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Industry businesses offer veterinary
health care for man's best friends
By Dina Berta
(June 7) - Foodservice industry health care
benefits have gone to the dogs, cats, parakeets, rabbits and snakes.
Even as
smaller operators still struggle to offer health care insurance to all
employees, a growing number of larger companies are offering pet insurance
to managers and hourly workers as they work to attract and retain quality
employees. The rising cost of veterinary health care is fueling the
attractiveness of the perk.
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At Chipotle
contributing $10 a month to pet insurance premiums was a natural
extension of the casual environment, which allows employees to bring
their dogs to work. (Photo courtesy of Dina Berta)
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"Retention
is obviously a very big part of it," said Taco Bell Corp.
spokeswoman Laurie Schalow. "We want to make
life better for our employees. We saw this and looked into it and added it
as a benefit for employees. If they are happier and healthier, they stay
longer with the company and there's increased productivity."
Like most
companies in the foodservice industry, Taco Bell offers pet insurance as a
voluntary benefit separate from standard medical and dental benefits. Most
of those companies set up group plans through various providers, and employees
pay the premiums.
At Irvine,
Calif.-based Taco Bell, pet insurance is available to any employee who
qualifies for regular health care benefits — all salaried employees and
restaurant hourly employees who stay on the job for six months, Schalow said.
The
practice of offering pet insurance is relatively new in the foodservice
industry, with Taco Bell and other restaurant companies adding the benefit
in recent years. People Report, a Dallas-based firm that tracks
human-resources trends in the industry, first inquired into the practice in
its Survey of Unit-Level Employment Practices in 2003. Of the 78
foodservice companies that responded, 4 percent said they offer pet
insurance to management employees and 3 percent offered it to hourly
employees, including part-time workers, said People Report spokeswoman
Melissa Papaleo.
One of the
forerunners in pet insurance, Brea, Calif.-based Veterinary Pet Insurance
Co., offers group plans to more than 900
companies, including Ebay Inc., Blockbuster and
Denver-based Chipotle.
"Veterinary
bills are going up just like human medicine," said Bill Gorman, group
sales manager for the insurance company, who recalled a friend's
having to pay a $1,400 veterinary hospitality bill for the treatment
of a dog that had swallowed a sponge. Cat scans, MRIs
and cancer treatments for animals can be very expensive, Gorman said.
"A pet
may come to a veterinarian's office or hospital and need $1,000 worth of
treatment. When people do not have the money to do that, the pet gets put
down," he said. "Veterinarians with many years of schooling do
not like that concept or idea, to go through all that training just to kill
a pet. We have so many companies that come to us, which understand that and
feel that it is important to their employees, and that's one reason to
offer it."
Chipotle is one of the few employers that also pays a portion of pet insurance premiums for the
employees at its corporate office in downtown Denver. The decision, made
last year, made sense, given the pet-friendly environment of the office and
a desire to offer employees the kind of benefits that are important to
them, said Chris Arnold, spokesman for the fast-casual Mexican chain.
Because of Chipotle's casual office environment, employees are
allowed to bring their dogs to work. On any given day from three to four
dogs are roaming the cubicles, looking for treats or someone to scratch
them behind their ears. Pete, the mixed breed of brand manager Dan Fogarty,
even will ride the elevator to visit other dogs and workers on different
floors. Chipotle now contributes $10 a month to
pet insurance premiums, Arnold said.
"It's
often the little things that make the difference," he said. "Our
benefits packages are built around the needs and preferences of employees
and their families. And I think it makes a huge difference that the things
we offer are meaningful to our employees — things like pet insurance, a
dog-friendly office, no dress code."
To widen
the benefit offerings to employees, restaurant operators have turned to
third-party and Internet sources. Taco Bell partnered with
Answer Financial Inc. in Los Angeles to offer vehicle
insurance, homeowners' or rental insurance, and long-term care and pet
insurance, Schalow said.
Orlando,
Fla.-based Darden
Restaurants, parent of the Red Lobster and Olive Garden casual-dinnerhouse
chains, began offering pet insurance in 2002, along with other types of
nontraditional or voluntary plans that don't have defined enrollment
periods like the core medical plans, said spokesman Joe Chabus.
Employees
can sign up through the company's intranet Web site, DISH: Darden's Information Super
Highway. The Web site gives employees detailed
information about plans that interest them, he said.
"We've
always been interested in offering affordable programs that will enrich
employees' lives," Chabus said.
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