When Pets Are Family: Rethinking Employee Benefits with Airvet's Brandon Werber

Speaker A: M. Welcome to the Stretch, the podcast where we explore how organizations push beyond traditional thinking to meet the needs of a changing workforce. Today, we're asking, what is a family when it comes to employee benefits? For many employees, pets are the heart of their family and their emotional well being. But most benefits really haven't caught up. Our guest today is Brandon Werber. Brandon is the CEO and founder of ayirvet, the first telehealth platform for veterinary care and one of the first on demand healthcare experiences. How do we know we consider pets as family?

Speaker B: There are literally twice as many households with pets in the house than there are with children, and that gap is growing.

Speaker A: We're going to talk about why should it be part of a benefits package that an employer offers?

Speaker B: So when a pet benefit actually removes barriers like cost and access and time, employees use it at rates that will eclipse almost every other benefit in a portfolio.

Speaker A: And we'll get into the importance of covering all pets as a member of a family.

Speaker B: And if your, uh, family employees consider a person, an animal, a cousin, to be their family in what I consider their nucleus, then that's the family. And it's not for us to say what is a family and what's not a family.

Speaker A: So, Brandon, welcome to the Stretch.

Speaker B: Thank you for having me, Kevin. I'm excited to be a guest today.

Speaker A: Yeah, I'm so excited to have you. Now, obviously, we've known each other for a little while, and, uh, maybe before we jump in, uh, a fun icebreaker. So tell me about your pet.

Speaker B: So, I, uh, am very partial to bulldogs. I love the smushy face breeds. So English bulldogs, French bulldogs, um, and then I love pugs, too. They have a pretty special place in my heart. So the smooshy face breeds, uh, we are on our fourth French bulldog right now. So we had French bulldogs way before they were popular. We've had them for about 25 years now. And, uh, I just, you know, we've had other breeds, too. Labs are amazing. Golden retrievers, I find, uh, my Frenchies just have a very special place in my place, in my heart. There's just nothing like a Frenchie.

Speaker A: I love it. I love it. So I think I've shared this with you. But we have a golden retriever now. Prior to that, we were a beagle family. And my wife knows that, uh, if I could have it my way, I'd live on a farm with, like, I don't know, 30, 40 beagles and just have them run around the yard all day. But their noise, uh, isn't Exactly. Great.

Speaker B: They're known as the Howlers. Howling breeds.

Speaker A: Yes. In fact, actually, I just learned a stat or a comment beagle. Uh, pain syndrome. Um, it's not real, but they're apparently dogs that experience, uh, pain differently than any other breeds. Maybe we can get into that later in today's episode.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's like a man with a cold.

Speaker A: That's right. Yes, yes. Of which I have one now. Perfect transition. So, uh, Brandon, like I said, we've known each other for a little while. I've been super impressed with what airvets, with what you've all done and how you're experiencing benefits, you know, on behalf of, uh, you know, sort of the extension of what a traditional family looks like. So why don't we start there? I would love your perspective on the definition of a family. And how is that changing in the realm of benefits?

Speaker B: Look, I think it's a great question, and it sounds like an obvious one, like, what is a family? But the reality is, families come, in my opinion, in all shapes and sizes, uh, different makeup centered around what, Uh, I believe it's just who we care for and who we care about. Um, we don't get that answer by being prescriptive. We get it by listening. Uh, we get it by following trends. Um, everybody, uh, would look at a family differently. Everybody has a different type of family. So whether, uh, you're, uh, married with kids, married without kids, uh, but you take care of elderly parents or somebody else in the family. Um, I know my wife grew up in a huge family where all the aunts and uncles all took care of everyone else's kids. It was almost like a village. Um, and for so many families, uh, their pets. They either have pets and children or pets and no children. And that's their family. So I just look at a family as, like, we. Listen, if your, ah, family employees consider a person, an animal, a, uh, cousin to be their family, and what I consider their, Their nucleus, then that's the family. And it's not for us to say what is a family and what's not a family. Sure. Um, it's just for us to listen and be receptive to those differences.

Speaker A: Yeah. So, Brandon, I love that. And I also, you know, my orientation in my role and throughout my career has always been the employee. Right. And sort of the, uh, more traditional family and how that has, you know, touched benefits in so many different ways. Things like family forming and fertility. But I would love your perspective on how have employees, especially as you were bringing AirVet to market how are they signaling that pets really are part of the family? And it's sort of, uh, I won't say a deviation from the traditional family, but an expansion for how we define what a family is.

Speaker B: Absolutely. Um, so I like to think of that always in like three buckets. Right. How do we hear things, how do we see things? It goes back to trends and connecting dots. Uh, so I've always kind of lumped it into behavioral, financial and cultural. Right. And the way employees need or ask for things, or as those things change, it's usually in one of those buckets. So, uh, I look at behavior, for example, not surveys, but what are they actually doing? Right. So they're burning PTO days to take a sick pet to the vet. Not because they forgot to plan, but because when a pet gets sick and we don't expect really feels as urgent as having a sick child. I have, uh, three boys who are six and under, uh, and a fourth, finally a girl on the way. And, um, I remember the first time, Mason, who's now 6, who's my first. Uh, it was like 11:00pm he had like 103.5 and nearly 104 fever. And it was like, it was absolutely manic. I didn't know who to call, what to do. I wanted to rush to the er. My wife's like, calm down. Like, let's just call the after hours line. And so I called the after hours pediatrician line and you just get an answering machine, you leave a message, and in 40 minutes or so, like a doctor on call called back. But those 40 minutes, I mean, it felt like a lifetime. And I turned it the entire time. Yeah, absolutely. And it was really no different. Uh, when we're talking about our pets, right. When they're sick and we can't get care for them, we don't know if it's an emergency. Should I be rushing to an er? Um, it really feels like that. So, uh, it feels urgent and it's all encompassing. So, uh, they're going into financial debt over unexpected vet bills. They're distracted at work, losing sleep, uh, and they're showing up just mentally checked out when something's wrong with a pet at home and they don't have an exact care plan. So that's more of like the behavioral side of like, what are we doing? What is it feel like when we have a sick pet? Yeah, some insane stats that most people don't even believe because it's so insane to hear. But us pet spending. So this goes into behavioral, cultural, and financial is really, what do people care about? Well, what are they spending their money on? And that tells you what they care about. And the US Pet care industry. So without this context, if I were to ask you, just what do you think we spend every year on our pets, what would you say per family? Just, just total in the US US Pet spend.

Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.

Speaker B: Annual. Like this is.

Speaker A: Interview question, Brandon. Uh, I would say the whole, the, the, um, industry spends or, you know, we collectively spend $50 million.

Speaker B: So a few years ago, uh, we were at 90 billion a year just in the U.S. i was off by a few zeros. Just a few. Uh, last year was about 150 billion.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker B: And by 2030, which is scarily only three and a half years away, uh, it will be over $275 billion. And that's just domestically. So it's a quarter trillion dollar a year, ah, spend. And that spend is skyrocketing. So that goes to the financial side of what we're spending, the way we're humanizing our pets. And now, and some will laugh at this, and some will say, yeah, uh, pet trusts are now legally recognized in all 50 states. So people are leaving money and instructions for their pets in wills. So that's pretty wild. Um, and it just shows that humanization, right. How do we know that people consider their pets family? And then the clearest signal from Air Vet's lens is utilization. Uh, so when a pet benefit actually removes barriers like cost and access and time, employees use it at rates that will eclipse almost every other benefit in a portfolio. So where are people spending their time? Where are people spending their money? And from a benefits perspective, the utilization tells the story, right? If we're scratching an itch or solving a pain point or not.

Speaker A: Yeah. Well, hearing about pet trusts and people leaving money for their pets, I, I didn't realize I could actually think about being a financial manager just for pets. Like, I could exclusively manage Beagle money. So maybe you and I can talk about that offline.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: I love the thread that you were pulling on around sort of stress because again, this is near and dear to my heart and sort of how we think about the holistic employees. So you talked about financial strain, you talked about anxiety. Um, and it's so well put, right. Because the whole employee is how our clients, how employers throughout the United States really think about sort of enhancing the lives of their members. And so the extension not just to mental health and EAP benefits, but veterinary care is sort of a fascinating way to look at it. And I'll even share. You know, many of us have experienced pet loss. Right. So we previously have lost pets. And it impacts you. Right. And the days, you know, after losing, to your point, an extension of your family is. It's very painful. And so to being able to recognize that emotional stress and anxiety is a powerful thing for an employee to recognize and their employer to support.

Speaker B: I agree completely. And it's one of those awful inevitabilities of parenthood, is there. You know, our, uh, what people always say is they're, they're a part of our lives, but we are their entire life.

Speaker A: Sure.

Speaker B: And, uh, knowing that at some point we're going to have to say goodbye is devastating. We actually, uh, are unveiling both palliative care, uh, on airvet and grief counseling. So when people are, uh, asking the question, when do I know it's time to say goodbye? Because a lot of the times, not all the time, but a lot of the time it's a decision we have to make, which is different. And knowing when to make it and how to make it and when it's time. Time is one of the hardest decisions we will ever make as pet parents. And being able to talk that through not in a 15 minute vet appointment, but being able to talk to somebody for hours and multiple times if we need to until we're comfortable and confident. M. It's a massive value add for people emotionally.

Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. Well, Brennan, that's a great transition. Because we've established pets are part of family, it's very important for employers to sort of recognize how we can support, you know, members of, you know, what the modern family looks like. So why don't you tell us about airvet? Like, if you were to meet somebody on the street, how would you explain what you're all solving for?

Speaker B: Um, if I were talking to a pet parent on the street, I would describe it in just the simplest form of, you know, have you ever done a doctor's visit on your phone? Maybe during COVID like a Teladoc or a doctor on demand? And almost everyone. Oh, yeah, of course. Um, we say, okay, we're Teladoc for pet families. Okay. And you could talk to a vet 247 at the tap of a button. And the. I think you might have said this when I first met you years ago and, uh, told you what it was. Almost always the response we get is, it's so obvious. Like, why didn't I think of that? Um, and it's funny, it does seem we have this for people. Why don't we have it for pets. Um, so that's what I say is what we do, um, is it's Teladoc for pet families. And then we started adding more and more to it, um, because we started hearing from employers time and time again that they wanted, uh, this to be more of not a single point solution around telehealth, but, ah, all the things that encompass an online pharmacy, home delivery, savings on pet products, discounts towards being a pet parent, palliative care, navigation for care, and all of these things. So bit by bit we started adding a lot. Uh, you know, so now it's, it's more of a comprehensive pet care platform as opposed to exclusively telehealth.

Speaker A: That's phenomenal. So Brandon, you had mentioned, um, sort of going back to financial strain and anxiety and clearly, you know, you're working to address, you know, things of that sort of category. I think something that I like so much about your solution, especially as we compare and contrast it to other solutions that employers roll out in a benefits package, is oftentimes they impact the employer, you save money and there can be a benefit to the employee. But I think your solution is somewhat unique in that there are almost equivalent benefits to the employer as there is the employee. So can you help us understand a little bit more about when an employee uses AirVet, what do they get? And when an employer rolls AirVet out, what results, what outcomes do they sort of come to appreciate?

Speaker B: Uh, it's really interesting. It's really two sides of the same coin. So we look at, first and foremost, it is very expensive to live today. Right. Cost of living is skyrocketing. We're seeing health care spend. This is just something that employers and employees are grappling with every day. The cost of living. Um, so no different than in human healthcare, the cost of vet care. So when you think about financial savings, that will be two sides of the same coin for the employee. The cost of vet care is up 40% over the last five years alone.

Speaker A: 40%.

Speaker B: 40% over the last five years. Double digits a year. Uh, the average emergency vet visit is now about $1,500 to $5,000. And people are paying it or going into debt to do so. 60% of Americans don't have $1,000 in savings.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So when an unexpected vet bill or an emergency pops up, they are exhausting their savings and going into debt to do that. Borrowing money from friends, family. And 96% of pet owners don't have pet insurance.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Right. So these are all just huge expenses that are unexpected, coming out of pocket and just people are financially spiraling because they're not going to forego care, uh, especially life saving care or urgent care for their pet. So for the employer, um, or for the employee rather, being able to avoid those visits and avoid those unexpected expenses by being able to talk to a vet and treat a pet for free virtually in the vast majority of cases is massive for the employer. There's also a huge financial ROI because productivity and absenteeism. You know, I always say vets are a lot like Chick Fil a. They're not open on Sundays. So about 90% of all vet visits happen during the work week. People take time off unexpectedly, uh, to take their pet to the vet. They're there for hours and hours. Right. And typically they'll take a half day to a full day off. And if we can do 70 to 80% of all of those visits and make them virtual and we're 247 so they can happen, you know, early in the morning, people can do it on their lunch or when they get home. Um, it's a huge savings around productivity and absenteeism and the employee doesn't have to take that PTO day, uh, in order to do that. So the financial side is that two sided, uh, coin for sure. Um, and then certainly on the emotional side, when our pets are uh, incredibly sick or we're drowning in debt because we just paid a $2,800 er bill, that person's not showing up to work as their best self. So being able to have focused, um, emotionally well and strong employees ready to do their best work and not thinking about how they're going to pay their, you know, their best friend back for the $800 they just lent them to pay that, that unexpected vet bill. Right. It has two really interesting sides of that coin that benefit the employer and the employee under the same categories of financial, wellness, emotional well being, but in different ways.

Speaker A: Yeah, well again, I, not to make this about me, but I'll make it about me. I've obviously used your solution and I can't agree with you more. Right. Because we've had issues with the dogs in the past and even our golden now where they eat something they shouldn't have or they have a rash and we could certainly go to our vet, which we often do. Um, and it's not a 15 minute event the way it is.

Speaker B: Oh God, no talking with you.

Speaker A: It's a multi hour event. And so the age old discussion around absenteeism and productivity is very hard to measure. But with this, it's not difficult to measure. It's actually, I think, very clear, you know, how long it takes you to go to a vet, you know, how much money you're spending, and when you can accomplish many things, you know, through the app setting or the technology setting that you all have, um, it happens a lot quicker. So, you know, I have to imagine the conversations you're having with prospective clients and then by extension, their members is one of, um, you probably don't get a lot of pushback because they probably get it, especially if they're pet owners themselves.

Speaker B: Oh, a hundred percent. And what's really interesting is very much like an Uber ride. Right after your ride, you rate it out of five stars. We do the same thing. So after every Air Vet visit the employee gets, um, the, uh, next screen will ask them point blank, um, did airvet, did your Air Vet visit save you from having to go in person? Yes or no? So their employee, him or herself is telling us, if I didn't use Aravac, here's what I would have done. And then we can attribute a certain amount of time, of course, and a certain amount of money both on an avoided visit for the employee and that absenteeism for the employer, and quantify those things not based on network averages or an, uh, average of a study that was posted online about one thing or another, but your own employees who tell us, if I didn't use AirVet, I would have gone in person. And then we report on that. So it actually is, uh, much easier to quantify, uh, than a lot of, than a lot of benefits out there today.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's phenomenal. So, Brandon, when I talk with some of the organizations that are on the podcast or even sort of throughout my career, a lot of these solutions will talk about what their approachable market looks like and, you know, who could use said service. So from your vantage point, like, how many people have pets, like, what is your approachable market?

Speaker B: It's, you know, it's, it's. The stats around this are mind blowing. And it kind of leads back to our conversation earlier around, how do we know that pets are part of the family? And you just look at the sheer number of pets coming into homes every year and what that growth rate looks like. So, yes, they come in all shapes and sizes, but there's a clear dominator as it comes to growth around what families, ah, are looking like today. So, for example, you look at humans, right? Birth rates are at historic lows. People are having less kids today than ever before in history or they're waiting longer in life to have kids or choosing not to have kids at all, and they're getting pets instead. So back in the 19, uh, 80s and 90s, about 50 or so percent, a little over 50% of households of families, uh, included pets. Today it's 70% of all households in the country include pets. And over the next three and a half years, that'll be 83%. So there are literally twice as many households with pets in the house than there are with children. And that gap is growing. So when we talk about why should pets be, be included in a family support strategy or caregiving, it's because we're not talking about 18 or 20% of the workforce. Right. We're talking about the overwhelming majority of the workforce and growing. And about 97% of all pet families said that they consider their pets to be a core part of their family. 97%. Right. So it goes back to listening. How do we know they're part of the family? Well, look at the growth rates and listen to them. They're literally telling us that their pets are part of the family.

Speaker A: Well, and it's amazing too, because you think about more traditional health focused benefits. For example, only certain people are going to have knee replacements or hip replacements.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: But you're talking about a level of universality that impacts so many people and so many families.

Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. Right. So when we think about the benefits, the financial stress, the emotional stress around caring, uh, for their pets, or stress when we're not able to care for them or access care care and we can alleviate that stress, we're not talking about a small segment, we're talking about nearly the entire workforce.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, so, Brandon, I think I've exhausted many of the questions I wanted to ask you and I hope all your listeners have come to sort of learn a little bit more about what you're doing because again, you all are doing super cool things. But there's one last question I'd love to ask you. What is the most surprising thing you've learned about maybe employees and their pets? I'm sure you have lots of fun stories that your clients have told you, but maybe what's the most surprising?

Speaker B: You know, one thing I have found really surprising, um, is there's a sentiment, and I think maybe it's just because of the old guard of 25 years. What, what benefits for pet families have looked like and what options have been out there and how they've been delivered that, um, we've, we seem to have been like really accepting that like, certain benefits are just low utilization and really low utilization. And like, somehow, because that's all that's been around, the industry as a whole was just very accepting of like, oh yeah, pet benefits. You know, ours, we've had it for X amount of years. It gets 1% enrollment or less. But like, that's what everybody gets. So like, that's where we're at table stakes. I was really surprised that there weren't, uh, companies, uh, people out there that were saying, hey, what does that tell us if 99% of the workforce is not using the solutions that we're offering? But then whenever we ask them what they want, in this case, they say they want pet benefits. So we roll out certain, you know, a voluntary pet benefit, let's say, and then nobody enrolls. But for 25 years we just kept launching it. I think I was really surprised that somehow everyone was just okay with that because that was the expectation. Um, and when we rolled ayurved out, we just. The delivery, I think, uh, was so different where it was employer paid. So it's free for all pet families. So we've removed all cost barriers and access barriers. We don't exclude anybody. Right. So there's no exclusions on one thing or another. Uh, it's all pets, not just cats and dogs. So we've done iguanas, we've done a live birth of goats on air vet, we do chickens, uh, we've done a tarantula, bearded, uh, dragons, geckos. Because like, it kind of goes back to what you said before. Like, what's a family? Yeah, it's not for me to say. If you have a cat or a dog, you're a family and you get this great benefit for pet care. But if you have a bearded dragon or a spotted gecko, you're not a family. And unfortunately you don't get access to a benefit for pet families. So, um, when we rolled it out, it was from that surprise, right? And we said we gotta do this differently. And that's why the enrollment and utilization we see, I mean even in year one, as an average is double digits and for many clients, set utilization, uh, records. Like next to health insurance. For many clients, we're the highest utilized benefit they offer.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's amazing. And if our listeners click on the link below, you'll be able to see the birth of those live. No, I'm just kidding. That must have been a really interesting, uh, uh, process to watch. I have a million questions for you, but I won't Ask them.

Speaker B: Luckily, I have it. I didn't watch it. Uh, but it was. It was actually a two hour visit that went off.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker B: Yeah, the doctor stayed on and walked them through delivering the goats for the entire delivery.

Speaker A: Wow, that is amazing that it was a story.

Speaker B: But you've used Air Vet a couple of times, right?

Speaker A: I have. Unfortunately, no live goat births yet. Uh, but we'll see what 2027 has in store. For me, it's mostly contact dermatitis and, uh, food allergies, uh, ah, of which you have helped with both. So they've been fantastic. So, Brandon, uh, this was a ton of fun. I loved, uh, chatting with you, as always, but more importantly, having our listeners learn a little bit more about airvet and what you're doing.

Speaker B: Well, I appreciate you having me on and getting to share a little bit, uh, what we're so excited about and support supporting pet families. That is a passion of mine. I grew up in a house with 15 cats and dogs, and, uh, my dad's a veterinarian, so this is very much a labor of love. Um, and getting to provide the same kind of unlimited care that I was always spoiled with with my dad. I just picked up the phone, called my dad never had to think about access or cost, and, uh, I just wanted everybody to have that. So it's been a lot of fun

Speaker A: and you found a way to scale it. So again, thanks, Brandon. That's right. Appreciate you.

Speaker B: Thank you, Kevin.

Speaker A: And that's it for this episode of the Stretch. As the workforce changes and expectations are rising, meeting people where they are means that benefits need to be more exclusive, flexible, and connected to everyday life. Thank you so much to Brandon and the Ayrvet team, and thank you for listening as always. If you've enjoyed this episode, please follow the Stretch and share it with a colleague who's thinking about the future of benefits. We'll see you next time, Sam.