At Brew Dog Brewery and Pubs, there’s a lot more fermenting than hops and barley: paw-ternity leave!
Founded by Martin Dickie and James Watt in 2007, Brew Dog has morphed from a two-man-one-dog micro-craft brewery to an empire that has swept across the UK and has reached cities from Brussels to Berlin, Helsinki to Hong Kong. Today, Brew Dog boasts several dozen bars and almost 1,000 employees - all of whom are now entitled to up to one-week’s paid time off to bond with their newly adopted dogs.
For puppies and full-grown rescues as well as their pet parents, “Puppy Paternal Leave” is no less than a paw-some idea. UK business has been a pioneer in recognizing pets as family and is willing to foot the booty to back it up. Brew Dog joins BitSol Systems, a tech company in Manchester, England, and a host of other UK businesses, in offering special PTO for adjusting pets into the family.
Now that Brew Dog has landed “across the pond,” in Columbus, Ohio, U.S. employees will enjoy the same pets with benefits leave policy; the first of its kind offered in the U.S., Dickie and Watt believe.
The U.S. could take a page from the Brit’s book of good business sense. There are an estimated 70-80 million dogs in American households. To put that in perspective, there are 73.6 million children in U.S. households under the age of 18. Per a 2015 Harris poll, 95 percent of pet owners think of their pets as family. While we humans don’t literally give birth to pets, our desire to parent pets is undeniable. Spending loads of quality time with pets either early in their lives or immediately after their adoption helps forge a forever, inter-species family.
“It's not easy trying to juggle work and settle a new dog into your life, and many members of our crew have four-legged friends at home,” Watt told ABC News’ affiliate in Minneapolis/St. Paul. “We wanted to take the stress out of the situation and let our teams take the time they need to welcome their new puppy or dog into their family.”
Brew Dog’s workers don’t just keep their dogs happy at home. Stroll through Brew Dog’s headquarters in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and you will find 50 “office dogs” weaving between the go-fers and top-tier management.
By understanding that quality time with a new dog is the perfect remedy for whatever “ales” you, Brew Dog has “raised the bar” for pets everywhere.