Leaving your dog for a day at the office can be stressful. Luckily, according to a new survey, pet-friendly offices are one of the fastest-rising perks for employees, with employer-provided pet insurance coverage also on the rise. The same survey also found thatemployees without pet perks are willing to give up other benefits to get them.
This new survey comes from ZipRecruiter, an online job marketplace, and it also reveals that while just 12 percent of employers allow pets at work, pet-friendly offices in job postings increased threefold in the last two years — and mentions of pet insurance as a benefit rose by 50%. The survey’s results are based on responses from 3,000 job applicants and 200 employers.
Almost half of the job seekers surveyed (45%) said having a pet at work is positive, and 10% of the survey’s employers said they believed their company would be pet-friendly in the next five years.
Meanwhile, 30% of job seekers said it was very important or somewhat important to them that their employer allow pets in the workplace. They ranked pet-friendly offices as the top pet benefit, followed by paid pet insurance and then remote work options for pet parents.
The survey found pet parents are willing to sacrifice some other non-pet perks to have their furry friends in the office.They are willing to give up:
- free snacks (41 %)
- catered meals (30 %)
- employee discounts (18%)
- one paid vacation day (17%)
- 1% of their gross salary (7%)
- performance bonus (3%)
And when it comes to getting pet insurance as a benefit,job seekers will sacrifice:
- free snacks (40%)
- catered meals (32%)
- one paid vacation day (25%)
- employee discounts (20%)
- 1% of their gross salary (10%)
- performance bonus (3%)
And which city is a job seeker more likely to find a pet perk? According to mentions in ZipRecruiter job postings, Houston comes in first, followed by San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Jose, Phoenix, Seattle, New York, and Boston.
If you are a pet parent on the job hunt, pet insurance is offered to employees of Cinemark, Esurance, Panasonic, and Universal Music Group, according to ZipRecruiter, and Computer-Aided Technology has a pet-friendly office.