As COVID-19 continues to disrupt traditional ways of doing business, telecommuting has grown in popularity. Yet having employees working at home can definitely change things from a commercial insurance perspective. It’s a great time to touch base with your clients and to talk about their insurance coverages. You’ll want to make sure their insurance program effectively addresses the unique risks of working at home or having some of their employees working remotely.
Studies show that many companies will continue to have at least some of their employees working at home through the end of the year and likely, beyond. Here are some things that all businesses with telecommuting employees should consider doing:
Make sure employees are using secure wi-fi. All of your employees should be using private and secured Wi-Fi networks while working remotely. Using an unsecured network — public wi-fi — can put your company’s private information at risk. Require anyone who uses public wi-fi to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which keeps their web browsing secure.
Make sure employees have up-to-date firewalls and anti-virus software. This applies to laptops, tablets, and smartphones. It’s your responsibility to keep your customer and client information safe.
Use secure virtual meeting rooms. Make sure that private conversations and presentations cannot be monitored by unauthorized third parties.
Pay close attention to federal wage and hour rules. To avoid violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers should require non-exempt employees working from home to record the time they work each day and stick to the hours they should be working each day. Non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay whether they are working at your company’s facility or at home, so it’s important that employees know they must adhere to their normal working hours and that they are prohibited from working additional hours without your approval.