3 Types of Insurance Your Business May Not Need
Let’s face it; insurance agents aren’t normally in the business to tell you what types of a commercial insurance policy you don’t need. In fact, many of our clients tell us that they often felt uncomfortable talking with former agents for fear they’d over sell them on coverage.
At Cleary Insurance, we’re all about risk management: determining where your risks are, and how to best mitigate them through several methods, one of which is carrying insurance.
So in this spirit, we’ve taken a look at some coverages that you should examine closely before jumping in. And if you ever need advice, just give us a call.
Cyber Liability Insurance
In the digital age, information has never been so accessible—and vulnerable. Online hackers threaten many businesses and companies, and Cyber Liability Insurance may provide protection against these types of attacks.
Heinan Landa, a contributing writer for the Boston Business Journal, highlights some alarming facts in one of his articles:
“According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, one-in five-small businesses falls victim to cybercrime each year, and of those businesses 60-percent will fold within six months of an attack.”
This threat and its detrimental effects are formidable, and certain precautions should definitely be pursued. However, is the danger sizeable enough to necessitate the investment of an entirely new insurance policy?
It all depends on the type of business in question (and the exact nature of information stored). For instance, if a business handles sensitive and private information, then owners might consider one of these cyber liability coverages.
On the other hand, consider if your existing insurance can be formatted to cover your needs. If you do not handle customer data, then your Errors and Omissions policy may cover certain company claims.
It is crucial to double check obtained insurances to verify if further coverage is truly required. And as always, it is imperative to remain proactive: invest in secure servers, establish standard processes for passwords and file sharing, and educate employees about cyber-safety.
Employee Dishonesty Insurance
As much as business owners like to trust their employees, there’s always the chance of theft or other crimes. Employee Dishonesty Insurance serves to support owners against such occurrences.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce provides some startling statistics on crime resulting from employee dishonesty:
“The median loss is around $140,000, and small businesses, those with less than 500 employees, suffer as much as $100,000 more in losses than larger companies. Employers only discover these losses an average of 10 percent of the time, and the losses that are discovered result in the employer regrouping nothing more than 40 percent of the time.”
It’s no wonder why small businesses in particular see a need for this type of insurance.
However, employee dishonesty is not offered in most commercial insurance policies and would be considered a secondary coverage. It’s all up to the owner; are there already measures put in place to monitor the activity of employees? Does the size of the business necessitate this extra insurance? If you are at all unsure, don’t hesitate to contact a Cleary agent to discuss the matter further.
Product Liability Insurance and other Industry-Specific Policies
Business owners who do not require Product Liability Insurance can easily avoid it. Product Liability Insurance applies to businesses that make, distribute, or sell a product, protecting you from any losses related to a product defect. Therefore, if an owner’s business does not function in this way, there’s no need to invest in this type of insurance.
There are other industry-specific policies that could be thrown in front of you, but easily avoided, such as Boiler and Machinery, Commercial Auto, and so on. It may seem simple enough, but contact one of our representatives if you feel like you’re signed up for more than you need.
Best Agency to Work For
Cleary Insurance Believes in Embracing Risk
by Elizabeth Blosfield
When William J. Cleary III and his father, William J. Cleary Jr., decided to take a risk 25 years ago, Cleary Insurance, a Boston, Mass., based insurance agency, was born with just four other employees.
Its team of employees has grown nearly six times its original size and represents 42 different insurance companies today. Now, the firm strives to encourage its clients to embrace risk as well.
“I see Cleary Insurance continuing to grow within our current model, encouraging our clients to embrace risk, to live their lives knowing that we are providing them with the best advice and coverage options available,” President William J. Cleary III said. “We want to protect our clients and manage their risks so that they will grow and go forward with us.”
An appetite for risk and a collaborative culture help to set Cleary Insurance apart from its competition and earned it this year’s Best Agency to Work For – East Gold award. More than half of its 25 employees nominated the firm through an online survey, emphasizing the agency’s client-focused approach as one reason it stands out above the rest. By doing the right thing for clients, the needs of the agency are naturally met, one employee wrote in the survey.
“I’m continually impressed at management’s and the owner’s natural reactions to step back and focus on doing the right thing,” the employee wrote. “The conversation from the top is always about what’s right for the customer, what’s right for our role as agents, and that often seamlessly falls into line with what’s right for our agency.”
In addition to serving clients individually, the firm seeks to give back to its community as a whole through volunteering, employees stated in the survey. Each year, the agency selects a charity to volunteer with for a day. This year, the agency volunteered with Cradles to Crayons, a non-profit organization that provides children living in homeless or low-income situations with needed items. “It really feels like a change is being made in the community,” one employee wrote about the volunteer work.
The secret to Cleary Insurance’s success in serving clients, however, are its employees, Cleary said. It may seem as though independence and teamwork are opposites, but the firm strives to make the two work hand-in-hand by building a strong team to serve clients and the community on the outside while encouraging a culture of independence within the agency.
“We ask our folks to think for themselves, act independently and create the culture here at Cleary Insurance,” Cleary said. “I think the structure, or lack thereof, is what truly sets us apart. We try to hire the best possible people, keep them highly educated within the insurance world and then just get out of their way so that they can do their jobs as they see fit.”
This strategy seems to be working, as one of the original four employees at the agency’s onset is still with the firm today, while two others remained until retirement, Cleary said. Through a business model that allows its staff to develop professionally without micromanagement, the firm aims to encourage each employee to grow independently while remaining part of a team, he added.
“I want to work hard for this organization because it feels like family,” one employee said.
Indeed, the motto that appears on the front page of the Cleary Insurance website says that “life is worth the risk” — a statement that appears to reflect the spirit of the family that started it all 25 years ago.
“Like many of my insurance colleagues, I entered into the insurance world due to a family connection, but I have stayed in the industry because I love what I do,” Cleary said. “The fact that the staff here nominated our firm for this award is a tremendous source of personal pride, but mostly it is a reflection on the people that work here.”Click here to download article.
ACA Repeal and Replace Efforts Unsuccessful in U.S. Senate
In the early hours of July 28, Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) ended when the Senate fell short of the 51 votes required to pass the Health Care Freedom Act (HCFA). Called the “skinny repeal bill,” it would have eliminated the individual mandate penalty and temporarily repealed the employer mandate penalty and medical device tax along with providing states flexibility on certain ACA requirements. Earlier in the week, separate votes on the Better Care Reconciliation Act (the Senate’s alternative to the American Health Care Act) and the Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act (the “repeal and delay” option) also failed. Both parties have indicated next steps may include bipartisan efforts to fix the ACA and stabilize the market. Specific plans and a timeline have not been discussed yet.
Republican leadership in Congress or the Administration may also pursue other ways to dismantle, replace or reform the ACA including regulatory action, regulatory non-enforcement or other options, as outlined in our March 30 Update.
ACA Remains the Law of the Land
The ACA remains the law of the land. Ongoing compliance with the law is required unless and until official guidance to the contrary is issued. We encourage employers and broker partners to use Your ACA Roadmap to receive a personalized snapshot of annual responsibilities. Visit www.YourACARoadmap.com for more information.
To stay up to date on the evolving state of health care reform, we encourage you to bookmark www.InformedonReform.com, including the Repeal and Replace Update webpage, where we continuously update information as it becomes available.
Brought to you by Cigna Health Care Reform Consulting and Communications