Insurance Insights
6 Steps to Safeguard Your Business Vehicles
Successful businesses rely on the protection and security of their equipment, tools, and even their business vehicles. While you may have considered your risk exposures as a business, and done your best to obtain proper insurance for the vehicle, it’s also important to take extra measures in order to safeguard the vehicle being used for work-related tasks. By taking additional safety precautions, you are giving your business vehicles the best protection available, which will help your business security in the long run.
1) Lock all doors. It should go without saying that locking your doors is the easiest and most effective way to protecting your business vehicle. Even when you don’t plan to be indoors or away from the vehicle for very long, the doors should remain locked. Your business vehicle most likely has expensive tools and supplies inside that need to be protected; your vehicle’s lock can be what saves you thousands of dollars in stolen goods.
2) Hide belongings. If you are bringing mobile devices, electronic equipment, or other types of expensive belongings with you, be sure to keep them hidden. Of course it is always better to bring them with you when you’re away from your vehicle, but at the very least you should keep them from public view. Thieves are more inclined to break into a vehicle when can see what they are able to steal; avoid this from happening by hiding anything small enough to fit underneath seats or in the glove department.
3) Invest in an alarm system. You may not be able to prevent theft from occurring, but you can deter thieves, or stop them in their tracks by having an alarm system in your business vehicle. If your vehicle didn’t come with one built in, consider investing in one. Additionally, your business auto insurance will often cost less when you have an alarm system.
5 Key Risks for Startups
No matter what type of business startup you’re planning, it will come with its own set of risks. Some risks are considered too high, while others may eventually lead to a successful business. Just because startups come with these main risks, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the risk and start your own business — it does mean that you should educate yourself on what could potentially go wrong. By understanding the key risks for startups beforehand, you can help to avoid potentially hazardous situations and protect your initial investment, while keeping your financial assets secure.
Common Causes of Workplace Accidents
Prevention is the key component of preventing many of the most common accidents that can occur in the workplace, and ultimately lead to fewer injuries of employees. In 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS) did a study for the US Department of Labor that resulted in finding 3.1 million non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported that year; this comes to 3.5 cases for 100 full-time employees. With a statistic as startling as this one, preventing workplace accidents becomes that much more important.
BYOD: Good for Small Businesses or Risky
As technology continues to advance, small businesses are beginning to incorporate employee’s own technological devices into their work duties. BYOD, which stands for Bring Your Own Device, means that the business is letting employees use their own devices, such as smart phones, tablet PCs and laptops, for business purposes. An employee brings in his own tablet PC to complete their job functions, and keeps it updated and secure on his own. While this can be beneficial to both the employee and the company, it also comes with some risks that may not be worth it.
5 Illegal Reasons to Fire Employees
As a business owner, you rely on your employees to work hard and commit to their jobs. However, on occasion you’ll be forced with the decision of whether or not you should fire an employee and are wondering if your reasons are valid. While there are many reasons you can legally fire an employee, such as lying on their job application, or consistently not doing what is expected of them, there is also a number of situations you cannot legally fire a worker. A variety of laws prohibit firing employees for certain things, and the following is a list of the five most common illegal reasons to fire employees, though certainly not all.
1) Discrimination – Federal laws are in place to prevent discrimination in the workplace, which is most commonly enforced when making hiring decisions. These same anti-discrimination laws are enforced when it comes to firing employees as well. You cannot legally fire an employee for discrimination purposes such as race, gender, age, ethnicity, sex, religion, or disabilities. It is also illegal to fire an employee due to pregnancy, childbirth, and other medical conditions. Depending on your state, additional situations might be considered discrimination, such as firing a worker based on their marital status or sexual orientation.
2) Retaliation – It’s also against the law to fire an employee for retaliation purposes, such as an employee suing you for discriminating them in the workplace, or other ways of asserting their rights per the federal and state laws. Discrimination is always illegal in the workplace, and this includes denying promotions, or treating certain employees unjustly. For example, if you have an employee that becomes pregnant, and is therefore denied certain work privileges as a result, and they turn around and sue you for discrimination; you are unable to fire her for this reason alone. It is illegal to fire an employee if they have brought a case against you for discriminating them in the workplace, as this is against federal and state laws.
3) Lie Detector Test Refusal– On occasion you may be faced with a situation in the workplace where employees will be asked to take a polygraph. If an employee refuses to take the test, you cannot fire them over the refusal. There is a law against it, called the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, which states employees have a right to refuse the polygraph test, as polygraphs tests are prohibited in most cases.
Worker Driver Safety
Employees that use company vehicles need to be worried about more than getting to their destination on time and having proper business auto insurance. Insurance helps protect your business from costs associated with a vehicle accident, but having an accident can injure workers and bystanders and additionally raise the cost of insurance. It’s important to let your workers know the most common causes of auto accidents, and work hard to prevent them whenever possible. Worker driver safety is extremely important when company vehicles are used for business.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Credit Card Processor
If you are planning to own and operate a business that sells products or services, you’ll need to accept credit card payments. With nearly all of online transactions and a good percentage of in-person transactions using credit cards, this is an essential part of business. But you also don’t want to go with the first credit card processor you find; there are a variety of companies offering credit card processing for your business, each of which should be researched thoroughly before making your final decision. The following is a list of the most important factors to consider when choosing a credit card processor.
Cruel Summer – Where the Jobs are this Summer Infographic
Embed this Infographic:
6 Market Research Mistakes
Businesses that thrive are those that conduct important research and preparation, including making a solid business plan, incorporating marketing methods, and utilizing market research. Successful market research can improve your company’s sales through familiarizing yourself with your potential customers, understanding what consumers are looking for, and being aware of your competition. However, when you make any of the following six market research mistakes, you can do the opposite and negatively affect the success and future of your business.
5 Safeguarding Your Business iPad Tips
As a tablet PC, iPad’s provide many benefits when using them for business, including being small and lightweight, easy to travel with, and coming with a variety of applications to make your business run more smoothly. However, some of the benefits of using an iPad can also heighten the risk of loss, theft, damage, and data breach. If your iPad’s security is breached, or if it gets lost or stolen, you risk losing important data, financial information, and confidential customer and client information. This can be a disastrous burden on your business therefore, safeguarding your business iPad is essential.
