Trupanion Achieves 80% Engagement Rate With Flexible Benefits While Reducing LSA Administration Costs by 67%

Background

Trupanion, a leader in medical insurance for pets, serves nearly 1,200 team members in a hybrid work environment with headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Facing challenges with their existing benefits vendor, Trupanion partnered with Benepass to simplify administration and enhance the employee experience. The collaboration has streamlined reporting, improved flexibility, and aligned with Trupanion’s vision of offering equitable and adaptable benefits across its global workforce.

Seeking a cost-effective alternative with lower administrative burden

“We were paying a high price tag, and we were getting really poor service. That’s when we started looking around for alternatives.” - Rachel Mulvihill, Senior Director of Total Rewards and People Operations

Trupanion’s prior LSA vendor created significant administrative challenges. Lacking any self-service reporting, the Trupanion team was limited to predefined reports that offered little flexibility or customization. 

“If we wanted to look at something a different way or if we had a question from our executive or wanted to create a new audit, it was very difficult to even get a column added or fields aggregated,” said Rachel Mulvihill, Senior Director of Total Rewards and People Operations. “You would basically have to open up a ticket and wait for them to get back to you.”

Between troubleshooting their reports, identifying errors, and following up with their previous vendor, the Trupanion team spent a lot of time trying to accurately assess the performance of their programs and resolve issues. 

“It was not only time-consuming to just try to get a current picture of what was going on, but also there was so much time being spent messaging the vendor and following up with the vendor and looking through errors and trying to get those fixed. It was difficult to work with the vendor and get responses in a timely fashion,” Rachel said. “It was too much time to be spending on a benefit like this.” 

The cost of the previous vendor’s services was also prohibitively high, with little ROI to justify the expense. These limitations led Trupanion to seek a new solution that offered better value, improved reporting capabilities, and enhanced flexibility for their diverse workforce.

Delivering flexible, equitable lifestyle benefits to a global workforce

“We need to make sure that we’re only entering into vendor partnerships with a vendor who can support us in all of the countries that we’re currently in. That was a key factor. The ease of use and simplicity of the platform was important, too.” - Rachel Mulvihill, Senior Director of Total Rewards and People Operations

In late 2023, Trupanion transitioned to Benepass, starting with U.S.-based team members before expanding globally in early 2024. Benepass’s platform immediately addressed Trupanion’s pain points, offering robust self-service reporting, quick setup, and superior customer support. Benepass’s Workday integration made implementation and employee enrollment smooth and hassle-free, especially considering the challenges of administering benefits to a global workforce. 

“Managing benefits for a global organization is extremely tedious,” Rachel said. “There are so many moving pieces between all of the integrations and eligibility files and movements of team members coming in and out of eligibility. There’s so much going on that if we can do anything to make it less administratively burdensome, we have to take it. Finding a vendor that’s global so we can have one vendor instead of two or three was important.” 

Benepass’s flexibility was another key differentiator for Trupanion—with a global workforce, the ability for team members to spend their benefit funds at a variety of merchants allows employees to personalize their benefit to their individual wants and needs, regardless of location. Team members receive contributions to a lifestyle spending account (LSA) that they can spend on books, charitable donations, childcare, entertainment, fitness memberships, sports equipment, groceries and meal kits, internet and phone services, massages, mindfulness and well-being coaching, personal care products, pet care, nutrition and weight management services, office supplies and furniture, and more. 

Team members appreciate the flexibility of their LSA, with the most popular spending categories in 2024 including pet services and insurance, fitness classes and memberships, pet supplies, groceries, and books and periodicals. The LSA benefit reached an engagement rate of 80% in 2024, highlighting its effectiveness in meeting employee needs and driving participation in Trupanion’s benefits program. 

“We see that everybody has very different interests and needs,” Rachel said. “People are at different places in their lives and need different sets of benefits, so we really strive to create a catalog where people can self-service and pull from the budget to spend on the things that make the most sense to them.” 

Realizing significant cost savings and greater administrative ease

“Benepass runs itself. It’s very simple, and when we reach out when we have questions or get tripped up, we get immediate responses.” - Rachel Mulvihill, Senior Director of Total Rewards and People Operations

Switching to Benepass delivered immediate cost savings, with Trupanion reducing LSA administration expenses by 67% compared to their previous vendor. Administrative efficiency has also significantly improved, with self-service tools empowering both employees and HR teams to access useful data and resolve issues independently. 

The finance team relies heavily on Benepass reporting to ensure accurate financial accruals and effective fund management. With Benepass, they can quickly and easily pull reports to track unspent balances against pending claims, providing the precise data they need to manage budgets effectively.

“There are so many quick ways to go in and self-serve whatever question you’re trying to answer,” Rachel said. 

At the end of the year, these reports become particularly valuable. Trupanion uses them to identify team members with remaining balances and send targeted reminder emails, encouraging them to use their funds before they expire. The ability to filter and pull ad hoc reports—such as identifying team members with $20 or more left to spend—allows the team to take proactive steps in managing fund utilization and supporting employee engagement with their benefits.

Leveraging a scalable platform for future growth

“Vendor consolidation is so important in this space. If you can get more services from one partner you have a good partnership with, that’s the way to go.” - Rachel Mulvihill, Senior Director of Total Rewards and People Operations

The flexibility of the Benepass platform enables Trupanion to easily adapt their programs or introduce new ones as business needs and priorities evolve. For example, when the team expanded their healthcare coverage and required a new administrator for their HSA program, they chose to streamline operations by consolidating this benefit under Benepass, providing team members with a unified and efficient experience.

“I want to consolidate vendors as much as possible because it really allows you to be more focused, and it’s less confusing for your employees and easier to administer,” Rachel said. 

Looking ahead, Trupanion aims to expand its flexible benefits offerings while maintaining simplicity and ease of access. By partnering with Benepass, Trupanion is positioned to deliver innovative, employee-centric benefits that align with their values of adaptability and equity.

“One of our company values is being nimble, so we’re focused on acting quickly and adjusting and iterating,” Rachel said. “That seems to be aligned with how Benepass works—being able to spin up a totally new benefit with short notice.” 

Key results

“Our vision is definitely to allow choice and flexibility as much as possible. We try to remove as much friction as we can and give as many options as we can so that people can use their benefits.” - Rachel Mulvihill, Senior Director of Total Rewards and People Operations

• Enhanced flexibility and equity: Benepass’s LSA program allows team members to personalize their benefits, achieving an 80% engagement rate in 2024 and supporting diverse needs across Trupanion’s global workforce.
• Significant cost savings: Switching to Benepass reduced Trupanion’s LSA administration costs by 67%, delivering substantial savings while maintaining a high-quality employee experience.
• Streamlined administration: Self-service reporting tools save time and simplify tasks, allowing the team to easily generate custom reports, troubleshoot issues, and get an accurate picture of the current state of their benefits programs.  ‍
• Scalability for future growth: Benepass’s flexibility ensures Trupanion can easily adapt their benefits offerings as business needs evolve, supporting their commitment to equity and innovation.