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.

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Enter “pawternity leave”. Let’s leave aside the mildly irritating term, which is up there with giraffe bread and counting days in “sleeps” for infantilising this once-great nation. Essentially, employees are allowed 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.

Pet leave, as I’ll call it, appears to have been pioneered by the Brewdog 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, nevertheless, 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 producing 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 Home recommends 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.

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 disciplined and into a routine as quickly as possible and helped cement their relationship to the dog, which otherwise might have been outsourced to a dog sitter.

Wolfie, aged four months. Photograph: Ed Campbell

So, if anything, pet leave should be a big, grown-up clue to any prospective 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 while in lockdown in their new home.

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.

It’s no surprise that companies in dog-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 considering 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 (probably at the hands of Claude next door, the rate they’re going) I’m going full Queen Victoria and withdrawing from public life for a few decades.

What’s clear is work perks are getting more unusual, and pet leave is just one example

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.

And it gets gimmickier: money.co.uk moved everyone into a renovated castle with an in-built Star Wars-themed cinema room. Winton Capital Management employs a “food evangelist” who advises 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.

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.

• Paul Fleckney is a Guardian sub-editor and author of Great British Pub Dogs