06 Jan Employee Business Insurance Risk

Employee Business Insurance Risk

There are many aspects to business insurance, from public liability and employers’ liability to business interruption and stock in transit cover. However, what many businesses may be neglecting when they buy cover to protect against these concerns is the internal threat presented by their own employees.

The sad truth is that even businesses with the best employer cultures can sometimes fall foul of disgruntled, disillusioned or rogue employees, particularly at times when members of the workforce may be under vast amounts of personal or financial stress.

This chimes with a recent Gallup poll which found that nearly one in five of employees are “actively disengaged”, a situation which can result in carelessness, lower productivity and vulnerability to cyber scams, data breaches and other kinds of incidents.

Other, serious internal issues that might present themselves include bullying and harassment, violence in the workplace, theft and even vandalism. These can saddle a business with many extra costs and business insurance pressures as loss of reputation, business interruption and litigation mount. More than half of the businesses surveyed said that during 2018 they had suffered financial repercussions caused by insider attacks.

“Everyone faces different challenges and personal, financial, or professional stress,” said Miller. “When an employee displays warning signs of risky behaviour that no-one reacts to, they can quickly move down the path of becoming an insider risk and inflict damage on an organization.”

Safeguarding a business

The first thing an employer should do is to ensure that they have a full armoury of business insurance in place to protect them in the event of financial losses being caused by the actions of a member of their workforce. Employers’ liability insurance, business interruption, stock cover and contract cover can help this.

The next important thing is to ensure that employees are supported and the employer is able to identify and address any issues with employees for they have the potential to impact a business’s finances and reputation.