Lost Your Beloved Pet? You Can Now Take a Paid Day Off to Grieve

Pets are often treated as part of the family because of their loyalty, love, friendliness and affection towards their owner. That's why losing a pet can feel like losing a member of the family or a close friend.  

A survey was conducted among bereaved pet owners and 30 percent of them revealed that they have felt sadness and grief for at least six months since their pet died. Pet owners commonly grieve with the lost of a beloved pet, which makes them not to concentrate at work or even not function at all because of too much sadness, according to KLFY .

"It's really very, very difficult to function, and if you can't function, you certainly can't function at work, and you're really not the person you were before," pet loss counselor Janet Zimmerman said. "You need the time to get back to some sense of normality."

Understanding this predicament of some U.S based employees, a handful of companies are offering bereavement leaves for their employees who lost their pets.  According to Mirror, some of these companies were, Seattle-based pet insurer Trupanion that offers one day off for their grieving employee.

"We allow people to actually do that grieving process and just, just be able to heal," Dani Kahn, of Trupanion said. "I think you need closure when you lose a pet, and it's important to have the time to do that." While Software Company, VM Ware and Maxwell Health are willing to give their employees flexible days off.

Although many pet owners don't ask for this kind of bereavement benefit because they're either overwhelmingly upset from the loss, that they need some diversion of attention or they're afraid that they'll be judged by their co-workers. While some people buy new ones to be their new friend. And some time off from work can help a grieving pet owner to pull himself together, get back on his feet and feel better.