Should you allow staff time off when their pet dies?

Almost everybody knows the grief that comes from losing a beloved pet. For many of us, it is our first experience of losing a member of the family, and it can feel just as strong as losing a human companion.

And with research from GfK suggesting more than half of the world’s population own some sort of pet, grief from losing a beloved animal is a common human experience.

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But what does that mean for the workplace? Most employers are understanding when it comes to an employee who has lost a person they were close to – usually the bereaved person can take some time off, and increasingly firms offer services such as counselling to help the worker readjust. But this is currently very rare when a pet dies.

The BBC asked Susan Stehlik, Director of the management communications programme at New York University, if she believes people should be allowed time off to grieve for a pet. While initially she thought not, she later decided a good manager might allow such a request.