Pet Insurance Scores Big With Top Talent

With even its youngest members now 5 years deep into adulthood, the generation sandwiched between Gen X and Gen Z known as Millennials have seen their ranks in the workforce swell to the point that they now constitute a larger proportion of it than any other generation.

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In fact, more than 1 out of 3 current workers in the US are Millennials, which of course in turn has the inevitable effect of influencing and shaping work and office culture in the Millennial image, in a way that more closely aligns with and meets the expectations of this latest ascendant generation.

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To that end, it would seem that identifying the underserved needs of the generation that currently makes up the biggest share of the available talent supply and then tailoring employee benefits offerings more specifically to address those needs might in fact be an effective strategy for improving talent attraction and recruiting efforts. 

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If meeting those underserved needs also simultaneously increases employee engagement and retention, as well, however, the story starts sounding a little too good to be true.

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And yet, there remains the curious case of Pet Insurance.

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To be clear, loving animals and being willing to invest in their well being is not a trait exclusive to the Millennial generation by any stretch, but there does seem to be an attachment to pets among Gen Y that takes it to another level.

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Last year, for example, a survey from Consumer Affairs indicated that nearly 6 and 10 Millennial respondents claimed to love their pets more than their siblings. In fact, 5 out of 10 Millennials surveyed claimed to love their pets more than their own mother. 

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This trend continues past given family and into chosen family, as well, with 30% of respondents reporting they even love their partner less than their pets.

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Given these stats, it’s no surprise that in many Millennial households, pets carry a status in the family comparable to that of a child. In fact, more than half of Millennial survey respondents (58%) claimed they’d prefer to have pets over kids.

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Despite the clearly demonstrated depth of affection for their pets, however, 41% of respondents were at most moderately prepared to afford life-saving treatment for their pet should it become necessary within a month’s time, with $744 being the most money on average that respondents were willing or able to spend on their pet’s health.

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That disconnect between the love people have for their pets and their financial ability to care for them in case of emergency represents a sizeable opportunity for the pet insurance market in general, but employers that include pet insurance as a component of their employee benefits packages see advantages that go well beyond having employees with happier and healthier animals. 

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For one, the mere inclusion of pet insurance among other employee benefits offerings can have a perception boosting effect, with approximately 85% of employees whose employee benefit plans include pet insurance describing their company as having great, competitive benefits. 

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Beyond perception, there are also retention benefits to be reaped from offering pet insurance, with 81% of survey respondents whose employers offer pet insurance claiming they plan to stay with the company for at least the next year, and 64% of respondents claiming they would turn down an outside job offer with similar pay on account of how much they value the pet insurance specifically.

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Of all the positive impacts that offering pet insurance can provide for an employer, however, perhaps the most impressive is the way pet insurance correlates to employee engagement. According to a Gallup poll from 2021, only 36% of employees are actually engaging with their work, which contrasts starkly with the more than 3 out of 4 employees (76%) who have pet insurance that report being actively engaged on the job. 

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Still, even with all of these benefits that result directly from making pet insurance available to employees, only about 15% of employers currently offer any form of pet insurance coverage in their employee benefits packages, which seems like an incredible oversight to say the least.

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Who’s to say whether people who have pets are just generally more tuned-in at work or if the act of opting in when given the choice to invest in the health of a beloved animal is a type of self-selection for more-engaged workers? Similarly, do employees hold a more favorable perspectives on their employee benefits package when pet insurance is offered simply because of the emotional connection it invokes or because of the true value of the service it provides? Whatever the answer to these questions may be, the opportunity for companies - as well as the insurance brokers and benefits advisors with whom they consult - appears to be immense.

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