Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most companies have moved to remote working to ensure their employees’ health and safety and comply with social distancing guidelines. If you are working from home, you might have a lot of questions about whether remote working affects homeowners insurance. Depending on the kind of employee you are, working from home can affect your home insurance.
How does working from home affect home insurance?
Home insurance only protects your personal activities and property and does not protect anything related to your business. If any device or equipment for business use, homeowners insurance has strict limitations in covering the damage or loss.
Home insurance policies offer some protection for a business-owned device like a laptop, but there are limitations in coverage. If the damage or loss happens in your home, you may be compensated for up to $2500, while if it happens away from your home, you will be paid only $250. This limited coverage applies to both the personal laptop you use for your work and the laptop you use for your home-based work.
What do you need for working from home?
If you are an independent contractor, a home insurance policy is not enough to cover the damages and losses to your office equipment and devices. You will need to secure the right business insurance to address your work liabilities and cover your business property.
A full-time employee can get the required tools and equipment for their remote work from their employer. Employers also provide liability coverage, business-owned equipment coverage, and partial employment taxes for full-time remote workers.
If a company-bought laptop used for work purposes gets stolen, the employer will cover the loss with their commercial property insurance. However, if an employee’s personal laptop has been stolen, it will be covered by their homeowners policy.
If you need to meet your clients frequently in your home, make sure your company has general liability insurance to cover the business-related visitor injuries and accidents, as your home insurance won’t cover these.
A full-time remote employee will usually have coverage for:
- Any business property
- Business-related injuries on your property
- Personal property
- Work-related injuries
Even if you work from home, having the right insurance policy is essential to protect your personal property and address your liability concerns. For assistance with all your coverage needs, contact an insurance professional at Westwood Insurance Agency today.
