Working From Home and Business Insurance
Working From Home (WFH) has become the new normal with the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s now quite common for employees to be working from home a few days a week or even full time from home in a lot of industries. While there are a lot of different arrangements for working from home, it might mean that a business has some of its insurable assets at an employee’s place of residence.
As a result, it’s important to make sure the cover limit on your business insurance policy on the assets being used to conduct work from home is adequate. It’s worthwhile checking whether the quantity and type of business assets that have been removed from your main business location are insured properly.
WFH and Business Insurance
Presumably, you will have general property insurance as part of your business insurance. If you do, then typical business equipment (think mobiles, laptops, iPads, etc.) should be covered regardless of the location in which they are used. There are, however, some caveats to consider.
These include:
- Monetary limits — usually, if an item is worth more than $2,500, it must be specified on the policy in order for it to be insured.
- The property of the employee will not usually be covered by your business insurance, and any home and contents insurance the employee has in place will be unlikely to cover your business equipment.
- If an employee is using their own personal computer and information is lost (for example, because of hacking or a computer virus), such a loss would not typically be covered by your business insurance or their home and contents insurance.
- If an employee damages their home or property in the course of working from home, your business insurance would likely not be of much help.
Review your Business Operations
If your business activities have changed during the pandemic or your business operations are slightly different to when you last reviewed your insurance policy, it might be worthwhile having a conversation with your insurer or insurance broker. It’s always good business sense to make sure your insurance cover is adequate for your current business needs.
Give us a call to speak to one of our qualified practicing insurance brokers about your business needs.
