Employers are offering new benefits, from elder care to pet PTO

A few months ago, when Annika Cha adopted her rescue puppy Ollie, she tapped into her company’s “pawternity” policy.Cha, 26, and based in St.Paul, Minn., is an account manager at 9Sail, a digital marketing agency with headquarters in West Islip, LI.

She was able to take off four half-days thanks to the company policy that covers two days for employees upon adopting a dog or cat.The first-time pet parent updated her Slack status to “PTO: Ollie” without needing to tap into any of her 18 annual days of paid time off to bond with her pooch.“I live in an apartment with no balcony — I was trying to learn my puppy’s potty cues and work on potty training,” she recalled.During house training, dog owner colleagues gave her tips and she felt “very supported and cared for from everyone in the company.”Pet parents aren’t the only employees feeling their employers’ love.Charles, 58, director of customer experience at global technology company Cisco (last name omitted for privacy), has four grandchildren with another one on the way in mid-September.Thanks to the company’s policy that launched in 2017, grandparent time off, Charles accesses three days of paid time off for every newborn grandchild.

Last summer he did it twice when his grandson and granddaughter were born in Queens and New Jersey.Three more days are on deck this fall.“The days were spent helping the parents get settled — doing errands for them, setting up baby furniture and giving them a break when they needed it,” said Charles.

“It’s important I support my children during some of the most rewarding but also challenging times.I want to be present for these special moments because I love them and it brings me the ultimate joy to see my family grow.”Many companies are now expanding their employee benefits coverage.

They now cover fertility and family planning, financial and emotional support, mental health coverage, elder care support, pet bereavement leave, climate change an...