small business Archives - Competitive Edge Insurance

Don’t Create Your Own Labor Shortage

Since even before the pandemic, millions of Americans have left their jobs. In fact, we have more than three million fewer Americans participating in the labor force today compared to February of 2020, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

So, how can you ensure you don’t create your own labor shortage as a business owner? Read on for our best tips.

Create a Strong Company Culture

What are the signs that a business has great company culture? High employee retention, transparent communication, employee benefits, employee recognition, opportunities for development… The list goes on.

But how do you get to this level? To create a strong company culture, you should consider the following:

Determine what this culture looks like
Ask for employee input and LISTEN to what they have to say
Hire for culture
Encourage (and model!) work-life balance
Make sure employees know your expectations regarding culture

Of course, this is a shorthand list of things you can do. Building a strong company culture is crucial to ensuring you maintain the workforce you do have, and don’t create a labor shortage for your own business.

Ensure Your Workplace is Safe

Your workplace, regardless of your industry, needs to be safe. This includes big-ticket items like following any regulations and codes as well as small things like ensuring rugs are adhered to the floor to prevent tripping, for example.

Ensuring your workplace is safe will help increase employee retention and lower your risk of receiving workers’ compensation claims against your business. It’s a win-win.

Read on to learn more about rising workers’ compensation claims and what you can do.

Provide Growth Opportunities for Employees

What opportunities are you providing to help your employees grow? Are you paying for outside training? Seminars they’d like to attend?

Increased employee retention is one of the best benefits of a successful learning and development (L&D) strategy. In fact, according to a LinkedIn study, “94% of employees would stay at a company for longer if the business was investing in their career development.”

Implementing learning and development opportunities for employees can help:

Retain top talent
Increase job satisfaction and morale
Improve productivity, and
Earn more profit…

In fact, research shows that “businesses that have actively interested and dedicated employees see 41 percent lower absenteeism rates, and 17 percent higher productivity.”

Consider: What training and development might your employees benefit from?

Invest in the Right Insurance Coverage

Of course, we wouldn’t be who we are without mentioning insurance. Having the proper coverage for your business makes for safer operations and employees.

Although the types of insurance your business needs vary on a case-by-case basis, most businesses need the following types of coverage at a minimum:

General Liability Insurance
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Commercial Property Insurance
Cyber Liability Insurance
And more

Read on to learn how much business insurance should cost.

Focus On What Matters Most

Our biggest overarching rule is this: Focus on what matters most. Employee retention is all about making your workforce feel special, valued, and safe. Take some time today to think about how your specific business might achieve this.

Interested in learning more about the labor shortage? Read on to see how the California labor shortage is affecting the construction industry.

Why Does My Business Need Cyber Insurance?

May 1, 2022/in Cyber Insurance, News /by Amanda Rogers

Did you know, according to Advisorsmith and Insurance Journal, 42% of small businesses have experienced a cyberattack within the past year and 53% have experienced multiple data breaches?

Cyberattacks target personally identifiable information, personal health data as well as confidential financial information and can result in significant and often devastating financial loss for your business. In fact, the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 60% of small businesses that fell victim to a cyberattack were forced to close within six months due to the high financial costs necessary to recover.

Read our full guide on why your business needs cyber insurance, as well as how you can protect your business from these risks below.

What is Cyber Insurance?

Cyber insurance is a coverage policy that helps protect your business and mitigate financial risk in the event of a cyberattack. Retrieving your company data and rebuilding your systems is time-consuming and costly.

In addition, the loss of time and productivity, when a data breach does occur can damage your credit, damage your reputation with customers, cost you in service providers restructuring your security, and prevent further losses and possible penalties for improper handling of sensitive financial data.

What Does Cyber Insurance Cover?

Coverage can vary depending on the policy, however, cyber insurance generally covers:

Regulatory fines, legal fees, and penalties
Credit and fraud monitoring services
Crisis management and public relations
Finding and addressing the security defect
Notifying customers of a data breach
Restoring personal identities of affected customers
Recovering compromised data
Repairing damaged computer systems

What Businesses Need Cyber Insurance?

Every business that uses digital data—such as saving client information to your network or cloud—needs cyber insurance. However, some businesses are more heavily targeted by cybercriminals because of their valuable data and resources, such as:

Financial Services

According to Business Insider, financial firms are 300 times more likely to be targeted than other companies. Wow!

Financial services are specifically targeted because of their access to financial accounts and/or services such as allowing customers to pay bills online, transfer funds, and view account balances.

Financial institutions including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Equifax, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, JPMorgan as well as many other firms have all experienced cyber breaches and attacks.

Health Care

Health care organizations are responsible for significant amounts of sensitive information and, as a result, could potentially put the private records of millions of patients at risk. HIPAA Journal reports that 89% of healthcare organizations have experienced a data breach.

Small Businesses and Start-Ups

Small businesses are often targeted by cybercriminals because of their limited resources and lack of security expertise. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, 83% of small businesses have no formal cyber security plan and 69% have no plan at all.

What Happens to My Business If I Don’t Have Cyber Insurance?

A cyberattack on a business without cyber insurance can result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars between:

Various legal fees and fines
Recovery of compromised data
Damaged computer systems
And other necessary costs

According to the Ponemon Institute, the average small business pays $690,000 to recover from a cyber-attack, whereas middle-market companies can pay upward of $1 million.

Due to the devastating financial fallout, many businesses that experience a cyberattack without cyber insurance can’t recover and are forced to permanently close their doors.

Cyber insurance is a rapidly growing space and constantly evolving to fit the needs of any business. With the right policy, you can protect your business from the high costs and destructive effects of a cyberattack.

To learn more, read on for seven steps to avoid cyber security threats.

Small Business Insurance: A Guide

July 4, 2021/in General Business Insurance, High-Risk Insurance, News /by Amanda Rogers

I’m a small business, do I really need insurance?

In short, yes. Insurance is needed for all transactions of business where outside parties are involved—big and small. Even though it might be tempting to opt-out of insurance, the risk is much greater (and expensive) if you’re not insured.

The Risk

Picture this.

Your small yoga studio is starting to thrive as COVID-19 restrictions lift. More people are signing up for classes. Hooray, this is good news! Then a too-complicated pretzel move goes haywire and now you’re being sued for malpractice. And to top it all off, you don’t have insurance.

In retrospect, you wish you would’ve gotten Health and Wellness Insurance. Again, the risk is far greater than paying for small business insurance.

Types of Small Business Insurance

Insurance jargon can be intimidating, which is why we’re here at Competitive Edge to help!

There are SO many options of coverage to look into as a small business:

Health & Wellness
Construction
Cyber Liability
Surety Bonding
Worker’s Compensation
General Business
Umbrella
Executive Coverage

Insurance is not one-size-fits-all. As a small business, there are differences between the type of coverage that might work best for you. This can differ depending on what state you reside in, what industry you’re trying to insure, and more.

Even if your business is made of a small group of employees, business insurance is essential. If anything happens in office (injury, wrongful termination, emotional neglect), you will instead pay for it out of pocket.

Still not convinced?

Our team is dedicated to your safety, security and ongoing success. Our clients stay with us for decades because we have their business’ best interests at heart and the depth of knowledge and experience to protect and insure them no matter what the market conditions. Contact Competitive Edge today for more details about small business insurance!

Posts