休个“宠物陪护假”？

免费零食咖啡、给员工报销干洗费打车钱、甚至女生来大姨妈放一天假……各种公司福利五花八门，让人心动。而英国有一家公司，不管是孩子离开家、自己搬新家、还是过生日，都给员工放假。这不，他们又增添了一项新福利，就是“宠物陪护假”。

Google gives its staff unlimited free ice cream, while drugs giant Johnson & Johnson pays for its workers’ dry cleaning.
谷歌公司的员工可以无限量地取用免费冰淇淋，医疗巨头强生公司为员工付干洗费。

Now, a UK firm is offering employees another novel benefit: ‘peternity leave’ – a day off when they buy a new dog, cat or horse to help the animal settle into their new home.
如今，一家英国公司为员工提供了一项新福利：“宠物陪护假”，当员工购买了一只新的狗狗、猫咪或者小马驹时可以请一天假，帮助它们适应新家。

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the firm behind the scheme is Pets At Home, which is introducing the policy for its 8,200 staff – 95 percent of whom are pet-owners – from next month.
推出这一新福利的是宠物居家公司，这也许并不令人意外。8200名员工将从下月开始享受到这项新政，其中95%的人有宠物。

Chief executive Ian Kellett said: ‘We want to help and support key events in a colleague’s life.
总裁伊恩说：“我们想在员工的生活重要事件中给予帮助和支持。”

‘We already give a “flying the nest day” when a child leaves home, a “new roost day” when you move home, and you get your birthday off as a holiday too. Peternity leave fits right into those.’
“当子女离开家时，我们给员工放‘离家假’，搬家时有‘温锅假’，员工生日当天也有假。宠物陪护假是新的一种。”

He insisted that the extra day’s paid leave was ‘not a gimmick’, adding: ‘We know that if you have a new dog, cat or horse it can be quite stressful.
他坚称多给一天带薪假期并不是噱头，“我们知道家里新添了一只狗狗，猫咪或者小马驹时，人们会感到紧张。”

‘We want to give them an extra day to settle in. It fits into our ethos – we recognise the importance of pets.’
“我们希望多给员工一天假，来安置宠物。这符合我们的理念---我们明白宠物的重要性。”

（中国日报网英语点津 yaning）