Swiggy’s paw-ternity policy a relief for pet parents like me—a new PL enters leave calendar

Swiggy is not the only company to roll out such a policy, though. In 2017, HarperCollins India announced five paid leaves for employees adopting a pet.

File image of Golden Retriever puppies | Pixabay

Indians share a rocky relationship with animals and pets – from violence over feeding strays and dogs attacking people to resident welfare associations restricting pets and pet owners in their societies. Amid all this, choosing to be a pet parent comes with its own set of unique responsibilities that are hardly even acknowledged or given relief by society.

On 11 April, online food delivery company Swiggy unveiled its ‘paw-ternity’ policy, which aims to acknowledge pet parents and offers benefits like adoption leave, new pet leave, sick leave and even bereavement leave. Under the adoption leave scheme, pet parents can opt to work from home for the period a new pet needs to adjust to their new home.

Swiggy is neither the first nor the only company to roll out such a policy, though. In 2017, HarperCollins India announced that employees could avail a total of five paid leaves while adopting a pet. The publishing giant also allowed employees to bring their pets to its Noida-based office if and when they found it difficult to leave them at home. Apart from this, in 2022, Chennai-based SaaS firm Chargebee  introduced telehealth services for pets to help employees with medical advice in times of crisis. But these examples are exceptions.

In a world of faking sick leaves to take trips, pet parents are often forced to use the leaves meant for themselves to take care of their pets. Unless there is a sensitive manager or institution, it is highly unlikely for employees to be able to claim leave to care for their pets. Be it your pet’s ill health, or even death, they are not primary responsibility and that is how most corporates function. But if there is workplace support, this journey can become extremely smooth for pet parents and their fur babies.

Bringing up a pet

Seemingly ‘harmless’ questions like ‘Oh, are you a crazy cat lady?’ have come my way more times than I can count. But beyond the cuteness quotient most visible in their Instagram reels, pet parents have a hard day at work taking care of their Snowbells, Noories, Cookies, Tommys and Twinkles. And when they go sick or are adjusting, they demand all the more attention.

Demanding a leave to take care of the pet is often seen as an excuse on the part of the employee. There is also a hierarchy to owning a pet, and dogs fare above cats. Add to this a definite bias against rescues or indies. The latter are not even considered worthy of being pets. Despite celebrities sharing photos of their adopted stray pets,people still prefer to ‘buy’ pedigree ones. There is also the age factor, where people tend to adopt kittens and pups instead of adult dogs and cats. So, if you are not on the right side of your employers’ biases, tough luck being a pet parent!

The concept of parenting animals is still fairly alien to Indian society. And there is a long time before it will find a place in your annual leave calendar as one of the reasons. It is seen as an ‘inferior’ and easy version of ‘actual parenting’ and reduces owners’ responsibilities to just feeding their pets and clicking cute pictures.

The road to pet parenthood can be a tough one for first-timers. When I adopted my first rescue cat, I was not prepared for the multiple vaccination trips, spaying and post-operative care, and the toll the whole process would take on my bank balance. The only relief came from having flatmates who offered to take the cat to the vet sometimes, and the flexibility to work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A year later, when I moved to a new place by myself with two cats in tow, trips to the vet had to be scheduled either on the weekends or in the evenings after work at more expensive private clinics. And I was in two minds about whether I should avail leave to take care of my pets after they were spayed.

It’s a bit easier for couples as they can alternate and figure out how to look after their pets. But not so for those living by themselves. Things get especially difficult while grieving a dead pet as companies often force employees to return to work within a day or two of losing their four-legged friend.

Swiggy’s policy is starting a larger conversation about pet parenting, especially because it is a brand nearly every other Indian knows about. If nothing else, I hope it makes other companies also think it’s something ‘cool’ to imitate. Till then, PL will remain Paid Leave, not Pet Leave.

(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)