Pets are part of the care process and employers are paying attention.
Back-up care for pets is becoming a popular work perk, along with back-up care for children and elderly parents, as companies expand benefits to accommodate the various care needs of their employees.
Back-up care is short-term support, often subsidized by employers, used when regular arrangements fail. The need is growing across the U.S., especially as more companies require employees to fully return to the office. Approximately 59 million Americans will provide care for family members, neighbors, and friends in 2024, totaling up to 49.5 billion hours of care and an estimated $1 trillion worth of work, according to a new report from the AARP Public Policy Institute.
At the same time, there is growing data showing why pet care is also important to the workplace. According to pet health care company Wagumo, in a survey of more than 1,000 full-time employees who own pets, 75% said they had missed at least one day of work due to pet care issues in the past year, and 26% said they had missed six or more days.
Wealthy, a long-term care company that provides backup care to millions of employees and families nationwide and customers such as Best Buy, Merck and Harvard University, added its first pet in 2024.
“The biggest growth area of our business is definitely on the backup care side,” Wellthy CEO and co-founder Lindsay Jurist Rosner told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin on the latest episode of the “CNBC Changemakers and Power Players” podcast. “Companies will not only be paying for their employees to find babysitters and children’s centers…but also for seniors and indeed pets,” she said.
Jurist Rosner has been named to the 2026 CNBC Changemakers list.
Wellthy expanded its pet backup care offering with PetCare Concierge, which launched in summer 2025. This allows you to navigate pet insurance, source therapy animals, and find emergency accommodations and local veterinarians. Approximately 50% of our customers offer this service to their employees.
Backup care provider Bright Horizons also offers pet care services through partnerships with Rover and Wag!, typically offering walkers, sitters, and boarding services. Companies that offer Wagmo as a benefit reimburse employees for routine pet care, such as vaccines, grooming, blood tests, and labs.
Many companies are ending the flexible work-from-home policy that was introduced during the coronavirus era, when the number of pet owners increased rapidly, and the need for day-to-day nursing care and long-term care for business trips is increasing among employees.
“We’re seeing smart companies say, ‘Go back to the office,’ and ask employees to return to the office. And we’re also going to support them with important personal logistics,” Jurist Rozner said.
Pets fit into a broader national care crisis
For many families caring for children with special needs or elderly parents with health issues, pet care may not be the most urgent need. That wasn’t initially part of Wellthy’s mission.
Jurist Rozner was motivated to establish Wealthy after helping care for his mother, who was suffering from multiple sclerosis. “It’s been a nearly 30-year journey of caring for her, and she was my world. She was my best friend,” Jurist Rosner said. “So I willingly took on the role of caregiver, which was very difficult and stressful and overwhelming for me. … It’s an incredible challenge for almost every family. … And I felt this burning need to solve this problem for people like me,” she recalled in the podcast.
Juristo Rozner noted that child care and elder care remain severely understaffed, and there are also affordability challenges, with child care “currently costing more than rent in nearly every market in the United States.”
“We see the problem getting worse and continuing,” she said. “I say people quit their jobs because they don’t want to leave their families.”
Expanding the availability of pet care benefits fits well with Wealthy’s broader mission to meet all the needs of families while reducing financial and emotional stress and increasing productivity for employers.
“Most families are already stretched to their financial limits, trying to pay for care, and then asking them to pay for another service feels like a daunting task. We will be able to reach more families. And for employers, businesses will be able to improve retention and productivity,” said Jurist Rozner. “They can have valued employees who may have to retire or take time off to take care of their care needs. I think this care is a workforce equity, workforce productivity, and, frankly, kind of workforce participation issue that is not being discussed enough in this day and age.”
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