Office Contents Insurance
Just like auto insurance is the policy you buy to protect your car, office contents insurance is the one you buy to protect all the material things that you have in your office. There is one basic difference though – while auto insurance is compulsory, office contents insurance is not.
Even so, as a business owner, you would never want anything bad to happen and damage all your possessions in your office. Hence it is strongly recommended that you take out a policy that covers everything you own at your place of business. Though there may be a difference between the benefits offered on various policies by different insurance providers, a basic office contents insurance policy covers cash, general office paraphernalia, computers and all portable equipment. When it comes to covering cash that is on the premises, it usually means loss due to a break-in and not if a staff member takes off with the office money.
Loss of cash is usually a big concern for those organizations that use casual workers on a regular basis. General office equipment means all those things that are used by your employees to go about their daily work, like typewriters, furniture and others. However there may often be a case when what you think falls under general office equipment is actually considered a part of your building insurance by the insurance provider. Of course in this day and age, no business can possibly run smoothly without the help of computers, so it is important that you have all the computers in your office covered under office contents insurance.
Make sure your policy also covers losses incurred due to the breakdown in the computer systems. However the policy will not cover any kind of computer breakdown that affects your business but has occurred due to hacking or a virus attack. The portable equipment mentioned in your office contents insurance should cover everything from cellular phones to palm pilots to laptops.
Now that you know what an office contents insurance policy generally covers, the next question is -– how does an insurance service company decide on the premiums of such policies? There are a number of parameters at work here.
First, the insurer will look at the safety features you have installed in your office, like anti-theft devices, alarms and such. This plays an important role in brining down your premium costs. The insurer will also take into account a few other details like the size of your office, the location of the building, and the number of employees you have working for you, before working out the premium on your office contents insurance.