Useful insurances for your company
To complement compulsory insurances, such as loss of earnings and accident insurance, various contracts are strongly recommended to cover your business effectively. These include liability insurance, property insurance, health insurance, and legal expenses insurance. They protect your company in many situations. So what do they cover? Are they really necessary? Let's zoom in on these insurances that best suit your needs!
Civil liability insurance
Third-party liability insurance covers your company in the event of bodily injury or property damage caused to your employees. Whatever your activity, mistakes can be made: you must protect yourself. Indeed, if third parties are victims of damage caused by your company or your employees, your business is liable for all of its assets. To benefit from optimal coverage in the event of an incident, corporate liability insurance will step in.
What damage is covered by the corporate liability insurance?
Your company is covered for damage that occurs at the heart of your buildings and facilities, as well as on the land you own. You are protected against problems that arise during the company’s activity, or that result from the manufacture and delivery of products or work.
Liability insurance also covers your company in the event of damage to the environment.
Accordingly, in the event of a claim for payment of damages made in one of these situations, your company will be covered. To avoid the financial consequences that could strongly impact the functioning of your activity, civil liability insurance is a core pillar.
What coverage can you benefit from with civil liability insurance?
Civil liability insurance covers bodily injury (injury, death...), material damage (partial or total destruction of property), and non-material damage (financial losses related or not to damage).
Depending on the insurance company you contract with and subscribe to a corporate liability policy, you can also benefit from digital coverage: damage that occurs on the Internet is then covered, and your data is protected. Several contracts will also ensure your enterprise against the consequences of cyber-attacks. Several policies also provide coverage against the consequences of cyber attacks, as the insurance company can cover some of the costs incurred as a result of a cyber attack, thereby enabling you to restore your damaged IT infrastructure and data. With various options offered in the insurance policy, your business can be protected against the financial consequences of a business interruption due to cyber attacks.
Which businesses should be covered?
Although liability insurance is not mandatory, it is strongly recommended that all businesses (regardless of their size and legal status) take out insurance.
To cope with malfunctions, errors, and incidents, this insurance package truly supports companies.
If you are self-employed, liability insurance can also be an important ally that will help you face the unexpected with serenity.
How do you choose your business liability insurance company?
Insurance companies offer civil liability contracts that are adapted to many lines of business. Indeed, depending on your company’s installations, facilities, and industry, you may face different risks your company must hedge against.
Craftsmen, liberal professions, doctors, architectural firms, law firms: the damages your company is likely to face vary according to your trade.
So, when choosing your insurance, make sure that the company considers your line of business so that it can offer you a tailor-made contract!
Daily allowance insurance in case of illness
What is daily sickness benefits insurance?
Daily sickness benefit insurance compensates for the employer’s obligation to keep paying employees’ salaries when they are on leave. For your company, it, therefore, provides real financial security. Daily sickness benefit insurances can be taken out as individual or group insurances. For example, most collective labor agreements oblige employers to ensure employees under a group insurance scheme that provides for daily sickness benefits in case of illness.
Though it is not compulsory, a large number of companies in Switzerland opt for this type of insurance. Since employers are legally bound to maintain their employees' wages when they are ill, taking out such insurance is a way of limiting the loss of earnings during the entire sick leave period.
This way, if your employees have to face a long work stoppage, you can perfectly protect them from any loss of earnings, without impacting your activity.
How to choose your daily sickness benefits insurance?
Daily allowance insurance can be taken out according to two different laws: the Federal Law on Health Insurance (Loi fédérale sur l’assurance-maladie, LAMal), and the Federal Law on Insurance Contracts. The daily allowance insurance, subject to the LAMal, is social insurance and the daily allowance insurance, governed by the LCA, is based on an insurance contract under private law.
The risk associated with the obligation to keep paying the salary must be accurately budgeted by your insurance company, as it will then be able to offer you a tailor-made contract, fully in keeping with your insurance company’s requirements.
Some options can therefore be offered: covering the replacement cost of the missing employee, or follow-up and assistance by specialists in corporate health management.
Make sure processing times for benefits are short: what you need here is responsiveness so as not to impact your operations.
Property insurance
Choosing property insurance means you are covering yourself against any unforeseen events. Whether these contingencies are related to weather, theft, fire, destruction, loss, or damage, the consequences for your business can be severe. These types of problems can sometimes bring your business to a halt, with devastating results in terms of turnover and profitability. Eventually, losing customers is inevitable.
And since the additional costs associated with claims can soon be expected, you need to rely on the insurance that covers all such damage.
So that your company does not run into difficulties, the insurance of your choice will intervene and act as a useful ally for your business stability. It then comes to cover :
Loss of income related to the damage
Damage to goods
The additional costs incurred by the claim
Material stored outdoors
Movable property, machinery
Computer equipment
Valuables
Your own vehicles and customer vehicles
Equipment, machinery, leased vehicles
Refrigerated foods, should the refrigeration system break down
Which companies had better take out property insurance?
Again, this is not compulsory insurance. However, it is highly recommended for companies that own premises and produce goods.
Indeed, if the machines that produce your goods are damaged, the consequences on your entire business can quickly become catastrophic. Service companies, even if they are less exposed to these risks, will still be able to ensure their computer equipment, for example. Similarly, doctors may also want to ensure their office equipment.
How to choose your property insurance?
Opt for a flexible cover, tailored to your company and your activity. Not all the services offered in the property insurance will suit you. Choose an insurance company that allows you to decide which risks you want to insure yourself against.
Legal insurance
What is the purpose of legal expenses insurance?
The scope of coverage offered by legal expenses insurance ranges from advice to legal assistance and the payment of legal costs and lawyers’ fees.
Thanks to this insurance, you benefit from support in the event of damages or disputes with your clients, suppliers, neighbors, or employees. For example, if a wage-earner asks for compensation for overtime that he or she has not actually worked; if a supplier submits a bill that is too high, or if a customer does not pay one of his or her bills, then the legal protection insurance is there to support you.
Also, this type of insurance can enable you to defend your staff in criminal proceedings.
This means your insurance company can provide you with legal advice to help you with your procedures. Legal assistance by a lawyer is also provided, and your legal, court, and expert fees are covered.
What areas can be covered by legal expenses insurance?
The legal points that this type of insurance contract can cover are very broad. They will mainly depend on the type of contract you choose.
Indeed, legal expenses insurance can cover employment law, tenancy and lease law, contracts, private insurance law, social insurance law, property law, criminal law, neighborhood law, or expropriation and license. Subscribing to a legal protection insurance policy will also protect you during business trips. Vehicle taxation, civil liability law, and compensation for moral damages are also covered by legal protection. Criminal and administrative proceedings, as well as internet legal protection, can also be included in your contract.
How to choose your legal protection insurance?
Look for a legal protection offer that is suited to the size of your company. Obviously, start-ups launching with 2 or 3 employees will not opt for the same contract as a company with 50 employees and more.
That way, even if you own a small business, you will be able to benefit from legal advice customized to your particular industry. The costs of expert opinions, legal and procedural costs can also be covered. Also, legal fees and criminal guarantees to avoid pre-trial detention are covered. Finally, in some insurance contracts, mediation may also be offered.
Legal protection insurance companies then provide a defined sum for each area (labor law, rental law, insurance law, etc.), to offer formulas fitting the size of your company and your area of business.
Besides, it is also worth noting that some director's and officer's liability insurances cover the costs of defending against complaints and unjustified claims as well as the payment of compensations.
