Forget vacation, and sick days, the newest perk that employees are asking for is something that hits a little closer to home. Pet insurance. That’s right, when you interviewed for your latest job you probably asked about the standard roster of perks such as the option to work from home, the number of paid company holidays, and if you’re really up to date with current events you might have had the wherewithal to ask about pet insurance for your furry family members. With family-focused benefits becoming more and more popular, such as child care benefits, and paternity leave if only makes sense that perks for our fur children followed.

To some who have been in their career for a long while this may seem like a ridiculous trend. What will they think of next? Nap pods? Exercise incentives? Massages?

Surprise! These benefits already exist at most of today’s biggest and hottest companies. The growing list of thing millennials are “ruining” already includes out-of-date employee benefits. It’s becoming expected that employers will offer the standard benefits that use to be seen as incentives; young professionals in today’s market are looking for perks that go beyond the norm to entice them to sign with a new company. And before you go and complain about all of the millennials in your workforce, keep in mind that by 2020, just three years for the original time of publishing of this piece, millennials will make up over 50% of the workforce.

 

Before we continue, just a note on the word “millennials.” When we say millennials, we are only using that term to refer to the group of young professionals born between 1980 and 1996. Often, when the word millennial is used it is coined to demean and the efforts, intelligence, and hardworking nature of an entire generation of our population. So please, know that when we use the word “millennial” we do so fully acknowledging the high achieving, incredible, demographic that is comprised of a diverse group of young professionals that are changing the world.

When polled by the Harvard Business Review, it was found that six in 10 millennials say that they were open to different job opportunities. Additionally, a study conducted by Gallup shows that 93% of all workers left their employer the last time they changed roles, leaving only about 7% who took a new position in their company. What does this mean? It means that in order to keep skilled workers around companies need to provide enticing incentives to stay around.

Changing The Benefits Game

You might be thinking that this sounds all well and good, but who is actually offering pet insurance as a real work perk? It has to be some obscure company that you’ve never heard of right? Wrong. Over 5,000 companies are now offering their employees pet insurance as a part of their standard list of benefits, including Microsoft, Yahoo, and Xerox.

It has been proven time and time again that bringing your pet to the workplace is good for recruiting employees, retaining employees, morale, productivity, and more. And of course, the many benefits of having a pet at home has been shown time and time again, so it’s no wonder why big companies are now taking the leap to insure their employees furry family members.

How It Works

Experts are estimating that American will spend somewhere around $69.36 million dollars on their pets in 2017. That breaks down to equal the following:

Food	$29.69 billion
Supplies/OTC Medicine	$14.93 billion
Vet Care	$16.62 billion
Live animal purchases	$2.01 billion
Other Services	$6.11 billion

With only 1-2% of Americans carrying pet insurance for their furry family members that means that a lot of these medical expenses will be coming directly out of pockets. But it doesn’t have to. Like regular medical insurance, pet insurance can cover both expensive life-saving procedures as well as everyday needs such as food, regular check-ups, and basic medicines such as flea and tick prevention. Read below for a more detailed explanation of what could be covered under your pet’s insurance.

Accidents Dog Bite Broken & Fractured Bones Foreign Body Ingestion Hit By Car	Illnesses Ear Infections Allergies Cancer Pancreatitis
Routine Care Vaccinations Flea & Tick Prevention Dental Cleanings Spay or Neuter	Inherited Hip & Elbow Dysplasia Arthritis Diabetes And More

 

Take The Next Step Towards Pet Insurance

Are you ready to ask your employer about pet insurance? Are you an employer and ready to start searching for pet insurance plans to offer to your employees? Stay tuned for the next article in the Pet Insurance: The New Work Perk series to find out how to successfully convince your employer to offer pet insurance at your place of work, and how to find the right pet insurance plan for your company. In the meantime, feel free to check out any of our 10,000 vet approved articles on all things pets.