Take the insurance industry.
A few years ago our broker advised us that we couldn’t get our house
insured because I worked from home, and the only way they would cover it, was
if I took out liability insurance.
No matter how I explained that the home was the
administrative base, that no events or even people met there, the answer was
the same. Even though the business is incorporated, they were apparently “concerned” that someone might fall at an
event and sue me, and the house would be at risk. Reluctantly I agreed but it felt like a money
grab.
I know when I had my consulting practice we were required on
certain contracts to have professional liability insurance, which was an
expensive request, often in the thousands.
Again, we would argue that no one was in danger as a result of our work,
we weren’t counselling anyone, just meeting with people to provide
recommendations to government. But no,
it had to be in place.
Fast forward to this year, and one of our members faced the
same challenge, instead this time the stakes were much higher and the cost
prohibitive. As she said, she could
understand if they insured your home and if you didn’t get the liability
insurance, you had to sign a waiver, but to outright refuse home coverage unless you took out this
expensive insurance policy, felt like
you were being held to ransom.
So what’s the answer?
Shop around. There are reputable
companies out there that will provide house insurance and forego the liability
insurance if you work from home. Don’t
let yourself be conned or pressured into spending money on a policy that you
don’t need and cannot afford.
It is somewhat ironic that we need insurance in order to
protect ourselves from unexpected dangers,
but who protects us from the insurance companies? We need to take charge of that ourselves.
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