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Everyone wants to see the best in people. A mom wants to believe her son when he swears it was the dog that broke a favorite vase and not because he was playing softball in the house. A teacher wants to believe a student who says that he ‘lost’ his homework assignment.
It may be naïve to think that an individual will always do the right thing, but it’s human nature to want to believe in the inherent goodness of people.
Where business is concerned, though, it’s not so clear. That’s why it’s important for businesses to prepare for all scenarios.
For example, if your company hires two employees who steal a piece of equipment worth $20,000, would you be covered? Would you be able to notify your insurance company’s claims office and receive protection for that loss?
The correct answer to the above questions should be a resounding yes. Every company should be covered for the unknown and the unplanned. However, there’s only so much that a business owner can control, even if that individual does prepare accordingly.
In an employee theft scenario, it’s important that your insurance agent crosses all his t’s and dots his i’s during the initial commercial insurance quote process.
Consider a family-owned-and-run commercial printing company that hires two new employees to help during a significant growth period. If the business experiences an employee theft loss of $20,000 and employee theft coverage was not part of the original quote, it goes through a tedious reconciliation process with the insurance company. The insurance company’s credibility suffers, and additional time and work is invested for all parties involved because of errors made in the details of their insurance policy, which resulted in limiting their coverage.
Say the business owner does some research and discovers that the insurance company he was thinking about going through has unfavorable reviews. He decides to go with another company, such as Rural Mutual Insurance. He meets with a local insurance agent who walks him through all of his coverage options. The agent’s quote does include coverage for employee theft. An employee steals from the business, the business owner files a claim, and the matter is taken care of swiftly.
Yes, it can be as simple as that.
We’d all like to believe that people are good. But unfortunately, it was probably the son who broke that vase and chances are that the student who ‘lost’ his assignment didn’t lose anything; he just didn’t do it. And while most of the employees in your business will be trustworthy, some will not be. Prepare now, worry less later.
