Beyond health benefits: Pet benefits expansion reflects changing culture

• Key Insight: Learn how pet benefits are shifting voluntary benefits strategy to boost retention among younger workers.
• What's at Stake: Missed adoption risks losing younger talent and undermining holistic employee well-being strategies.
• Expert Quote: "Pet benefits pull employees into enrollment," says Eric Silverman, founder of Voluntary Disruption.
• Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review

This is part two in a series about supplemental benefit offerings. Read part one here.

One reason so many employees tune out at open enrollment is that their benefits are boring and lack sex appeal, even if it's something as important as selecting the right health insurance coverage. But every so often there's an opportunity to freshen up core offerings with a nontraditional perk that commands attention.

A massive spike in pet ownership during the pandemic spotlighted the need for benefit brokers and advisers to rethink their product and service suites as more workplaces became pet-friendly. 

The number of employers offering pet insurance has increased to 33% from 23% in 2023, according to Gallagher's 2025 Benefits Benchmarks Report, which found that "the expansion of quality-of-life products within the voluntary benefits landscape represents a significant change in how employers approach employee well-being."

Read more: Rethinking benefits and vendor partnerships during open enrollment

Shifting attitudes toward pet ownership and financial well-being has made the benefit particularly popular among younger employees, reports Tom Kelly, a health practice leader for Gallagher. He says millennials and Gen Z employees rank pet benefits as a top offering. "As more of them increasingly treat pets as family, employers are adapting their benefits to attract and retain this segment, he says, adding that pets are proven to reduce loneliness, improve recovery from illness and boost overall mental health.  

Eric Silverman, founder and owner of Voluntary Disruption, compares pet benefits to the hook of a hit song, noting "it's what grabs them by the shirt collar and pulls them in, which is where we garner the most attention." Although participation tends to be low, he says it serves as a motivator for people to review their benefits and get through open enrollment.

Member of the family

"Pets are family members," adds Kim Eckelbarger, founder of Tropical Benefits, a division of ARCW Leavitt Insurance, noting that pet insurance is easier to use than human health insurance because policyholders can go to any provider they choose. 

In recent years, some employers have gone as far as extending bereavement leave to pet owners. When a beloved pet passes away, the depth of grief is often overlooked and insufficiently acknowledged, both personally and in the workplace, observes Ron Gura, co-founder and CEO of Empathy, whose digital platform helps families navigate the emotional and logistical challenges of loss. 

Read more: The perks of a pet-friendly office and how to implement it

It's easy to see why: Pets are becoming increasingly prominent in employees' lives, with 62% of Americans now living with a pet and 97% of pet owners describing their fur babies as part of the family. This key trend has increased demand for pet-inclusive workplace benefits such as Empathy's unique loss-support solution to help people navigate both the emotional and practical challenges following the loss of a pet.  

Gura has seen high demand around pet bereavement, especially among employees who are between the age of 25 and 40, as well as those working in densely populated cities in California and New York where the per capita pet count is high. 

There's also increased awareness that bereavement leave is inadequate, he says, with employers three times more likely add extensions to their policy from three to 10 days than they were two years ago. 

Empathy's most recent annual research report, The Grief Tax, found that 90% reported experiencing severe anxiety during grief and the same number said it affected their productivity, while 76% feared being let go because it has interfered with their performance. 

Acknowledging the point-solution fatigue that brokers and their employer clients are facing, Gura says "we're not saying you should buy pet loss as a support system. We're saying you should buy bereavement care for your employees. And pet loss is an extension that we just added" to help deepen employee loyalty. 

"American employees want more pets," he notes. "They want to feel less lonely, and they view their pets as a part of the family."