Employers Now Cover Pet Back-Up Care Benefits

Back-up care benefits at the workplace are no longer limited to children and aging parents. Today, a growing number of employers extend these benefits to cover pets as well. Companies like Wellthy and Bright Horizons now include pets in their back-up care programs. This shift reflects a broader understanding of what employee caregiving actually looks like in 2026.

What Is Back-Up Care at Work?

Back-up care is short-term, employer-subsidized support that employees can use when their regular care arrangements fall through. Traditionally, it covered child care and senior care. However, the definition has expanded significantly in recent years.

Who Qualifies for Back-Up Care?

Back-up care now typically covers:

• Children, from infants to age 12
• Aging parents and relatives, through in-home care or senior centers
• Pets, including dogs, cats, and other animals
• Employees themselves, recovering from illness or injury

This wider scope makes back-up care a more equitable benefit that serves employees at every stage of life.

Why Pet Care Is Now a Workplace Issue

The numbers tell a clear story. A survey of more than 1,000 full-time employees who own pets found that 75% missed at least one workday in the past year due to pet-care issues. Moreover, 26% of those employees missed six or more days. These absences hurt productivity, strain teams, and increase operational costs for employers.

The Post-Pandemic Factor

During the COVID-19 era, remote work flexibility allowed millions of employees to manage pet care while working from home. That flexibility has since reversed at many companies. As return-to-office mandates spread, employees face real challenges covering day-to-day pet care and business travel arrangements. Consequently, demand for employer-sponsored pet care support has risen sharply.

Furthermore, the pandemic drove a surge in pet ownership across the United States. Many of those new pet owners now need structured support systems that simply did not exist before.

How Wellthy Expanded Beyond Child and Senior Care

Wellthy, a caregiving company serving millions of employees and families nationally, was among the first to act. Its client roster includes Best Buy, Merck, and Harvard University. Wellthy first added pet care to its platform in 2024. Then, in summer 2025, it launched its “Pet Care Concierge” service.

What the Pet Care Concierge Offers

The Pet Care Concierge goes beyond basic boarding. It helps employees:

• Navigate pet insurance options
• Source therapy animals
• Find emergency boarding facilities
• Connect with local veterinarians

Currently, around 50% of Wellthy’s corporate clients offer this service to their employees.

Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, CEO and co-founder of Wellthy, noted the rapid growth in this segment. “Where we’re seeing the biggest growth area of our business is definitely on the back-up care side,” she told CNBC. “Companies will cover the cost for an employee to find a babysitter or a center for kiddos — but also for seniors and actually pets, too.” Jurist-Rosner was also named to the 2026 CNBC Changemakers List.

Bright Horizons and Wagmo Join the Pet Care Push

Wellthy is not alone in expanding these offerings. Bright Horizons, one of the largest back-up care providers in the industry, now offers pet care services through partnerships with Rover and Wag!. These services typically include dog walking, pet sitting, and overnight boarding. Employees can book quickly and access vetted caregivers for their animals just as they would for their children.

Wagmo’s Role in Routine Pet Care

Wagmo takes a different approach. At companies where Wagmo is an employee benefit, workers receive reimbursements for routine pet care, including:

• Vaccines
• Grooming
• Bloodwork
• Wellness exams

This model addresses day-to-day pet care costs rather than emergency situations alone. Together, these providers build a more comprehensive safety net for pet-owning employees.

The Business Case for Broader Back-Up Care

Employers who invest in back-up care programs see measurable results. According to industry data, employers who offer back-up care report a 30% decrease in absenteeism. Additionally, 9 in 10 users of Bright Horizons Back-Up Care say the benefit makes them more loyal to their employer.

Cost of Doing Nothing

Without back-up care support, the costs add up quickly. Companies lose an estimated $3 billion annually in productivity from child care breakdowns alone. Pet-related absences compound that figure further. Additionally, workforce disengagement and a weak benefits culture can cost organizations between $4,000 and $21,000 per employee each year.

Therefore, expanding back-up care to include pets is not simply a wellness gesture — it is a sound business decision.

What This Means for Employees and Employers

For employees, these expanded benefits reduce stress and provide reliable support when plans change unexpectedly. For employers, they signal a genuine commitment to the full lives of their workforce — not just the hours spent at a desk.

Looking Ahead

As pet ownership remains high and return-to-office policies become the norm, pet-inclusive back-up care benefits will likely become standard. Companies that adopt them early position themselves as forward-thinking employers in a competitive talent market. Back-up care, once viewed as a niche perk for parents, has evolved into a cornerstone of modern employee benefits strategy.