宠物是家庭中的伴侣，但有时却乱咬家具、随地排泄、对人凶悍。这是宠物的天性使然，还是人类没有花足够的时间做规矩的结果？带薪宠物假让宠物改掉坏习惯，成为人类的优秀伴侣，同时提高员工的工作效率，为公司增收。
带薪宠物假揭示工作模式的进步
作者：
Paul Fleckney
译者：黄倩霞
校对：唐 萧
策划：倪凌晖
At last! Paid days off for new pet owners are a sign of progress
带薪宠物假揭示工作模式的进步
本文选自 The Guardian | 取经号原创翻译
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Any adult who’s had a pet will know the feeling. You’ve just got home with Moggie/Fido/Scargill, and all you want to do is
hang out
together for a few days, do some bonding, introduce your new animal to the idea of not pissing on everything in sight. Instead, the next day you have to trudge into work to hang out with other human beings, with their endless questions and tea rounds. Ugh.
任何养过宠物的成年人都能懂这种感觉。你刚带了一只宠物回家，只想能和它
共处
几天，增进感情，教会它不要随地撒尿。但现实是，第二天你就必须回到工作岗位上，与人外出，回答他们无休止的问题，参加一个又一个茶会。呵呵。
hang out
[hæŋ][aʊt]v. go to and stay in a particular place for no particular reason, or spend a lot of time there 闲逛
Enter“pawternity leave”. Let’s leave aside the mildly irritating term, which is up there with giraffe bread and
counting days in “sleeps”
for infantilizing this once-great nation. Essentially, employees are al-lowed a little paid leave so that they can spend time with their new pet and settle them in. It’s on the up, and it’s a good thing.
这就要说到“宠物假”了。这个词有些令人不悦，因为它跟长颈鹿面包和
用睡几觉来计算日子
一样，让英国这个曾经的日不落帝国幼儿化。但这个且按下不表。重点在于，员工能有一小段的带薪假期，来照看宠物并帮助它们适应新家。这一潮流势头正盛，是件好事。
counting days in “sleeps”
idiom:Young children these days seem to measure things by how many sleeps it is until their birthday, a holi-day, Xmas etc. 英国年轻人用还要睡几天来计算距离生日、假期、圣诞还有几天的计数方法
Pet leave, as I’ll call it, appears to have been pioneered by the Brew-dog brewery, and Mars, which owns Whiskas and Pedigree. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to question whether the idea came from their HR department or their PR department, but, never-theless, the benefit to the animal is real and substantial. The Kennel Club says the first 16 weeks of a puppy’s life goes a long way to pro-ducing a well-balanced, sociable dog, and that requesting time off would be “sensible” for the owner and “extremely beneficial” to the puppy, who can be intensively trained,
acclimatised
and socialised.
Battersea Dogs and Cats Homerecommends a period of settling in for a rescue animal and getting it into a new routine, but warns that dogs can end up thinking constant human company is normal – so, pet leavers, make sure you build in some away-time.
宠物假最初是由酿酒狗啤酒厂和玛氏公司提出的。伟嘉和宝路都是玛氏旗下品牌。你无须像一个阴谋论者，去追问这一想法是来人事部还是公关部提出的，无论如何这一举措对动物的好处是实实在在的。犬舍俱乐部指出，幼犬出生后16周是决定其成年后是否性情温和、与人交好的关键时期。另外，请假看狗对主人来说是“明智之举”，对幼犬而言也是“大有裨益”——幼犬易接受大量训练，适应新环境，融入人类社会。巴特西猫狗之家建议给救助的动物一段适应期，开始新生活，但同时也指出，狗会习惯于人类长时间的陪伴，所以不能经常在家的饲主训练新宠物时，要确保留出一段离家的时间。
acclimatise
[ə’klaimətaiz]v.to become used to a new place, situation, or type of weather, or to make someone become used to it 使……适应
One friend of mine was off work when he and his wife got Wolfie, a rescue husky. He says that those early days trying to control non-housetrained puppy weren’t dissimilar to his early days as a parent: exhausting and sleep-deprived. And yet it helped get Wolfie discip-lined and into a routine as quickly as possible and helped cement their relationship to the dog, which otherwise might have been
out-sourced
to a dog sitter.
我一位朋友和他妻子领养了一只被救助的哈士奇,叫Wolfie。最初几天他申请了假期。他说刚把Wolfie带回家的那段日子他精疲力尽，夜不能寐，因为训练一只没有接受过家庭训练的宠物跟初为人父时照顾孩子没什么两样。但在这几天里，他快速教会了Wolfie家里的规矩，夫妇俩也和它建立了感情。不然和Wolfie交好的可就是训狗师了。
outsource
[aʊt’sɔːs] If a company outsources work or things, it pays workers from outside the company and often outside the country to do the work or supply the things. 外包
So, if anything, pet leave should be a big, grown-up clue to any pros-pective dog owners that it’s not all just fun and games with a stick. As a proud “cat dad” myself, I can see that cats need less of that coalface rearing than dogs and will do less damage than a young husky who doesn’t know how big its bottom is. But, even so, the latest research suggests cats need humans more than we thought. That whole “aloof” thing is largely a human projection. Rescue cats in particular need a lot of bonding and reassurance w55525hile in lockdown in their new home.
因此，所有想养宠物的人都应该意识到，宠物假不只是请假回家拿根木棒和宠物玩抛物游戏。作为一个资深“猫爸”，我发现养猫需要花费的精力比养狗少，和一只不知轻重的哈士奇幼犬相比，猫造成的破坏也小得多。但最近的研究表明，猫咪其实远比人想象中更依赖人类。说猫高冷很大程度上是人的主观臆断。尤其是被救助的流浪猫到了新家，处于相对封闭的家庭环境中，更需要与人的联结来消除先前的恐惧。
It can be good for companies, too. If you’re thinking of lobbying your boss to adopt this perk, point them towards the stats that show a happy worker is a productive one. Perhaps don’t mention that four in 10 owners have pulled a sickie because of their pet.
这对公司来说也有好处。要想说服你的老板实行带薪宠物假，最好的理由就是给他列数据，表明一个快乐的员工会更高效。不过要跳过这部分：四成宠物饲主曾因宠物请过病假。
It’s no surprise that companies indog-nuts Manhattan are leading the way with pet leave. Some go even further and offer compassionate leave when an employee’s pet dies, which is extraordinary consider-ing maternity leave isn’t even required by law in the US.
Compassionate leave for pets might sound like gooey nonsense, but it merely acknowledges the truth of how strongly many people feel towards their animals. It’s not up to anyone’s boss to decide what is and isn’t worthy of your grief – if the death of your pet knocks you sideways, that’s your
prerogative
. I know that when Zelda kicks the bucket, I’m going full Queen Victoria and withdrawing from public life for a few decades.
曼哈顿素以爱狗成痴著称，宠物假在此处的公司中十分盛行，也就不足为奇了。更有甚者，允许宠物离世时申请慰唁假，这一举措非同寻常，毕竟产假都还不是美国法定假期。宠物慰唁假虽然听起来是无稽之谈，但至少表明，有些人与动物之间的情感联结有多么强烈。老板无权决定哪些事值得你悲痛哪些事不值得，如果宠物的死对你造成了强烈打击，那么放假吊唁宠物就是你的权利。赛尔达的死让我明白了这个道理，当时我觉得我会像维多利亚女王那样，因爱人的死去，从公众视野中淡去，一消失就是几十年。
prerogative
[prɪ’rɒgətɪv] adj./n. a right that someone has, especially because of their importance or social position 权利、特权
Of course, it’s good that a few forward-thinking employers, mainly non-traditional companies, are recognising that their staff are human beings who live a life outside the office, but I can’t help but wonder what’s being taken away with the other hand. What’s clear is work perks are getting more unusual, and pet leave is just one example. Apple, Facebook and Google are offering egg freezing now. Hotjar (big in website analytics) reportedly gives staff a €4,000 grant to build an office space at home.
当然，可喜的是，一些有前瞻性思维的雇主，主要是非传统行业的公司，意识到了员工也是人，在办公室外有自己的生活。但另一方面，公司又从他们身上拿走了什么呢？可以明确的是，工作津贴的形式越来越特别，宠物假就是一个例子。苹果、脸书、谷歌支持员工冻卵。据称，数据分析巨头Hotjar为员工提供4000欧元的补助，在家中建立办公区域。
Winton Capital Management employs a “
food evangelist
” who advis-es staff on healthy eating at work, presumably through the medium of gospel. Software firm Huddle cuts to the chase and chucks £5,000 in your account just for joining – something I think we can all get behind.
元盛资本管理雇佣
食物传教士
，为员工提出工作时适宜可靠的健康饮食建议。软件公司Huddle为招募人才，在每位新员工入职时，为他们提供5000英镑的津贴以表示欢迎。这让许多人望尘莫及。
food evangelist
[fuːd] [ɪ’væn(d)ʒ(ə)lɪst] n. those who are informed and actively share their opinions about food, in person and online 食物传教士
Add to this the increasing popularity of flexible working hours and working from home, and maybe, just maybe, we’re working towards a less rigid working structure that benefits everyone in the system – including, when it comes to pet leave, our furry friends at home.
