Employer sponsored benefits promote 'false sense of security'

Life is already ruff for many plan members, who increasingly face workplace and personal stress. But Perigon Life, a new voluntary benefits technology platform, hopes to change how Canadian plan members access benefit options, particularly when it comes to benefit purr-sonalization like pet insurance.

Martin Shaw, Perigon’s founder and CEO, believes the current Canadian insurance landscape inadequately serves what plan sponsors and plan members are looking for. He asserts the issue isn’t just inefficiency, but rather exclusion.

“Insurance agents are targeting people who are upper middle class to wealthy, because they can write bigger checks to them, and then they get more value for their time,” he said, adding that many Canadians wrongly assume their employer-sponsored benefits are enough.

“They get this kind of false sense of security that their benefit plan is going to provide for their needs,” he added. “It does for health and dental and cash flow needs, but it's not meant to plan their liquidity in the event of a catastrophe.”

Perigon’s strategy is ultimately about changing how benefits are delivered. One of those ways, Shaw highlighted, is through the voluntary benefits lens, an uncommon practice in today’s benefits landscape and remains underutilized in Canada due to limited employee education.

“These voluntary benefits that we offer are all portable, so employees don't have to lose it,” he said, referencing a core challenge with traditional benefits that disappear when employees switch jobs. As for who deals with the portability in the interim, Perigon takes full accountability for the offboarding process, with no cost incurred from the plan sponsor or plan members.

That portability, Shaw argued, is key to long-term stability for both employees and employers. He wants voluntary benefits to become “a table stakes discussion,” and believes plan sponsors need to treat them as separate from core group benefits.

In advance of its official launch in Canada, Perigon partnered with Environics Research to survey insured plan members about their current benefits, unmet needs, and views on voluntary insurance. According to the findings, 93 per cent say benefits and insurance options are important to their overall happiness at work and influence whether they stay with their employer.

Meanwhile, 66 per cent of employees want to see more voluntary add-ons offered through their workplace. However, only 2 per cent say they would proactively ask their employer for additional insurance options.

That’s why he founded Perigon, with the hope of expanding education and accessibility for these underutilized benefits. Perigon Life’s voluntary benefits platform aims to make vital coverage including life, critical illness and identity theft more accessible to average Canadian employees.

By partnering with employers and associations, Shaw underscored the platform gives plan members “an opportunity to buy insurance without an intermediary,” allowing for direct, guaranteed access to coverage, along with no medical exams or pre-existing condition exclusions.

Pet care improves mental care

While most of the voluntary benefits under Perigon’s offerings consist of critical illness, life, legal, identity theft, and even home system and appliance warranty insurance, their benefits aren’t just about life-altering events.

Notably, one of Perigon Life’s most talked-about offerings is pet insurance, a voluntary benefit that’s rarely seen in Canadian benefits plans, but is becoming increasingly relevant. Shaw likened it to a “privilege of membership,” comparing it to credit card perks. He believes pet insurance offers serious support for employee well-being and retention, and can be added at no additional premium charge on the plan sponsor’s end.

“If their pet's not healthy, or they're concerned about their pet… where are they going to go for information? You're qualifying your employees’ time and helping them solve a problem that might be on their mind. When someone loves their pet, it can affect their emotional value when they're going to work, especially if something's not right,” he said.

Shaw and his team see pet benefits as a solution not just to mental health but financial protection. That connection is made even clearer through services like Vetster, which Perigon offers at a discount, with Shaw comparing it to Uber for pets.

“There’s always somebody available to you - no matter small or large animal - and you get so much off because your part of this voluntary benefits program. Instead of paying several hundred dollars, maybe it's $80 and you got 10 per cent off.”

Beyond the pet offering, Perigon has bundled broader wellness support under the name Perigon Care, which includes resiliency mental health training, an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), second opinion and navigation.

“It costs an employer roughly $6 a month per employee, which is way cheaper than most bundles that you see out there today without the resiliency. Try to take out the layers and remove that reseller aspect and do it for the admin cost,” he said. “Because when you look at what those things actually cost and how they get layered, it becomes punitive to offer it.”

Perigon also offers flexibility through their offerings as voluntary benefits can be deducted automatically from an employee's pay with little paperwork involved. Additionally, if employers offer voluntary benefits on the Perigon Life platform, employees also have access to value-added services called Perigon+ at no extra cost. This includes a virtual pharmacy with certified pharmacists from home and virtual 24/7 on-demand vet care.