If you are running a business – ANY business – you need to make sure that you and your customers are adequately protected.
We live in an era when someone purchasing a hot drink can take legal action against the vendor if they don’t receive adequate notification that their beverage is hot… although it’s easy to think ‘That will never happen to me!’ it’s highly, highly recommended that you take out appropriate insurance so that in the worst possible scenario, you have protection in place.
Unfortunately, based on the results of our 2018 ‘Time to EleVAte’ annual survey of UK and EU Virtual Assistants, it would appear that adequate insurance isn’t a priority for every business owner. Indeed, though 85% of those surveyed carried Professional Indemnity Insurance, only 39% carry business insurance to protect their essential hardware, 12% carry income protection and just 40% carry Cyber Insurance.
Admittedly, the world of insurance can seem like a minefield for those unfamiliar with the products available, so here is a helpful list of a few of the different types of insurance available to business owners to help protect their businesses in the event of something going wrong (please note, with some business insurance policies, multiple products from the list below are combined in a single policy for convenience – you’ll need to speak to individual brokers/insurance companies to find out which they offer).
Business Insurance Products:
Professional Indemnity Insurance – this insurance is essential in the event a client makes a claim against your company because they feel that they have experienced losses (either financial, personal injury related or property damage) as a direct result of work that you have carried out or advice that you have provided.
Public Liability Insurance – this insurance can help cover the cost of legal action and compensation claims made against the business if someone is injured (or their property is damaged) when they are working in your home or office, or attending an event or activity that your company organised.
Employer Liability Insurance – If you employ staff, Employer’s Liability Insurance can help to cover claims from employees for workplace injuries.
Cyber Insurance – helps to protect businesses from internet based risks, including data breaches where personal customer information is obtained by malicious third parties via hacking, etc.
Directors and Officers Liability Insurance – if you are a Director of a Limited Company, D & O insurance can help in the event of shareholders, investors, employees, etc. starting legal proceedings for alleged wrongdoing. This insurance can help to cover the costs of defence and compensation, if required.
Income Protection – this type of policy pays benefits to holders who are incapacitated and unable to work
Business Equipment Insurance – this helps if you have expensive hardware (i.e. computers/laptops/mobile devices/printers, etc.) that your business couldn’t function with in the event of theft or damage.
With all of these insurance products, it’s imperative that you seek independent advice to make sure that you have appropriate levels of cover in place and are purchasing products that are appropriate for you. It may be that there are restrictions in place (i.e. if you trade with businesses outside of the UK and/or EU) or if you are relying on personal insurance products to protect your business and its assets. I would strongly advise that you seek professional advice before taking up or renewing an insurance product to ensure that it is an appropriate product for you.
If you’d like to learn more about the UK and European Virtual Assistant Industry, why not download our 2018 ‘Time to EleVAte’ survey results for free today? You can download them here: https://bit.ly/2QfkwfD