Insurance

Business Interruption Insurance

Posted on by McGriff Williams in Blog, Business Insurance, Gainesville, Insurance |

In a time like the current pandemic of COVID-19, we are all experiencing some serious interruption. As individuals, it’s come in the form our personal relationships, children’s schools, sports, social events, networking, and even the everyday errand of running to the grocery store. Those restrictions are inconvenient and may be aggravating but in the end, not totally life changing. After all, some may even be enjoying the forced slow down and more time at home with their families.

But for businesses, it’s a different story. Think about your favorite restaurant, retailer, hardware store, caterer or event venue… your dentist, your hair stylist, your daycare and your gym. Think about how difficult it would be to tell employees of 20 years that you can’t afford to pay them or that you have to close the doors. Think about the students that work hourly to pay their way through school and support themselves, already living paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet.

This is a tough time, no doubt about it. It’s terrible. And it’s forcing business owners to look anywhere and everywhere for options. One avenue business owners are exploring is Business Interruption coverage on their commercial insurance policy, which is what we’d like to clarify.

Unfortunately, in most cases, this type of coverage does not apply to any type of disease or outbreak. In the event of a natural disaster or man-made crisis, this coverage would help protect businesses against financial losses if they had to suspend operations or operate at a reduced rate/capacity.

Some of the things Business Interruption typically covers are:
• lost revenue
• rent and lease payments
• mortgage payments
• other loan payments and taxes
• employee payroll or relocation costs

This coverage may not extend for the situation we’re in right now but it’s comforting to know it’s there when applicable. If there’s property damage, closure, or lack of operations that does qualify for coverage, this could get a company back up and running rather quickly. Suffering from economic shock and financial losses is stressful enough, so the silver lining in those situations would be that this is there to help.

There really isn’t a great solution or magic answer to how we’ll recover from this Coronavirus situation but if we can stay positive, band together, and help where we’re able… surely, we’ll come out of it okay and as best prepared as we can be to get to work on recovering.

“Run Your Day The Intentional Way”

Posted on by McGriff Williams in Human Resources, Insurance, McGriff-Williams News |

THEME. By definition, it is “the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person’s thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic.†In our situation, it’s what we want as our personal and professional priority for this year. It’s our compass. It’s what we want every decision to be guided by and a focus that everyone on our team keeps at the forefront of their minds at all times.

INTENTIONAL. By definition, it is “done on purpose; deliberate.†It takes thought, effort, and strategy. It means you are purposeful in every word and action. It takes engagement and belief in both the process and the end result.

We, as a company, were challenged to come up with a “theme†for 2020. We’re making some changes and shifting some things we do as an organization and wanted this theme to kick off some really exciting things for our future as a company. So, we tapped into the best resource of all… our people. We involved everyone on our team to participate and contribute ideas to get to our theme. We talked a lot about focusing on the core values our company has always lived by. We want to make them a top priority and shift our minds back to what’s truly important, rather than just getting caught up in a busy routine and going through the motions day in and day out. We discussed how if you don’t run your day, your day will run you. So… drumroll… we are proud to reveal our 2020 theme: “RUN YOUR DAY THE INTENTIONAL WAY.â€

Intentionality can be accomplished in many ways. Here is how we are striving to be intentional rather than accidental:


• The way we show appreciation to our staff and foster our culture
• How we treat our clients and the guidance we provide them
• Taking a holistic approach to their individual situation and exposure
• Getting creative with solutions to problems some may not even know exist
• Who we partner and do business with

Running your day the intentional way starts with the second your eyes open in the morning (side note: it helps to have coffee) and your feet hit the floor. Your attitude and intentions can set the tone for the rest of the day, week, month, and year. We plan to give everything we’ve got to stick to our goals and support eachother throughout this year to really do things on purpose with purpose. Join us! Go choose a word, a resolution, a theme… and run your day the intentional way!

Prevent your next HR nightmare!

Posted on by McGriff Williams in Business Insurance, Employee Benefits, Human Resources, Insurance |


Think you don’t need an Employee Handbook or that yours is sufficient as is? Think again. It is extremely important to keep a current Employee Handbook.

Some misconceptions of business owners or HR directors may be:
• No time or resources
• It’s too much work
• Afraid we’ll miss important compliance/law changes
• Not a company priority
• Don’t think a Handbook is necessary for our business
• We’ve already finished our updates this year

Your Handbook does a lot for you that shouldn’t be overlooked, such as:
• It tells your story and you have the opportunity to be a really great narrator
• It sets the tone for your company culture and clearly communicates the mutual expectations with your employees
• It explains your purpose, your why and your how
• It defines and explains the benefits you offer to your staff, adding value and morale to your operation
• Your openness and transparency will go a lot further than you might expect
• Delivers brand or information change promptly and efficiently

There could be substantial consequences of not having an accurate, up-to-date Handbook:
• Your exposure to legal action being taken against you
• Missing or inaccurate information is misleading
• Employees may not feel comfortable going to management when they should be able to refer to the Handbook to avoid feeling hesitant
• Staff will not feel confident if there’s a lack of guidance and support from their leadership
• Changes in state/federal laws that affect your policies will be overlooked
• Harassment and discrimination issues could be avoided

As always, if there are ways we can help with your Employee Handbook or implementation of it, please contact us any time at (352)371-7977 or [email protected].

Identity theft is getting creative… don’t fall for it!

Posted on by McGriff Williams in Insurance, McGriff-Williams News |


You’ve probably seen the latest trend gone viral where you can get a glimpse of what you’ll look like in 30 years. “Face App†has gained popularity after celebrities like Carrie Underwood, Drake, LeBron James and Taylor Swift posted filtered photos of themselves on social media portraying an aged image with grey hair and wrinkles. While it may be the first time there’s been humor surrounding looking older, it also revealed some warnings of identity theft by the parent company based out of Russia. There may only be a few quick boxes to check when downloading an app like this but agreeing to terms you haven’t read is never a good choice.

In this example, anyone that agreed to the company’s terms allowed access to their photos and full licensing to use the photos however they’d like without any permission or the ability to take legal action. Driving along a highway and seeing your face on a billboard that you weren’t aware of is a scary thought, right? Even worse, that headshot could potentially be used for photo recognition allowing access to your bank account or personal information. Even the newest iPhone unlocks based on your smiling face.

This isn’t intended to call anyone out or make you worry if you were curious enough to check out your best Grandma or Grandpa look…. But it is a peek at what is happening out there in regards to identity theft.

Not necessarily for Face App issues, but there is a simple step you can take when it comes to ID theft and your insurance. Identity theft insurance is intended to cover the expenses, typically up to $25,000, related to restoring your identity and credit score (if applicable), not the amount of stolen funds. Such expenses may include: costs of executing affidavits, notary and certified mailing costs, application fees for re-applying for loan(s), reasonable attorney fees and loss of income resulting from time taken off work to complete theft/fraud paperwork.

Identity theft insurance can be added to your property insurance policy (home or renters), or possibly even your auto insurance policy, for approximately $50/year.

Tips for avoiding identity theft:

  • Keep the amount of personal information you carry to a minimum
  • Make sure you have up to date firewall, anti-spyware and anti-virus programs installed on your computer AND phone
  • Carefully monitor your bank and credit card accounts on a regular basis, as well as your credit report
  • Passwords should always be unique and never the same password used for multiple accounts/logins
  • Avoid public Wi-Fi when possible
  • Shred any personal documents or statements that you dispose of
  • Check for updates to social media privacy policies that you may not have been notified of

Cybercrimes happen every 14 seconds… is your business next?

Posted on by McGriff Williams in Business Insurance, Gainesville, Insurance |


Cybercrime is a big business, in fact 58% of cyber-attack victims were small businesses in 2018. If your business is attacked, the damage could cause financial strain or cause you to close the business. The lost revenue due to system downtime, the money spent attempting to remediate a breach and the reputational damage can really add up. While spending time and resources on making sure your network is secure and up to date is extremely important, it’s equally important to provide training for your employees. The top cybersecurity threat to small businesses is internal, because employees mistakenly let the cyber criminals in. While cyber threats change daily, the two most common we’ve seen recently are:

Ransomware– A virus downloaded via employees clicking on phishing links that is intended to bring business to a standstill, by locking up data with a demand for extortion money or else… the complete destruction of all data.

Funds Transfer Fraud- Hackers manipulate businesses or their clients to wire money into the hacker’s bank account. Simply put, money is accidentally wired to the wrong place.

 

Can it happen to you?

If you don’t think it can happen to you, we encourage you to think again. In the last week, two Florida cities have been hacked and over $1 million dollars were paid in ransom to gain access to their system. The details for these are below:

Lake City, Florida

“The mayor of Lake City told CBS 47 Action News Jax on Tuesday that the small city in northern Florida would give the hackers $460,000 to hand back control of email and other servers seized two weeks ago. I would’ve never dreamed this could’ve happened, especially in a small town like this, Lake City Mayor Stephen Witt told Action News Jax.â€

Riviera Beach, Florida

“The leaders of Riviera Beach, Fla., looking weary, met quietly this week for an extraordinary vote to pay nearly $600,000 in ransom to hackers who paralyzed the city’s computer systems.â€

 

It’s projected that by 2021, cybercrimes will cost $6 trillion worldwide. This activity will not slow down as we increase technology use, it will only become more complicated. Please call your account advisor today to discuss cyber protection for your business.