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How to Protect Your ‘Work-From-Home’ Business in 2021

Cyber Insurance Liability Insurance Trade Credit Insurance Workers Compensation Insurance Business Interruption Insurance Property Insurance

2020 was a tumultuous year for many business owners across Australia.

Among one of the stark changes that took hold across almost all businesses and industries was the bolstered shift to work-from-home arrangements.

With more companies embracing the new flexible working arrangements that working-from-home offers like SalesForce and Facebook, remote work – whether done entirely or on a part time basis – is very likely to stay well after the pandemic ends.

At Adroit, preparation and risk management is in everything we do – whether you operate entirely on premise, have transitioned completely to remote work, we provide ways for businesses to better protect themselves and their employees.

So with a new year ahead – filled with opportunities and uncertainties alike – we wanted to make sure all business owners who operate remotely know how they can properly protect their business from the unexpected.

In this guide, we’ve compiled a quick overview and checklist of the major types of business insurance covers for the remote workforce (updated for 2021).

Your Guide To ‘Work-From-Home’ Business Insurance: Checklist For 2021

From insuring travel expenses to property assets like computers, we cover some of the most important insurance policies that are relevant for any business that operates remotely.

Keep reading below for our guide to ‘work-from-home’ business insurance covers in 2021:

Public Liability Insurance

What does it cover? Public liability insurance protects your business in situations where injury occurs to third parties (or damages to their property) as a result of your business activities.

Do you need Public Liability Insurance while WFH?

Every business should take out Public Liability Insurance cover, however the level of cover will vary depending on how often you interact with clients or third parties at your home office premise.

Property Insurance

What does it cover? Property insurance protects your physical property from common causes of damage such as fire, weather damage, and even theft.

Do you need property insurance while WFH?

If your employees have had to move company assets (such as chairs, laptops, computers) after transitioning into a work-from-home arrangement, your property insurance may be able to cover the costs of any damages that occur to those assets – given that it is linked to work-related activities.

CyberCare

Agile CyberCare covers small businesses against cyber threats and data breaches, including 24/7 emergency response for incidents.

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Cyber Liability Insurance

Cyber Liability Insurance is designed to help protect you from claims and support your profitability in the event of a cyber breach or attack.

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CyberSelect

Agile CyberSelect is aimed at mid-market to corporate clients and is a comprehensive Cyber Insurance policy with 16 policy benefits and 24/7 incident response.

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Cybersecurity Insurance

What does it cover? Cybersecurity insurance (or Cyber liability insurance) assists in covering the costs of damages as a result of a cyber security breach or threat.

Do you need cybersecurity insurance while WFH?

With more employees working from home, cyber threats and IT security should be a primary concern for all business owners. Social engineering and other methods can easily make way for cyber threats to infiltrate sensitive business information and cause large financial losses to all types of businesses – from small to large enterprises.

Business Interruption Insurance

What does it cover? Business interruption insurance covers the cost of financial losses or lost income as a result of a halt in business activities (due to damages to physical property or other causes of interruption).

Do you need business interruption insurance while WFH?

Generally, there needs to be evidence of ‘physical damage’ for business interruption claims to be successful. This may prove to be difficult in work-from-home arrangements, however we always suggest seeking advice from one of our risk advisers. There are more reliable ways of documenting losses or ‘physical’ damages, which can provide better chances of a successful business interruption insurance claim.

Workers Compensation Insurance

What does it cover? Workers compensation covers the cost of your employee’s income or wages in the event that they incur an injury as a result of their work activities and are unable to work while they recover.

Do you need Workers Compensation Insurance while WFH?

All businesses should have workers compensation insurance taken out, however this policy cover may need to be adjusted if more of your employees are working-from-home and perhaps less exposed to potential risks for injury. Due diligence needs to be taken out to ensure the home working environment of your employees is adequate and safe – such as providing information on setting up a proper desk and home office environment, as well as offering any further resources on maintaining proper safety and wellbeing while at work.

It’s also important to outline Workers Compensation claims may not be successful if it is proven that any injury was a result of activities occurring outside the business’ activities.

Trade Credit Insurance

What does it cover? Trade Credit Insurance provides financial assistance to cover the costs that occur due to a buyer failing to pay an invoice for your business.

Do you need Trade Credit Insurance while WFH?

Trade Credit Insurance is an important form of cover regardless of whether your business operates from home or on-premises. In the uncertain times of COVID-19, sudden cancellations and unpaid invoices may be common – and this is where protections such as Trade Credit Insurance can provide your business with the financial safety net it needs to continue activities.

The next steps…

We highly recommend you get your business policy reviewed and ensure everything is up to date in terms of providing you with the right level of protection you and your employees need while working from home.

Our risk advisers at Adroit are ready to help you get the most protection out of your business insurance policies in 2021 and beyond – pandemic or no pandemic.

Adroit is located all across Victoria including branches in Geelong, Melbourne, Albury-Wodonga, Ballarat, Bendigo, Drouin, Gippsland, Maryborough, and Torquay.

Whatever your business insurance needs are, we assure that you receive accurate, independent, and the most valuable recommendations – all based squarely on what’s most important to you. From manufacturing, trades, agriculture, hospitality, retail, to many others, we have specialist risk advisers who understand your industry and speak your language.

At Adroit, we are your risk advisers who champion your needs and make sure you can take on tomorrow with confidence.

Get in touch today to find the right insurance cover that your work-from-home business deserves.

work from home

General Advice Warning: This advice is general and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether the advice is appropriate for you and your personal circumstances. Before you make any decision about whether to acquire a certain product, you should obtain and read the relevant product disclosure statement.

All information above has been provided by the author.

Adroit Insurance & Risk, ABN 75 078972 700, AFSL 244 348

This article originally appeared on Adroit Insurance & Risk Blog and has been published here with permission.