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What Types Of Insurance Do You Need Working From Home

Working from home comes with so many advantages – it is peaceful and productive. Some may even argue that it is free of responsibilities. But although it comes with a different set of responsibilities, saying it is free of responsibilities is stretching it a bit far.

If you are among the ever-growing population that has chosen to work from home or you have been forced to stay back home and work due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, you should know that one of your responsibilities is making sure that your home office equipment is kept safe and secure.

In other words, it means you have to be responsible for making sure the equipment is adequately insured.

What Does A Typical Home Insurance Cover?

Normally, your home insurance would cover many of your properties like furniture or electronics, against eventualities like theft, loss, or damage. These electronics can range from your favourite couch to your TV. Your carpets, clothes, pieces of jewellery, paintings, among other things will also be covered.

Usually, most insurance companies will automatically cover around €4000 worth of home office equipment also. However, you need to know that these standard policies do not necessarily cover specialist equipment like a photocopier or some other expensive gadget that you use for work. So, to complement your standard cover, you might want to add an all-risk policy that covers business equipment.

This all-risks policy might even cover your work equipment when they are taken out of your home. For example, your work laptop that might require taking out of the house for presentations will still be covered by the policy regardless of where it is.

As stated by AA Home Insurance ” Only protect valuables in the house insurance plans ‘all risks’ category that covers the real value. You’ll need the original receipt to claim, so you’ll pay an additional fee for each gadget. Carefully read the terms and conditions.”

Things to Keep In Mind

Regardless of the reason behind your decision to work from home, working from home causes a huge shift in both your schedule and lifestyle. It will also mean you will have to make a lot of changes to your business which will require a lot of legalities and other issues.

Some of the issues to look out for when working from home includes;

Cost

On the surface, paying a single rent is more economical than paying two. And this is the single most important reason why people often combine their work and living space. However, it is not always that straight forward.

A very good example will be a graphic designer who only needs to use a computer at home and a therapist who might require a specially designed clinic or separate entrance to restrict the movement of clients. It would be cheaper for the graphic designer while the therapist will need to invest in the renovation or get a different house with extra spaces.

Zoning

Some businesses require registration or notification to the municipality before they can be operated from home while some are not even allowed to operate from home at all. You must research and find out what you need to be able to work from home. Sometimes, it is nothing more than some safety precautions.

Storage

Depending on the type of business you are running, one of the issues you might have is excess equipment and supplies filling up all available spaces. These can range from boxes of documents to chemicals or even vehicles. Coupled with the extra spaces you might need, you also have to think about safety. A secure way to store every supply and equipment so they don’t pose a danger to anyone.

Foot Traffic

The hardest part of working from home is the rate at which people will be coming and going. This will affect not just your lifestyle but also your schedule as you will have to fit your life around it to always appear professional to your clients, employees, and colleagues.

In a place where you and your family should be relaxed, you will have to always worry about being neat. Even your family might have to restructure their lives around the schedules of your work to prevent interrupting meetings and such. It might even extend to your neighbours as you wouldn’t want to bother them with issues like parking.

Insurance Options

All the above goes on to create new challenges for a business owner. However, there are insurance options available to protect you from these risks and keep you on your feet. And while some of the policies are the same regardless of whether or not you work from home, others are unique to those working from home. Some of the options are;

Homeowner’s Insurance

This becomes even more important since you are working from home. However, you have to make sure you get a policy that covers you as someone who works from home. Some policies will not cover you if clients are coming in and out and some won’t cover the parts of the house used for your business.

Contents Insurance

This typically comes with the homeowner’s insurance. However, if it doesn’t, it is quite an important one to have. It protects your properties in the house against theft or damage. If you have your work equipment or product at home then this is quite important.

General Liability Insurance

If your business requires you to get business insurance when working from an office, then you need home business insurance when working from home. It is what protects you if a customer or passer-by gets injured or their property gets damaged while you work

Professional Liability

This is one of the insurance policies that doesn’t matter whether you work from an office or your home. It is what protects you if your clients don’t believe you did your job or feel you did it incorrectly, thus costing them money.

Auto Insurance

If you use a car for your work you will need to get it insured. The type of cover you will be needing depends on things like what you use it for, where you go, and who drives the car. It’s very important that you should keep your car disinfectant during the corona virus crisis.

As you might have noticed, the types of insurance you need all depends on the kind of business you run. Take time to consider your needs and research your available options.

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