A management professor says offering pet bereavement leave is a low-cost way for a company to support staff, helping employees grieve openly after losing a beloved animal while building trust and improving workplace wellbeing.
The Holidays Act 2003 grants eligible employees up to three days of paid bereavement leave if someone close to them dies, including for a miscarriage or stillbirth.
But at least one firm now offers its employees an extra two days of pet-specific bereavement leave on top of their normal entitlements.
Massey University professor Jared Harr said on the surface it may seem like "a bit of a gimmick", but explained there could be genuine benefits for employers offering this type of bereavement leave.
"Some people won't use it because they won't need to use it. But the person who does want to use it will be thinking, 'oh, thank you for looking after me' during what would otherwise just be a sad personal time," he said.
The professor of management and Māori business said staff would come back to work feeling cared for, and "will look back at that employer and go, 'geez, I like working here'."
Harr added that employees choosing to take up an offer of pet-specific bereavement leave fostered a sense of trust, and meant workers weren't having to "pull a sickie" due to their emotional distress.
"It is important to remember that legally, I could take 10 days sick leave. So I could take a sickie, but what [the employer] is saying is, 'hey Jared, you don't have to take a sickie. You can just say, 'oh, my pet died and it's really upset me. Can I have Thursday and Friday off?'
"Straightaway I'm not feeling guilty calling in sick, but instead having an open and honest conversation which brings about honesty and transparency."
PD Pet Insurance chief operating officer Michelle Le Long told 1News the company began offering employees an extra two days of pet-specific bereavement leave from October 1.
She said their new company policy has been made available to all 200 PD Pet Insurance employees across New Zealand and Australia.
"We've added an extra two days to their entitlements, to recognise that pets are family, they're for life, and when they pass away we acknowledge that as part of the grieving process."
The introduction reflected what the company had heard in its 2024 Pet Parent Survey, which found 82.3% of those surveyed supported employers offering pet leave to care for a sick pet or grieve a pet’s death. That support rose to 83.2% in PD Insurance's 2026 pet trends survey.
'Feel-good factor'
She said the employee benefit provided a "feel-good factor, it costs very little" and viewed it as a "nice to do" given their industry experience dealing with people grieving their beloved pets.
"There's nothing worse than talking about people's pets when you've just lost your own," she added.
Le Long said this was "cost neutral" for the company, as despite having the bereavement leave entitlements, some people may not choose or need to access them.
"So we just said 'look, let's not sweat the small stuff'. How often are you going to lose a pet? It's not really the concern for us. It was more the actual being able to give people time to grieve when they lose their pets. The cost really didn't come into the equation," she said.
The two days could be taken together or separately, and operated on a good faith basis.
She said the company’s head of operations was "probably the driver for it" after her nearly 15-year-old dog Harry was diagnosed with leukaemia.
"And then when he passed, it was just devastating to watch Sheryl, she was trying to put on a brave face and she was coming into work and dealing with people. We just said, 'look, just take some time, whatever you need'."
Le Long added that the pain of losing her own Labrador after 16 years together was "immense".
“Every time I thought about him, I'd burst into tears. I just thought he's just such a big part of our family, that I couldn't imagine working for an employer that couldn't be compassionate about your dog or your cat dying because they are such family members nowadays.
"I don't think I'd want to work for someone that said, 'look, get a grip and this isn't on'."
Why aren't more companies already doing this?
Harr agreed with Le Long that offering the leave showed a business had "heart", and that the cost would be very small as each employee was likely to only need the leave about once every 10 to 15 years.
"It's not going to cost companies a lot, but for the employee it might be really special couple of days to go, 'oh, I didn't have to worry about going to work, and I stayed in bed, and felt miserable for two days'.
"I do think it is something a company could embrace relatively simply, and it's quite simple, but I think a lot of companies probably haven't thought about it. I think if you did the numbers, companies would realise 'wow, this is going to cost us very little money-wise'."
Harr said for some people without children or loved ones of their own, their pet can be their entire family, and companies should act with compassion.
He added that when his beloved dog died he "cried and cried", and he probably would have taken the leave if it was available to him.
"I probably would have had a couple of days off my employer if I could have just had a chance to decompress and remember lovely times and kind of get over the sadness.
"The good news is not everybody has pets, and not everybody will be heartbroken that their cat or dog has died. And the other thing that makes it to me less of a gimmick is unless your pet is a goldfish - and they die every six months - the chances are this is not going to happen all the time."
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