The Washington Times reports that some employers are offering pet health insurance as a part of their employee benefits package.  These companies are hoping to remain competitive and meet the demands of current and potential employees.

Many companies are afraid their best employees will leave when the economy recovers, but offering competitive benefit packages is one way to retain them, he said.

In fact, pet insurance is one of the three most requested voluntary employee benefits, according to a 2007 survey by Vsurance of Canton, Ohio.

Companies can help employees purchase the insurance at discounted rates by offering it as a voluntary benefit, which can generate “tremendous good will,” Mr. Lummis said.

Concerto Networks is one of those companies. The D.C. company, which provides information technology support to small businesses, makes an effort to appeal to “pet-loving employees” by offering pet insurance to its small staff and allowing them to bring their pets to work, owner John Videna said.

Other companies are slowly catching on. Just 3 percent of U.S. companies offer pet insurance as a benefit, according to a 2009 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.

While it costs employers nothing to offer pet insurance to employees, many bosses simply don’t know about it. Others are afraid they will confuse employees if they load up their benefit packages with too many options, said Ken Stallings, sales director at Veterinary Pet Insurance of Brea, Calif.

“McDonald’s can’t have everything on their menu,” Mr. Stallings said. “You have to pick and choose what’s the best for your customers.”

Read the entire article here.

Does your employer offer pet health insurance?  Would you like to see this benefit offered?  Would it help persuade you to work for (or stay working for) a company if they offered this benefit?