An Insurance Company’s Guide to a Safer Workplace

Nervous about going back to the office this spring? The CDC guidelines for workplaces and businesses are a great place to start. However, you may have a few other questions about going back to business as an insurance company.

Your agents and customer service support are likely feeling the strain of working from home. As you start transitioning to a hybrid or fully remote mode, there are a few things you should be clear about.

Below is a breakdown of the role business leaders and employees both have in creating a safer workplace from the IT experts at Nerd Crossing.

Create Comfortable Workstations

Establishing a safe distance between employees can be done in a variety of ways. First, connect with your landlord about options that they can build in.

Depending on your needs you can also consider the following:

Screens and desk dividers that are easy to clean
PPE stations and supply kits
Handwashing stations
Clear signs for maintaining social distance
Updating air filtration and HVAC systems

Fixed Scheduling

Once you’ve figured out a workable layout and environmental controls, you may want to add a bit of structure to who goes in and out of the office. Consider staggering schedules and establishing work pods to ensure that team members can collaborate on vital tasks.

For contact tracing guidelines, visit the Google/Apple Bluetooth Exposure Notification (GAEN) platform.

You can also check out the following:

As a guideline, make sure that you are transparent with users on how their data is to be used for contact tracing. Minimize the data collection needed and be upfront about the type and frequency of communications that are to be received.

Reconsider BYOD

As you start scaling up purchases to maintain a safer office, your technology may also be due for an upgrade. For example, your client-facing employees are likely to use personal devices for work.

The pandemic has opened up a Pandora’s box of risks for insurers of all sizes. While working from their own devices may be convenient, your employees could be unwittingly exposing company secrets to bad actors. Even on a secure network, your employee is likely using business-critical applications in addition to those that are prone to breaches. These include email clients, social media accounts, and more.

According to Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, organizations have experienced a 72% increase in the average cost of cybercrime over the last 5 years. That’s about 13 million dollars!

The cost of purchasing laptops and phones for employees could actually save you precious time and money. At minimum, here are the policies all insurance companies should implement when managing employee devices:

Mandating the use of a VPN (virtual private network)
Discouraging the use of work accounts for social media and personal purchases
Implementing a password manager and 2-Factor Authentication
Using only approved communication channels to interface with clients

Need an IT Nerd for Your Insurance Company?

Here at Nerd Crossing, we’ve helped insurance companies at all scales implement safer offices for remote, hybrid, and in-person collaboration. We believe that an adequately equipped and staffed IT support team will help you employees navigate these challenging times.