As a business owner, you know that it’s important to stay prepared. You plan for many different types of risks and contingencies, aiming to keep your customers, partners, and employees satisfied.
Have you given as much thought to the security of your business? There are many different types of insurance on the market, and some are designed specifically for business owners just like you.
With so many options available, you may not know where to begin. While a qualified insurance agent can help you navigate all of your choices, it helps to have baseline knowledge when you begin. Today, we’re sharing the most important types of insurance that every business needs and how to decide which type of coverage is best for you!
1. Worker’s Compensation Insurance
If one of your employees gets sick or injured due to a workplace-related incident, would you be able to financially recover? If you don’t have a worker’s compensation insurance policy, the medical expenses alone could be enough to derail your organization.
This type of coverage provides the following benefits to employees who experience a medical setback due to a workplace incident:
- Payment for medical bills
- Payment for long-term, ongoing care (e.g. physical therapy, rehabilitation)
- Replacement for lost wages if the illness or accident requires them to miss work
- Payment for funeral costs if the employee loses their life due to the injury or illness
In most states, worker’s compensation coverage isn’t just a nice-to-have benefit. You’re normally required to extend it to all of your employees if you have three or more workers at your company.
This includes the Tar Heel state. Thankfully, you can find a North Carolina workers’ comp quote online in seconds! If you choose to not comply with this law, you could face hefty fines and could even face potential criminal charges.
2. General Liability Insurance
What happens at your commercial property matters. If someone is hurt or injured while working at or visiting your facility, they could sue the company and wreak havoc on your finances. General liability insurance coverage can protect your business from such claims.
While each policy will have its own unique terms, most general liability plans cover the following incidents:
- Bodily injury caused to another party
- Property damage inflicted on another party’s belongings
- Personal injury (e.g. libel or slander, designed to damage reputations)
With this type of coverage in place, you can prevent an unfortunate accident from becoming a major roadblock. Many insurance providers will allow you to group this type of coverage with the next two policies (commercial property and business income) to form a comprehensive Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) plan.
3. Commercial Property Insurance
When you own a business, there are many different types of equipment you need to keep it running. In addition to office supplies, computer gear, and niche-specific items, you also need a facility to rent or own!
If anything were to happen to this property, it could sidetrack your business indefinitely. For instance, if your computers were stolen, your employees couldn’t work and you’d be forced to close your doors, at least for the short term. The same applies if a natural disaster damages your building and requires you to temporarily relocate.
With commercial property insurance, you can be up and running in a quicker timeframe.
One point to keep in mind is that while these policies typically cover adverse weather events, they do not cover any damage that results from an earthquake or flood. If floods are a risk where you live and work, you may want to purchase supplemental commercial flood insurance to make sure you’re covered.
4. Business Income Insurance
While property insurance can help you restore your facility to its former glory, you may still be out of commission for a while. Though more jobs are moving into the digital sphere, many companies still require their brick-and-mortar buildings to conduct day-to-day work.
During the interim time while necessary repairs are being made, business income insurance can prevent your organization from tanking financially. This coverage essentially replaces your lost income, which allows you to continue paying for necessary expenses, such as:
- Utilities
- Lights
- Building rent
- Employee payroll
5. Professional Liability Insurance
You do your best to provide quality, expert services at every turn. Yet, there may eventually be a client or customer who claims that you performed an error or omission that caused some type of damage.
Professional liability insurance helps preserve your reputation and ensure that your company won’t go under if that client brings legal action against you.
6. Data Breach Insurance
Data breach insurance wasn’t as necessary just a decade ago. However, as the Digital Agen continues to progress, it’s becoming increasingly important.
Now, companies can purchase this coverage to protect their business in the unfortunate event that a data breach exposes their employee or client information. A breach can occur when that sensitive or confidential data is either lost or stolen.
Also called cyber insurance, this policy can help cover the costs associated with the following actions:
- Notifying all of the impacted parties
- Creating an extensive PR campaign to restore your reputation and consumer trust
- Ordering and distributing theft monitoring services
7. Commercial Auto Insurance
Do you leave vehicles for your employees to use? For instance, sales companies may allow team members to drive company cars as they make service calls, network, and attend client meetings.
If this is the case, have you given much thought to how you’d respond if someone were killed or injured in one of those vehicles? A commercial auto insurance policy can give you that much-needed peace of mind.
This type of plan can help financially cover any kind of bodily injury or property damage that involves a business-owned vehicle. If you’re looking to conserve costs, it’s important to note that you can’t use a personal car insurance policy in the same way. Most of those plans aren’t designed to cover third-party claims in an accident involving a work vehicle.
Invest in the Type of Insurance That Your Business Needs
There are many ways you can save time and money as a business owner. Scrimping on essential types of business insurance isn’t one of them. Your employees deserve to come to work every day knowing that they’re fully protected in the event of an accident or emergency. The same goes for any client, partner, or associate that steps foot onto your property.
While these are the most common types of commercial insurance policies, they aren’t the only ones. To learn more and discover the policies that are right for you, reach out to a local insurance agent and start the process today!