat pet bereavement as a legitimate people issue rather than an awkward one-off exception?
The nature of bereavement
In practice, the issue shows up in many workplaces because pets are so common. Koryn Greenspan, an International Coaching Federation-certified pet loss and grief specialist in Toronto, says that “more than 70 percent of households and people have pets.” For her, that statistic means pet loss isn’t a rare case and should be anticipated in HR policies rather than handled only when someone breaks down in a manager’s office.
Greenspan also challenges the instinct to see pet loss as categorically different from other bereavement. “When you actually look at the term bereavement and its definition, it is to be torn apart by loss of life — there’s no distinction between loss of human life or pet life,” she says. “And to suggest that the grief from pet loss is less than any other loss is a massive projection that society has put on to pet parents.”
For HR leaders, that means recognizing that some employees will experience pet loss as a profound event that can temporarily undermine their ability to focus, just as with the loss of a close relative, according to Greenspan.
A UK survey seems to back up the idea that employees are significantly affected by grief when they lose a pet that affects their ability to do their job. The poll of more than 2,000 adults by pet wellness company Itch revealed that three out of four people believe employers should have a pet bereavement policy and nearly three in five say losing a pet is equivalent to losing a family member.
Another UK survey found more than four in 10 people were in favour of paid pet bereavement leave being enshrined in legislation. Similar sentiment is alive in Canada, as a petition to amend the Canada Labour Code’s definition of unpaid bereavement leave to include the loss of a pet has received more than 1,000 verified signatures.
More than ad hoc sympathy
Some HR leaders may recognize the effects of losing a pet on employees, but pet bereavement leave is rare. They may rely on informal manager discretion when an employee loses a pet, which can work in isolated cases but makes consistency difficult, leaving both employees and supervisors guessing what is acceptable, says Lisa Kay, president and lead consultant at Peak Performance Human Resources in Toronto.
Kay believes that a clear, written approach can send a powerful cultural signal without adding major cost to the organization’s benefits budget. “If we offer bereavement leave for a parent or a child, then a pet isn’t a far cry for those people who care for their pets like they would any other family member.” She says that framing pets as part of modern family life helps leaders see why a structured response belongs alongside other family-friendly policies.
Kay also stresses that even a minimal formal benefit can make a difference. “Aside from the loss of productivity of an employee who might take off a day for pet bereavement, it doesn’t have to cost an employer very much,” she says. For Kay, clarity and permission to be honest often matter more to employees than whether the time off for grieving is fully paid.
Recognizing effects of grief
The practical questions around granting time of for employees grieving the loss of a pet — what qualifies as a pet, how many days are available, how often they can be used, and whether time is paid or unpaid – are manageable issues if the organization thinks them through and documents parameters clearly so managers aren’t improvising under pressure, says Kay.
Greenspan believes policy should be matched with basic grief literacy so employees aren’t left to “ghost their own sadness” at work. Training gives leaders and co-workers language and expectations that validate the loss instead of dismissing it — which can help with employees dealing with any kind of grief, she says.
“This is truly a life-changing instance that people have to have to manage in their life, and to be asked to show up at work in the face of having to navigate all of the grief and the mourning process is actually cruel,” says Greenspan. “So literacy around what actually happens during grief for pet parents is very beneficial to HR departments, and also there's a real opportunity for employees as a whole and company culture to create an environment of compassion that unites employees.”
Incorporating flexibility, empathy into practice
Not every employer can add new paid days off, but both Greenspan and Kay stress that flexibility and empathy can still be built into practice.
For organizations with tight benefits budgets, Greenspan suggests operational tweaks rather than new entitlements. “Offer a diminished or restructured workload for a week or two, offer internal support, maybe they need a few extra breaks in a day — give the grieving pet parent a lot of bandwidth,” she says.
Kay highlights design choices that keep the benefit equitable even when not everyone will use it. “Maybe if somebody who doesn’t have a pet can’t take advantage of this particular policy, but they can use a personal day to take off for another reason that’s applicable to them,” she says. “Positioning pet bereavement within a broader bank of personal or family days can reduce perceptions of unfairness while still acknowledging the specific impact of pet loss for many workers.”
Making the business case to leadership
Ultimately, for something like pet bereavement leave to be introduced in an organization, HR leaders will need to frame it in business terms as well as human ones. “This is an excellent way and an affordable way to help with attracting and retaining employees and letting employees know that this is something that we value, that we care about your family,” says Kay. “And the goal would be to build a culture that supports employees and, ultimately, will help to improve engagement, productivity, and all of those good things that you want.”
Greenspan urges decision-makers to put themselves in the shoes of a grieving worker before dismissing the idea. “What if you were somebody who had lost a human family member or a pet, and you were asked and told that you had to show up?” she says. “How would you feel and how much would you want to be at your place of employment or serve your clients?”
Responding with structured compassion is less about granting unlimited time off than about maintaining integrity in how people are treated at their most vulnerable, says Greenspan.
Competing for talent
Kay says that a bereavement policy for pets could be a great strategy in particular for small or mid-sized companies who are competing for talent with “the Googles of the world.”
“How do we compete with some of these organizations that can offer endless benefits and all sorts of other perks?” she says. “I think this is an easy win if you can make your environment more pet friendly and offer a policy like this, it lets people know that that's the kind of culture that you offer, there's flexibility, there's compassion, and there's empathy for you and your family — and people appreciate that.”
Kay believes that something like bereavement leave for pet loss can also be a part of an organization’s inclusivity strategy. “People have all sorts of different types of families these days, and families look very different than they did in the past,” she says. “And for many people, pets are very much a part of their family.”
