Losing A Pet Hurts More Than Some People Think.
–by Coleen A. Ellis
Let’s face it, more and more pets are being seen as a member of the family. In fact, 70% of our United States population now owns a pet. With that, 83% refer to themselves as Mommy or Daddy. Interesting? I don’t think so!
With more and more human rela- tionships being defined as “compli- cated,” pets are the family mem- bers one can choose. They’re the ones who bring us the uncondi- tional love in a world full of divi- siveness, hate, anger, and disappoint- ment. In fact, as the popular posts on social media proclaim, pets only disap- point us on one day. The day they leave us. As in so many other aspects of pet own-
How to Take Care of Yourself After Losing a Pet. When you lose a pet, it's important to take time to heal. If your employer does not offer paid pet bereavement, consider taking a personal day, sick day or vaca- tion day. If that’s not possible either, do your best to function at work but don't be too hard on yourself if you find it diffi- cult to concentrate as normal. And when you get home, allow yourself to fully experience whatever feelings you held in during your workday. Please understand that you don’t
need to go through this process alone. There are many resources available online for grieving pet owners, including The Pet Loss Center with three Florida locations: Tampa: 813.999.4049; Miami: 305.223.6515 and Melbourne: 321.821.4871. Also available: the team at Curlew
ership, the care and experiences we give to our pets are being humanized. Therefore, when that “one day” does come, more and more pet lovers are finding their grief is every bit as pro- found as the loss of a human loved one. The only difference is with the death of a human loved one, bereavement time and acknowledgement of the grief that follows is fully social- ly acceptable. Pets? Not so much. However, more and more companies are stepping up and embracing the same policy for the death of a pet.
Taking a deeper look into
Hills Memory Gardens in Palm Harbor with online counseling services. Curlew Hills has one of Florida’s only authentic pet cemeteries with a dedicated section of the cemetery designated for pets only.
CurlewHills.com or call them at 727.789.2000.
this practice across the country, it’s some of the big companies that are realizing so much of their work force falls into the category of pet lover. Having this aspect to add to their ben- efits program certainly makes their company attractive in recruiting employees, or at the heart of the subject, at least letting their employees know
they recognize all grief journeys, for human and pet loss. Kimpton Hotel and Restaurants Human
80 THE NEW BARKER
Resource Manager beautifully stated their position on this topic. “Paid time off to grieve the loss of a pet shows employees their pain is validated. As business lead- ers, people who work for you, they are members of your team. You have invested heavily in them, they are people that you work with every day. And when people are in pain you want to help them.” Kimpton’s policy is up to three-paid days leave for all their employees. Mars
Incorporated, a Seattle based company which owns Mars Petcare, has also for- malized their pet bereavement leave with offering team members paid time off. In
addition, in some of their business units, they also
offer pet-ernity leave for those who are new pet parents wanting to take time off to get a new four-legged family member indoctrinated into their family. Global software giant VMware allows employees
to take as many days off to “unwind, unplug, and take care of themselves and their loves ones,” which can be used for pet loss. For the death of a pet, two days will be paid leave. In a variety of surveys taken by consultants, pet
sites, and news medias, on average 35% of pet lovers think that bereavement time should be given for the death of a pet. Florida pet lovers did a shout out on this topic believing that three paid days is fair and needed. Offering paid time off for the loss of a pet speaks
volumes about an employer, as well as having pet health insurance in their benefits. While some employees might argue this perk does not benefit everyone, there are other employee benefits that fall into that category as well – maternity leave for those who don’t want children, for instance. Kudos to those forward-thinking companies that look at their employee base, and knowing pet ownership is on the rise, are on the hunt for ways to evolve their hiring process. What if your company doesn’t have
a pet bereavement policy? The death of a pet is one that should not
be disenfranchised or ignored. When one loves a pet as a family member, the grief felt when a beloved pet dies is very real. First, be kind to yourself and know you deserve to have your emotions and acknowledge them.
www.TheNewBarker.com
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