Despite the risk it poses to themselves and their clients, 44% of small businesses don’t have- and never have had- business insurance. This is a staggering number of businesses that are leaving themselves open to financial downfall, lawsuits, and damages.
If you have a business and you value its security, you don’t want to join the ranks of these companies. You’re going to want to invest in some good business insurance to make sure that your company and assets are protected and safe.
Even if you aren’t exactly sure why your business needs insurance, it’s important to do your research and look into what is going to work for you. Here, we’re going to tell you all the ways that business insurance can benefit and protect the company that you hold near and dear to your heart.
1. Protects Your Business
The first and most important thing that business insurance does is that it protects your business. You don’t want people coming in and trying to undo all your hard work, and you don’t want to find yourself unguarded in the case of a lawsuit.
The idea of protection is a little vague, but that’s because it encompasses a lot of more specific benefits. At the most basic level, though, protection provided by insurance will make sure that your business can’t be falsely called out for illegal operations or other wrongdoing.
2. Fights Risks Proactively
One thing that business insurance does to protect you is fighting risks proactively. If your workplace has high-risk operations like heavy machinery or the use of chemicals, business insurance will help your company to keep safe if an accident happens.
By providing aid to the wronged or injured party as well as cleansing the business of unwanted responsibility, business insurance can save your company millions of dollars in the event that a risk is realized.
3. Makes Worker’s Compensation Possible
A form of preemptive risk prevention that insurance makes possible is worker’s compensation. When an employee is injured, business insurance makes it possible for you to give money and time as compensation to the injured party. This usually is given in exchange for signing a contract stating that there won’t be a lawsuit.
If you can’t give worker’s compensation, this could mean a lawsuit on your hands. It also isn’t fair to the employee that was harmed on company property, who would be saddled with medical bills and forced away from the job for the time it takes to recover.
4. Prevents Fees After Disasters
Insurance coverage for businesses also protects the property itself. No matter where you live, natural or man-made disasters could strike your business at any time. Business insurance will cover some of the repairs needed after a tornado, hurricane, flood, or fire.
You still may have to shell out a little money depending on how bad the damage is, but insurance will pay the bulk of what’s needed to fix the building.
5. Covers Those Who Need It
Have you ever wondered where businesses get the money to pay mothers on maternity leave? How about people who have been in accidents and need short-term disability payments during their time off?
Business insurance covers these expenses. While you aren’t legally required to obtain coverage everywhere that you could set up shop, you’re more than likely required to provide maternity leave. Insurance is probably necessary here.
6. Protects Intellectual Property
Basically every business uses computers and cloud computing technology to operate on the day-to-day. There are a lot of benefits to this- easy storage, easy file share, easy communication. But these technologies are prone to hackers at times, and the fear of intellectual property theft is very real.
Insurance can work wonders in maintaining your privacy and protecting against hackers. It can help pay for firewalls and tech-savvy people that will help you out building barriers to keep hackers out. Plus, if there’s ever the need for a lawsuit, insurance has your back.
7. Keeps Vehicles and Property Safe
Like we said before, your property itself is safer with insurance. What you might not know, though, is that this doesn’t just apply to the building. Insuring your company property can help protect the computers you use and the other things inside your office.
It can also help keep company vehicles safe. A lot of businesses issue vehicles to employees that they can use to promote business and get work done. In the event of an auto accident, insurance can help replace these vehicles.
8. Helps During Lawsuits
People can sue businesses for basically anything they want. In fact, a lot of these lawsuits are frivolous and… a little ridiculous. Click here to read some pretty funny stories.
If these lawsuits are happening to your business, though, you won’t be laughing. Suits can take a lot of money out of company profits and ultimately lead to your downfall if you’re unprepared. Luckily, insurance will help you pay for lawyers and courtroom expenses.
9. Saves You Money
In the end, the bottom line is that insurance coverage can save you a lot of money. There are a ton of things that it protects against that would otherwise cost your company a lot of cash that you probably don’t have.
Do your research and find good coverage- it’s well worth it.
Your Business Needs Insurance!
Picking insurance for your business is no easy task, but it’s an important one. If you want to keep your business and assets protected from theft and disaster and make sure that your employees have critical things like time off and health care, you don’t have much choice in whether or not to get insurance coverage.
Now that you know why your business needs insurance to thrive, check out this article to learn other ways you can get your business off the ground. Learning about these strategies is sure to help you make more money and secure more employees and clients.
Remember to protect what’s yours!
