Risk is something every business is exposed to every day. California businesses have risk of fire, theft, employee injuries, and more. Businesses can transfer some of the risk through business insurance policies, but business insurance policies can only cover so much, and do not always cover 100% of all risks.
There are a number of positive actions your business can do to reduce your risk. There are also many mistakes businesses make when managing risk.
Business Insurance and Risk Mistakes
- Not considering employment risks. Your employees are your most important assets but they are also your biggest risks. Every business with employees needs employment practices liability insurance. Businesses also need to provide annual training to all employees on their employment policies, including harassment.
- Ignoring cyber risk. Your business has a greater chance of having a cyber-attack than it does of having a fire. You need to make sure that your computers and internet are protected, and that you have purchased cyber liability insurance.
- Not understanding how loss of income insurance is designed to work. Business interruption insurance, also known as business income insurance, covers the loss of income (rent) that a business suffers after a covered loss (fire, wind storm etc), while its facility is shut down or in the process of being rebuilt. It is critical to your business’s future to have the correct amount of coverage.
- Buying too little liability insurance. In 2000, it was uncommon for companies to be sued for more than a million dollars. In 2015, it is not uncommon for a company to have several large claims going on at the same time. A large judgment against your company could damage your reputation, and it might even put you out of business. We recommend every business consider options of 1 to 5 million dollars in liability insurance, depending on your operations.
In order to bring the very best options and most competitive pricing to our customers, Leap / Carpenter / Kemps helped to establish Sierra Gateway Insurance Services in 1991. This entity provides your Leap / Carpenter / Kemps agent with a wealth of marketing options that smaller agencies just cannot access – options that in many cases match and exceed those of the largest national agencies.