Three things we can glean from Swiggy's new 'pawternity' policy

Swiggy has introduced a ‘pawternity’ policy for employees with pets: leave and work-from-home benefits for pet owners to take care of their pets at times of adoption, medical emergencies, and loss.

It testifies to several notable things. One is Swiggy’s ability to differentiate itself as a company from the garden variety of tech start-ups in the eyes of young, choosy potential employees, and of consumers who care for brands with a difference.

Another is the emergence in India of the sociological phenomenon normally associated with the rich world, of people treating animals as companions and family members, rather than primarily as assistants at work.

And the third is the growth potential of a high-end pet care and pet food industry. We may also note that a Swiggy delivery rider probably would envy the life of a Swiggy employee pet.

Behind pet-ownership 

It is estimated that half the human population live with pets, and that pet ownership is a feature of two-thirds of American households. A pet can be understood as an animal living as part of the household without any function other than offering companionship.

What all species count as pets has varied across history and culture, ever since humans started domesticating animals some 40,000 years ago.

Humans domesticated animals for food, for work and, fairly uniquely within the animal world, as objects of affection and providers of companionship.

Animals reared as food are, of course, distinct from but could overlap with animals reared for providing food, such as a milch cow or a laying hen.

Cradle to grave

Some animals found their way into the affections of their owners to such an extent that they were buried along with their owners. Ancient pyramids of Europe and the Americas contain the remains of cats and dogs, and of some other animals, too.

But why has pet ownership soared among affluent Indians today, and how has such ownership taken the form of holding them virtually as household members, on whose upkeep and medical care enormous amounts can be spent?

Cultural choice

It is tempting to trot out theories of alienation among isolated town dwellers, often separated from their families and not yet part of strong bonding with other humans in their new setting, and of pets providing the emotional connect and support provided by traditional human associates in their pre-urban existence.

However, anthropological and sociological research has failed to come up with any conclusive evidence to validate such theories.

What academic research does suggest is that pet ownership, like so many other aspects of our lives, is a cultural choice that people make. And cultural influences come from similar sources, whether in the case of music or pets.

It has been observed that people who had pets around them as children are more likely to own pets as adults than people who grew up without caring for and being loved by animal companions.

Western, mass media influence

Childhood experience is just one source of cultural influences. The mass media is a very powerful peddler of culture, ranging from books, cartoons, television, songs and movies.

It is quite likely that pets transited, for young adults, from being occupants of designated places outside the home to intimate spaces such as the bedroom and the bed itself, under the influence of Western culture.

In America and Western Europe, it is increasingly common for households to have pets and to treat the pets like members of the household, receiving the care and time traditionally devoted to young children.

Nor is such western dominance of culture a uniquely post-colonial phenomenon in the former colonies of western imperial powers.

Colonial legacy?

Both China and Korea, where custom counted dog meat as being fit for the table, and which did not quite come under the western imperial thumb, now contain generations who abhor the idea of eating dog meat. Laws are being put in place to prohibit eating dogs.

What India’s colonial past does add to the contemporary ethos is the notion that to be modern is to be Western. That Western modernity is just one among several possible forms of modernity is not an idea that occurs easily to most Indian urbanites.

Whether under Western inspiration or otherwise, owning pets is indeed an entrenched aspect of modern India.

Swiggy has been smart to recognise this and pitch itself as an appropriately modern company to young Indians. Its pet-friendly policy commends itself as a hallmark of modernity, for the consideration of consumers and potential employees.

Booming pet care industry

The flipside of fawning pet owners is the potential for a booming pet care industry, comprising both goods and services. The current global market size of the industry is around $235 billion and that figure is estimated to balloon to anywhere between $300 billion and $500 billion by 2030, depending on which forecaster you ask.

It makes sense to err on the side of the higher figure, given that one of America’s larger pet food makers, Bark, is all set to kick off an air transport service for pet owners who detest the idea of shoving their caged pets under the seat in front or, if they are too large for such storage, of tranquilising them and transporting them in a crate in a heated part of the plane’s cargo belly.

The service would, to begin with, connect New York with San Francisco to the West and London, in the East, for a fare pegged at $6,000, handy attendants to clean up pet poop and replaceable carpets thrown in, for that modest sum.

The direction of travel for the pet care industry would be similar in India, too, even if its size is more like that of a pie dog pup rather than that of the XL pitbulls of North America (yes, XL stands for extra-large).

A dog's life?

All this does, of course, redefine the meaning of the phrase, "it’s a dog’s life".

That would go a long way to explain why a Swiggy delivery rider, always under pressure to do as many rounds as possible and deliver within the stipulated time every time, could well envy the life of a dog belonging to a Swiggy employee, who takes leave to be with her pet as it vigorously transfers its teething troubles to the furniture in the mistress’s apartment.

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