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With millennials and Gen Z opting for fur babies over actual babies, a new workplace benefit is starting to take over. Enter the era of pawternity leave, where pets are dictating benefits, as companies scramble to keep up with shifting priorities. The reality is: without pet perks, companies are risking losing top talent. Sixty percent of pet parents say they would quit their job if it interfered with their ability to care for their pet and almost 10% already have. With the growing number of people placing such a high value on their pets, companies are beginning to recognize pet parenthood as more than just a lifestyle choice. Its a reflection of todays priorities, and its reshaping how employers approach workplace inclusion. Younger generations are replacing kids with pets Generational differences are driving the need for modernized workplace benefits. Twenty years ago, two-thirds of women at age 30 had at least one child. Today, half of American women at that age do not. This comes as 67% of millennials and Gen Z say they would rather have a dog than a kid. As the workforce transitions from parents to pet owners, traditional benefits like paid parental leave are not resonating with newer generations in the same way more flexible, lifestyle-oriented perks like pet care do. According to a study from Vetster, 48% of Gen Z see no difference between their pet and an actual human child compared to past generations, a powerful indicator of how deeply pets are integrated into their emotional lives. These new family priorities present an opportunity for companies to recognize pet parenthood as a legitimate caregiving role. Offering benefits like pawternity leave, free or discounted pet health care, or pet-friendly office policies allows companies to meet employees where they are in todays age. Supporting mental health through pet-inclusive policies Amid economic uncertainty and looming layoffs within many industries, 80% of people cite work as their primary source of stress. Knowing that heightened stress negatively impacts productivity, companies are turning to pet-friendly policies as a part of their overall well-being strategy to ensure employees feel cared for. Pets such as dogs have been shown to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Beyond physical health, their presence in the workplace also directly impacts employees mental well-being with 73% of people saying having pets in the office reduces stress levels. For remote workers, the impact is significant, too51% of pet owners working from home report lower stress levels because of the ability to easily care for their pet. By recognizing the emotional needs of employees and integrating pets into workplace culture, companies are helping to alleviate stress while fostering a more compassionate and inclusive environment that supports employees. Companies are seeing high engagement with pet benefits Fifty-three percent of workplaces are pet-friendly to some degree and those that are implementing pet benefits are seeing high engagement with the benefits. For example, Samsungs pet benefits program saved employees $20,000 on vet bills and over 800 hours that would have otherwise been lost to time spent on vet appointments. These types of programs not only reduce logistical and financial burdens for employees, but also demonstrate that the company values their employees needs beyond traditional healthcare. As a result, pet benefits are emerging as a meaningful component of inclusive workplace culture A more inclusive workplace starts with recognizing pets as family Seventy percent of the workforce are pet owners. Neglecting to acknowledge and support the role pets play in employees lives means overlooking a key part of what drives employees personal well-being. At its core, inclusion means creating a workplace where people feel seen and supported. As definitions of family evolve, so should benefits and policies. In recognizing pets not just as companions, but as central figures in many employees lives, companies who recognize this dynamic when considering benefits packages are experiencing a much happier, healthier company culture.
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E-Commerce
Circa 1450, the creative community was jolted. The printing press had just been invented in Europe. Scribes, typically monks who had spent lifetimes perfecting the spiritual art of hand-copying manuscripts, saw their specialized skills suddenly rendered obsolete. Yet in short order, the disruptive innovation democratized knowledge, enabled the Renaissance, and created entirely new creative roles for editors, typesetters, printmakers, and illustrators. More than five centuries later, Photoshop sparked similar concerns about devaluing traditional skills and compromising image integrity. Artists worried it would cheapen the craft. Instead, it became foundational to modern graphic design, opening new creative possibilities while making visual expression accessible to wider audiences. New tools that initially seem threatening often become indispensable partners in creative work. People in creative fields are, by nature, creative. They tend to think beyond what currently exists and adopt emerging technologies to accelerate their process, embolden their output, and make their medium more accessible. ENTER: AI Artificial intelligences threats to the creative community are well documented. At the same time, we are also seeing myriad ways the technology can quickly deliver valuable information, patterns, and research that can liberate the creative community to spend more time actually creating. When it comes to my area of expertiseempowering the design community to leverage the full emotional, narrative, and commercial power of colorAI can be a valuable partner in the creative process. Pantone just introduced a new tool, in fact, that employs conversational AI technology to help creatives expedite designs research and inspiration phases. The tool helps users explore color palettes, leverage trend forecasting data, and generate design concepts. But while AI can process data and identify patterns, the forward-looking trend insights themselves remain uniquely human, rooted in cultural analysis and nuanced insight, intuition, and imagination. A creative process that uses artificial intelligence also demands human intelligence. AI tools trained on human-identified trends help designers respond with greater speed, depth, and nuance, but the trends themselves must first be recognized by human experts attuned to cultural shifts. REQUIRED: THE HUMAN IMAGINATION When Pantone selected Mocha Mousse as Color of the Year 2025an evocative brown leaning into our desire for everyday pleasuresno machine learning model could have sensed the burgeoning cultural ethos it spoke to. Human forecasters recognized a global appetite for thoughtful indulgence, harmonious comfort, and personal luxury, all expressed by this rich, deep brown. Trend forecasting demands humanspeople who sense subtle undercurrents of collective emotion before they surface, who understand when comfort becomes more important than adventure, when personal expression pushes back against homogenization , when nostalgia begins to feel fresh again. Color scientists track films in production, new artists, fashion movements, emerging lifestyles, socioeconomic shifts, evolving technologies and materialsbuilding a comprehensive view of where culture is headed. After all, humans are animals, and animals have always used color as a multifaceted and sentient signal system: attracting mates, establishing identity, communicating mood, warning of danger. Just as a vermilion flycatcher uses red feathers to attract females while a kingsnakes bright red bands warn predators away, we use color to send messages about who we are and what we desire. These messages shift with our cultural moment in ways no algorithm or technology can anticipate. The insights require the unique ability to sense what’s emerging before it fully arrives. From the printing press to Photoshop to AI, new technologies amplify what creatives can do. It makes processes swifter, bolder, more affordable, and more accessible. AI can help creatives tap into powerful color stories and trend insights. But the creative vision, the cultural fluency, and the ability to sense what will move people remains distinctly, irreplaceably human. AI is another powerful tool in the creative arsenal, most potent when it augments rather than attempts to replace human insight and imagination. Sky Kelley is president of Pantone.
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E-Commerce
Were living through a seismic workforce disruption. Business leaders are poised to have a significant impact on the way our economy is shaped over the next decade. You already see it with the big company CEOs creating a cult of celebrity far beyond anything weve seen historically, but this phenomenon cascades down to all leaders across companies. Today, however, your personal brand is built in authentic micro-momentshow you lead meetings, navigate change, and bring others along. What story are you telling?Earlier this month, I sat down with Marissa Andrada and Al Dea at Guilds Opportunity Summit to discuss why personal brand building is no longer optional for leaders who want to drive meaningful impact. DOES PERSONAL BRAND NEED A REBRAND? The concept of a personal brand can sound like a marketing buzzword. But if you write it off as such, youre going to fall behind. We arent advocating for leaders to break out their tripods at a conference and do the latest Taylor Swift TikTok dance (but if thats authentic to you, go for it). Your personal brandor leadership signature if you really want to avoid the b wordis built through micro-moments: the tone you bring to a meeting, the decisions you make, and how you develop and support people during times of transformation.As Al put it, Every stakeholder conversation is a chance to show people what youre about. That starts with understanding the beliefs and motivations that drive others. People can only see things from their seat, he added. If you want them to see things from yours, you first need to see things from theirs. ELEVATE YOUR WORK THROUGH STRATEGIC STORYTELLING Personal brand canand shouldcoexist with humility. For the introverts among us, this isnt about self-promotion. Its about translating your teams impact into stories that resonate with the business. Strategic storytelling connects people to purpose. It transforms complex initiatives into narratives that inspire action and resonate with the business. As leaders, we can help our teams do this by focusing on what I call the three Cs: clarity, commitment, and consistency.Clarity: Clear really is kind. Strip out jargon and acronyms. Ask yourself: Would the average employee understand what Im trying to say? If not, simplify.Commitment: Audiences can sense when youre reciting a script versus speaking from conviction. Belief cant be fakedand when leaders try, trust erodes fast. Consistency: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your leadership signature wont be either. Words and action, over a sustained period of time, reinforce your stated values. The small, unseen momentshow you respond to challenges, how you show up when no ones watchingcreate the foundation of your credibility. 2 SHIFTS TO BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND FOUNDATION Mindfully consider your personal style and how you want your brand to show up. Gut-check that with others. Ask yourself: What do you want others to say about your leadership? Does that align with the feedback I receive? If not, where are there gaps and how can I work toward reconciling them? Here are two shifts you can make today to create that foundation. 1) Ground in outcomes Too often, leaders fall into the same traps we coach early-career workers to avoid on their resumes. Shift away from the activity, into the outcome. Activity: We led a large-scale software integration this quarter. Outcome: We transformed how our company connects people strategy to business results.Leading with outcomes helps to contextualize the weight and the why behind your teams work, building credibility with the listener. 2) Mind your language On our San Diego panel, Marissa shared a story of her time at Universal Studios. Early on, she introduced herself to business leads with HR-speak: Im here to help develop a new performance management and talent planning process. She received clear, actionable feedback that the corporate jargonwhat she jokingly called corponicswas not resonating. The very colleagues she was trying to rally did not know what she was saying.Taking their feedback, she dropped the lingo, and recalibrated to human-first language. Instead of succession planning, she said, Were growing fast. When youre ready for your next role, how do you ensure someones ready to step into your seat? AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP IN AN ERA OF ERODED TRUST Personal brands can no longer be “crafted” in a conference room with a team of external consultants. Todays workforce is skeptical, discerning, and exhausted. Decades of information overload, polarization, and change have left employees craving authenticity and wary of anything that feels performative. People are drawn to leaders who reflect their stated values through daily interactions. If you think your leadership brand only lives on LinkedIn, youre tracking the wrong KPIs. Do your public posts reflect the experiences your customers and teams are having privately? The leaders who will define the next decade are those whose public narratives match their private behaviors. When leaders clarify their values, master storytelling, and lead with authenticity, they dont just strengthen their own brandsthey rebuild trust in business itself. One example Marissa shared in San Diego, was her time as chief people officer at Chipotle and the experience of partnering with Guild to transform their employee tuition reimbursement program into an initiative that reinforced the companys belief in peoples potential. The result? Measurable business outcomes. Chipotle saw stronger retention and greater internal mobility made possible by the new skills through education. THE BIGGER PICTURE Building a personal brand isnt about self-promotion. Its about creating alignment between who you are, how you lead, and the impact you create. By cultivating clarity of values, mastering the art of strategic storytelling, and leading with authenticity, todays executives can build personal brands that elevate their voices and strengthen trust in their organizations. In doing so, leaders transform branding from an exercise in visibility into a discipline of influence anchored in purpose. Rebecca Biestman is CMO of Guild.
Category:
E-Commerce
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