Dealing with covid has been a huge challenge for businesses, especially with employees needing to work from home or having to close their business premises. With this in mind, companies need to amend their current insurance policies to avoid losses and make sure that their business and its employees are well covered. We present a number of viable options below.
Insurance for cyber threats
Cyber crime and attacks are a huge threat to businesses, all over the world, with a potential threat costing a firm millions to correct or cover the damages.
“Your company can be turned upside down if a scam, phishing attack or hacking goes through your business systems – and it can be very expensive for companies to overcome,” explains Simon Taylor of Get Indemnity.
“The issue is that cyber insurance is still considered relatively new and not many companies will ask for it or know how much cover they need. For starters, we offer cyber insurance from £323 per year or £26.91 per month.”
“The threats are very high.” Simon Taylor continues “Businesses are becoming more online-driven so any data records that you previously had filed somewhere are now online and can be potentially accessed by anyone.”
Working from home
With around 46.6% of people working from home in the last year due to covid (circa 10 million people), there are a certain number of liabilities that companies need to be aware of.
Notably, there are important business contents, including laptops, data, key documents and staff members who need to be accounted for and insured.
Whether it is the loss or damage to key equipment or data or a member of staff suffering any illness or injury as a result of working from home, the employer still has the same responsibilities as if all of these things were located in the office.
This may be a more bespoke policy, but employers should consider how they can cover any contents and valued staff members.
Key man or key person
With the risk of covid at large, the role of the key man or key person becomes of paramount importance.
This is a very specialist insurance policy which is designed to cover the business for any financial losses as a result of illness or death to a key person. This may include the owner of the company, the face of a brand or someone in the business with a very particular skill set.
The loss of a key person can be hugely damaging to a firm, whether it is their share price, ongoing relationships, branding or bottom line profits.
With key people usually a bit older and therefore at a greater risk of covid, this is an additional policy that is worth having.
Health insurance
In light of covid, health insurance has become increasingly important with more and more households eager to sort out their personal policies or get the cover they need.
On a business level, this is actually seen as an important employee benefit. Since firms are unable to socialise with their staff in the same way such as free meals or days out, offering basic health insurance packages from just a few pounds a month offers a very good incentive and way to keep staff happy.
There are policies available from just £5 or £10 per person and this can include 24 hour access to GP services, physio sessions, dental plans and nurse helplines.
Could you make a saving on your insurance?
In some ways, you could make a saving on your insurance premium. If you are not using your office or welcoming guests into your premises, there could be some savings on things like buildings and public liability insurance.
You should avoid renewing your policy automatically after the year end and try to reassess all your requirements - and you could receive better cover and save money too.