The “100 Employees” Play: How Waggel Is Using an Employee Cap to Force Smarter AI Adoption
imagine a startup that’s racing for scale but chooses to freeze hiring instead of ramping headcount. That’s exactly what Waggel, a fast-growing UK pet insurer, has done — not to squeeze costs, but to force smarter use of AI and preserve a human-first customer experience. The move is equal parts gamble and manifesto: can technology amplify empathy — not erase it? (The Times)
The nutshell: what happened
Waggel — the insurtech that sells “lifetime” pet policies and claims rapid growth — has put an informal cap on recruitment at around 100 employees to accelerate the adoption of AI across the business and keep roles focused on higher-value, human tasks. The company already insures north of 200,000 pets and expects to reach the cap this year; the cap is flexible but intentional. (The Times)
The facts you should know
- Waggel’s CEO Andrew Leal says AI is not a tool to replace people, but to remove repetitive work so employees can deliver warmer, more personal interactions. (The Times)
- The company launched an AI chatbot earlier this year, which now handles roughly 52% of customer queries, triaging routine questions and freeing humans for complex cases. (The Times)
- Waggel plans to extend AI into claims processing, using automated summaries of medical notes to speed up work for registered veterinary nurses assigned to each claim. (The Times)
- Business metrics: revenues were reported at about £11m in 2024, with a forecast of £15m for 2025 — showing growth alongside digital transformation. (The Times)
Why this matters (beyond pet insurance)
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Counterintuitive scaling playbook. Most scaling startups grow headcount to meet demand. Waggel’s cap flips that script: force the organization to build capabilities into systems first, then hire for truly human strengths. That’s a practical test of whether AI investments actually raise productivity. (The Times)
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Human-in-the-loop as brand positioning. Waggel’s mantra — “most human pet insurer” — isn’t just PR. By routing routine queries to AI while guaranteeing human oversight for complex or emotional interactions (claims, medical discussions), they’re trying to extract the best of both worlds: efficient service and human empathy. This is a playbook other customer-facing businesses will study. (The Times)
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Regulatory and trust implications. Using AI to summarise medical notes and triage claims can reduce backlogs and error, but it raises questions about auditability, bias, and oversight — particularly when medical or financial outcomes are at stake. Waggel’s choice to keep vet nurses involved is an explicit attempt to mitigate those risks. (The Times)
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A broader industry signal. Pet insurers are among the first to combine tele-vet services and AI triage — and that partnership between insurers and vet-tech vendors is accelerating. The result: better access for owners, lower costs for firms, and a reshaped workforce for vets and nurses. (Computer Weekly)
A few pragmatic takeaways for leaders
- If you want AI to scale without harming your customer experience, set strict rules about which tasks are automated and where humans remain mandatory.
- Use headcount constraints as a forcing function — they reveal which processes are truly automatable and which need human judgment.
- Invest early in explainability and audit trails when AI touches health or claims data to maintain trust and comply with oversight.
Glossary
- Insurtech: Technology-driven companies disrupting traditional insurance models.
- Human-in-the-loop: A system design where humans supervise, correct, or approve AI outputs.
- AI triage/chatbot: Automated systems that answer common customer queries and route the rest to humans.
- Lifetime policy: An insurance product that covers ongoing conditions for the life of the pet, usually with annual limits.
Final thought
Waggel’s hiring cap is more than a quirky headline — it’s a live experiment in how a modern company might intentionally limit people growth to force smarter, more humane tech adoption. If the bet works, it gives a roadmap for businesses that want productivity gains and better customer relationships. If it fails, it’ll be an object lesson in the limits of automation. Either way, it’s one to watch.
