Are Your Employees Covered When Working at Home?

Whether your employees telecommute a few days each week or simply need to take work home once in a while, understanding insurance needs is critical to keeping the work-at-home scenario running smoothly. Use these basic business tips to keep your assets and information safe.

Don’t count on homeowners insurance. Standard homeowners insurance sets strict limits on the amount of coverage for business-related expenses; instead, ask about expanding business coverage to include everything from laptops to liability when workers are off-site. Remember, equipment is only one part of the equation; it’s equally important to maintain adequate liability coverage for sensitive data, business use of automobiles and other situations that may impact others.

Ask about discounts. Security measures like encryption, FOB security devices or LoJack computer locks can dramatically reduce the risk of theft or inadvertent data loss when employees work from home. Safe driving records and other commonsense precautions may further reduce the cost of insuring off-site employees.

Provide company sponsored standards. Keep control of security measures and expenses by supplying a standardized protocol and software solutions for dealing with security measures as well as hardware-related issues. Don’t blur the lines by allowing employees to use personal equipment for company business; it’s harder to control the quality of information and may inadvertently lead to security issues down the road. Be prepared to provide full documentation to the insurance company and the tax authorities to justify expenses.