Your Guide to Office Insurance
Are you considering an office insurance policy? Whether you are a huge digital marketing agency with a business office in town, or a small admin home office, we know that running yours within any industry is a demanding job with lots of responsibility. It is incredibly wise and sensible for you to be considering ways in which you can protect your office and those that visit or work within it. In this latest instalment of our series of helpful guides, we will take you through the ins and outs of business office insurance and home office insurance, as well as the benefits they can provide. We’ll also highlight what an office insurance policy covers and the legal protection you will gain from it.
What is Office Insurance & Who Needs It?
An office insurance policy, at home or away from home, gives you peace of mind that your business is fully protected. It also allows you to benefit from the various helplines your level of cover provides. For example, you may be able to take advantage of free help and advice on business related items such as tax. Here at The Insurance Octopus, we are specialists in providing tailored commercial office insurance. This can cover your office space, staff members and office equipment for events and risks such as window breakages, fires, floods, structural faults and property damage – among other important things.
Insurance policies for an office space is mainly aimed at companies that conduct their business activities from within a business premises. These companies usually have a building, products or services, customers, staff members, and some occasional visitors too. Your policy will be designed and tailored around the risks of your specific industry and your company’s requirements. It will also include some financial protection that is required by law – for example, if you have employees working in your office, you will need Employers Liability cover, which we can include as standard.
Not all business offices reside in a commercial property, however, as lots of people nowadays choose to work or launch a business from home. This is especially true during these times of COVID-19, as increasing numbers of people are being forced to operate from the confines of their abode. Whether you have a commercial office space or require home office insurance for your bedroom-based business, it is a sensible decision to insure both your physical office space and all of its contents.
Disasters and unfortunate events can lead to reduced productivity, lost earnings, missed deadlines and a damaged reputation – which can be more damaging than anything else if you are just starting out. Putting an office insurance policy in place ensures your business can keep running, even when the office is out of bounds. By tailoring your office insurance quote and policy around your needs and nuances, you can get the exact coverage and financial protection that you need.
What Does Office Insurance Cover?
Thinking about office insurance but want to know a little bit more about what it covers? Let us help! In a single policy, office insurance from The Insurance Octopus can cover:
Buildings insurance: This protects the structure of your commercial office and any permanent fixtures inside. It covers the cost of repairing any damage to the structure of your building in unfortunate or malicious circumstances – such as fires, storms, floods, earthquakes and vandalism. Buildings insurance can also cover any garages, sheds, cabins, pipes, drains or fences that are on the site of your office space.
Business interruption insurance: This covers your business and any loss of income should your office need to close, for the reasons specific in your policy wordings. For example, your office may need to close because of local flooding or a fire. Business interruption insurance covers you for loss of gross profit or gross revenue while your office doors are closed. It can also cover the increased cost of work following any damage done to your property. Lost your accounting records due to a natural disaster? Business interruption has this covered too.
Public liability: Provides legal protection in the event that someone makes a claim against your company on the grounds of personal injury, illness or damage to their property caused by your business operations. A public liability insurance policy from The Insurance Octopus will cover you for all legal costs that you may become legally liable to pay for damages in relation to numerous circumstances. This includes accidental damage to property; costs of medical treatment: accidental bodily injury; transportation costs incurred by the NHS and legal expenses should you need a solicitor to represent you in connection to your public liability claim.
Employers’ liability: Required by UK law if your office has staff members working inside it. Employers’ liability insurance protects your staff members from loss or injury whilst they are working for you inside your office. This incorporates both full and part time staff members as well as any volunteers, interns, contractors, freelancers or apprentices. As an employer, it is your responsibility to have the correct level of cover in place to keep your staff safe. It will cover the cost of any damages or associated legal costs in respect of disease, damages or death caused to employees.
Cyber insurance: This form of insurance is designed to protect your office from digital threats, such as data breaches, security loopholes, and malicious cyber-attacks on your company’s computer systems. As businesses across the UK become increasingly dependent on technology, instances of cyber insurance claims are becoming more and more popular. As a business owner or manager, you are responsible for your own cyber security. However, in the event of a cyber-attack, having the right insurance policy and provider will mean you aren’t alone or in dire straits if things do go wrong. Cyber liability cover will provide crucial support to help keep your business afloat and operating if you are hacked or your business has been compromised online.
Contents insurance: Office contents insurance is designed to protect your belongings and everything that is inside your office. If you can pick it up and move it to another office in the event of an office move, then generally speaking it will be covered by office contents insurance. How much would it cost you to replace everything in your office if you were to lose all of it? Possibly thousands, right? Can you afford to lay out that sort of expense without it seriously affecting your business? This is where office contents insurance becomes invaluable and almost a no-brainer. This protects your belongings from fire, theft, flooding and any other damage that aren’t your fault.
Office Insurance can also cover Fixtures & Fittings, Professional Indemnity Insurance, Commercial Combined Insurance and Personal Accident Insurance, among other beneficial policies.
The Benefits of Office Insurance For Your Business
It makes very good business sense to have a comprehensive office insurance policy put in place, to protect you and your company from any unexpected incidents. The risks may seem very low at first, as you may have only a few desks and chairs in your office space, but any disruption caused by these risks coming into fruition could be disastrous for your business. There are a number of major benefits to office insurance, which include:
Protects your Employees
Yes, employers’ liability insurance may be required by law for all businesses that employ staff members, but you should not look at this as a forced or frustrating expense. It is a benefit to your company that will protect you in the event that one of your staff members unfortunately suffers an injury or illness during the course of their work and files a claim against your company. You will not suffer financial loss personally or through your company and you can ensure the employee is looked after properly.
Protects your Customers
Public liability insurance will also protect your invaluable customers. In the same way that your employers are covered by the above – any trips, falls or accidents experienced by your customers within your office will be covered legally by public liability insurance. Your employees are your best asset, but your customers most definitely come second. Should they then bring a claim against you, you want to have peace of mind that the legal expenses and claim costs are covered.
Shows Your Employees You Care
Having a business insurance policy in place not only protects your employees in case an accident or illness occurs, but it also shows your employees you care about them even if one doesn’t occur. As an employee, you want to be assured that you will be looked after and reimbursed financially should you experience an accident or damages at work. If you know your employer has employers’ liability in place, you will not have to worry about where that financial support will come from in the worst case scenario.
Protects your Assets
Fire and floods can devastate a business premises in an instant, taking all of your assets in one huge nightmare. A comprehensive business insurance policy will respond appropriately, allowing you to continue trading while you get your office open again. It will also cover the cost of replacing any damaged office equipment and business assets.
Increase Credibility
As mentioned previously, having appropriate business insurance in place is reassuring for the people who work for you, as it shows you are a responsible employer. It also adds a great deal of credibility to your business as whole to your customers and the outside world. Professional indemnity insurance and product liability cover will help add kudos to your business, showing the public and any potential investors that you are a responsible and sensible business owner. In some cases, you may even run the risk of being overlooked for profitable business contracts if you don’t have insurance in place.
Your Office Insurance Questions Answered
Do I Need Home Office Insurance?
Whether or not you need home office insurance will largely depend on the size of your business – in terms of how much money you make and how far along you are in your business venture. If you are a true bedroom business and have only just started out, then you may not feel that many elements of home office insurance are necessary. For example, employer’s liability insurance will not be required if you work alone.
With that being said, unless you specifically agree this in your policy, it is unlikely that your home insurance policy will cover you for theft or damage to your office equipment if you work from home. And that is if you have home insurance in the first place. For this reason, office contents insurance will be useful as it will allow you to get back to work quickly if theft or damage occurs. Product liability insurance can also be a consideration; this is a separate type of business insuranec, which covers your business in situations where personal injury or damage is caused by products you sell or supply.
Why Do I Need Office Insurance?
Using an example makes it easier to answer this question. Imagine an employee of yours trips on an overhanging wire, or slips on a wet floor that does not display a wet floor sign. They injure their ankle badly, preventing them from being able to return to work, and so they claim against your company for personal injury compensation, medical costs and possible loss of earnings. With an office insurance policy that includes employers’ liability insurance, these legal expenses are covered, meaning you do not suffer a financial loss and your employee is compensated appropriately. Without office insurance, this whole process becomes a lot more complex, costlier and more damaging to your reputation.
What is Office Contents Insurance?
Office contents insurance protects your office equipment (such as your computers, gadgets, phones, furniture, accessories and documents) against theft, loss, and damage. Your insurance provider will reimburse you for the cost of repairing or replacing them.
Get in Touch With The Insurance Octopus
In a rather large nutshell, that’s everything we have in our overall guide to office insurance. As mentioned, the term relates to an umbrella of different insurance policies that will cover you for a number of different reasons, tailored towards your exact needs. If we have any more questions or believe we have left a stone unturned somewhere, we encourage you to get in touch with us today to learn more.
Besides our online contact form, you can also call us on 0161 968 2041, or if you are too busy now you can request a call back at a time to suit you. If you feel you know all you need to know and would like to talk about a policy for your office, you can request a free quote and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
