8 Advantages of Offering Employees Pet Insurance as an Employee Benefit

Many business leaders ask us: what is the advantage to offering employees pet insurance as an employee benefit?

To help employers decide if providing pet insurance benefits would positively affect their organization, we posed this question to business leaders to glean their best insights. From limiting absenteeism to increasing productivity, there are several reasons to add pet insurance to employee benefits. 

Here are eight advantages to adding pet insurance to your employee benefits: 

• Limit absenteeism

• Leverage as a Recruiting Tool

• Encourage Animal Companionship

• Think of Pet Health as Employee Stress Relief

• Provide a Benefit Viewed With Value

• Shift Benefits to Align With Remote Culture

• Improve Retention Rates

• Increase Productivity

Limit Absenteeism

For many people, a pet emergency translates to taking leave to take care of the matter. It may also involve a lengthy and inefficient process of shopping around for the best suited or most reasonably priced specialist. Pet insurance removes that problem and presents a ready solution, thus making the arrangements less time-consuming for the employee.

Michael Sena, SENACEA

Leverage as a Recruiting Tool

Employers have noticed the positive aspect of providing pet insurance, which helps employees in relieving their stress and boosts productivity and happiness. Also, this pet insurance to all the employees is a voluntary benefit.

The main motive of providing such pet insurance is that it acts as an amazing recruiting and retention tool. With organizations vying for the best talents, a pet insurance offering can aid in distinguishing your business from the competitors, mainly for various Gen Y and Millennial workers who are looking for a pet-friendly workplace.

So, those employees who have pets stay less stressed and more concentrated at work as they know their animals are gaining affordable and remarkable care during a health emergency.

Caroline Lee, CocoSign

Encourage Animal Companionship

We are a small company with less than 10 full-time team members. One of the perks of our size is that we can introduce and experiment with all kinds of benefits. Earlier this year, we introduced 100% pet insurance coverage. We thought, and knew, that the employees who would appreciate this coverage the most were those that already had pets at home. 

However, a pleasant surprise was that two employees actually saw the insurance as a great motivator to get pet kittens for the first time. Previously, these employees had been worried about the uncertain costs of cat ownership. The insurance provided them peace of mind. The end result was a great boost in morale for our business.

Melissa Kelly, The Virtual Team Building Company

Think of Pet Health as Employee Stress Relief

The answer is in the question. Companies offering pet insurance have seen a reduction in healthcare spending for employees with pets. The biggest reason is stress relief and better quality of life for owners with pets compared to those without. Pet and employee health go hand-in-hand.

Antonella Galiano, Petzyo

Provide a Benefit View With Value

When you evaluate why companies may offer pet insurance to their team, there's a very good reason that so many companies are beginning to add it to their benefits package. It is because it's of real value to their team. Last year, over 3 million pets were insured, which goes to show that consumers are serious about offering their pets the care that they need, and doing it in a way that fits into their budget.

While there are wallet-friendly options for pet insurance, it's even better to enjoy it as part of your employee benefits package. Plus, it really does say something for the company's culture and how they will provide real benefits that are actually consistently used and much preferred to other options.

Dylan Fox, AssemblyAI

Shift Benefits to Align With Remote Culture

As more and more companies commit to offering work-from-home options to their employees, organizations should consider changing their benefits to align with the changing culture. Since employees don't have an office to report to, catered lunches and the like should be replaced with benefits that make sense to an employee's life while working remotely. 

This is where offering benefits like pet insurance comes in. Pets are regarded as part of the family and are often jokingly referred to as many people's coworkers. Adding pet insurance to benefits packages acknowledges the shifting needs of employees in remote environments.

Meryl Schulte, Markitors

Improve Retention Rates

I believe providing employees with a benefit that protects their four-legged family members is a great way to keep them on board. If a worker cares about their pet and other employers don't provide pet insurance, that employee is far more likely to stay with your company.

Gerrid Smith, Joy Organics

Increase Productivity 

The truth is that providing your employees with the most excellent pet insurance possible increases employee productivity, which is likely the most significant benefit. Believe it or not, a quality pet insurance plan can stave off decreases in productivity. In addition, this insurance can benefit your company by reducing employee stress, leading to increased productivity.

Edward Mellett, Wikijob

Convinced? If you're interested in adding pet insurance to your employee benefits, look no further. Figo offers both Direct Bill - plans with coverage that is fully customizable by employees and billed directly (while receiving an employer discount up to 10%) and Group, which operates like payroll deduct for human health coverage. No matter what you're looking for, you can learn more about our robust products here.

Terkel is a platform where business leaders can answer questions related to their expertise and get published in articles featuring their insights.