The Impact of Pet Benefits in Your Workplace: How pet benefits provide whole-person outcomes
81% of pet parents spent over $500 a year on unexpected pet care. In September 2025, Airvet released the results of a survey on employed pet parents.
Employers spend millions on benefits, but when pet parents (70% of your population) face an emergency vet bill, that investment can unravel. Employees can’t plan for long-term financial goals like retirement or debt reduction if short-term expenses, like avoidable veterinary care, knock them off track. The high cost of pet care is causing avoidable financial strain for employees. Our survey found over 81% of pet parents spent over $500 a year on unexpected pet care, and 29% of them spent over $1,000. This can cause frustration and distraction for employees, while reducing productivity and limiting the impact of your financial well-being strategy.
Additional Key Findings:
- Over half (53%) of pet parents have skipped veterinary care due to cost, which can lead to stress, guilt, and more expensive, costlier treatments down the
- When asked to rank 7 different employee benefits, respondents ranked pet benefits above financial benefits, fertility benefits, and professional development benefits. This signals employees see caring for their pets as integral to their own well-being
- 94% of pet parents say their pet helps reduce their stress highlighting to fully experience these positive health outcomes, it’s important to make pet parenthood as supported as possible through pet benefits.
Forward-looking employers are beginning to see pet benefits not just as a nice-to-have, but as a core part of a comprehensive wellbeing strategy.