Tech companies add pet insurance to benefits

Palo Alto, Calif., tech companies and startups are known for giving employees perks such as free food, valet parking, laundry service and bring-your-dog-to-work days.

Lately, employee benefits have extended to pet insurance for dogs and cats as businesses look for more ways to attract and retain workers. Such policies have been the fastest-growing employee benefit, typically provided at no cost to employers, said Adam Fell, a spokesman for Nationwide.

Rich Lang, senior vice president of human resources at VMware in Palo Alto, said offering pet insurance as an employee benefit aligns with the company’s core value of building community.

Part of having a supportive work community means helping employees, whenever possible, not feel as if they have to segment their lives between work and family, Lang said.

“And for a lot of people, family includes their pets,” Lang said. VMware is even considering offering bereavement days for employees who lose pets, Lang added.

Not all VMware locations allow employees to bring dogs to work, such as the Palo Alto site, because it depends on the owner of the building. But VMware offers all its employees discounted pet insurance through the My Pet Protection plan by Nationwide.

Monthly premiums start at $40 for Palo Alto residents and go up to $66 for the most robust plan, according to Nationwide.

The price covers accidents, illnesses and preventive care such as vaccinations, flea medicine and wellness exams — but not pre-existing conditions.