Every month, Schwartz Insurance Group selects a peer-nominated associate to receive a Core Value Award. The winner is chosen because they "lived" one of our agency's core values - typically an event or accomplishment above and beyond the call of duty in serving our customers. This month, Mike Morgan has "lived" our core value of "Consider it Done."

If you’re the owner of a small business, have you thought about your insurance options? Have you spoken with your agent and asked for quotes for different coverage plans? If not, take a quick look at the following types of policies recommended for many small business owners.

What would happen if your business suffered a fire or flood, or if a defective product produced by your company generated bad publicity? If you haven’t already, right now is definitely the time for your organization to create a crisis communication plan. You need to have a program in place to address the concerns of your employees, customers, your community and the media.    

No employer wants to believe that they’ve hired workers who are dishonest. But oftentimes employees will take advantage of that trust and betray the company that employed them by stealing funds, merchandise, securities, etc.  

You’ve seen them many times before – email messages that look exactly like they came from a colleague or someone you trust. Sometimes they may include a link that asks you to log in with a company name and password. These emails may appear harmless, but they can lead to cyber-security breaches.

No one can deny the power and influence that the Internet can have on a business, whether it exists physically or virtually. However, companies that are as much online (data and email) as offline (papers and files) face a higher risk when it comes to the dangers involving unregulated Internet real estate. 

If you’re the owner of a small business, have you thought about your insurance options? Have you spoken with your agent and asked for quotes for different coverage plans? If not, take a quick look at the following types of policies recommended for many small business owners.

As stated in an Employee Benefit News article (“10 Tips to Avoid Cyber Attacks”), industry research by Lawley shows that the vast majority of small businesses in the U.S. lack a formal Internet security policy for employees, and only about half of them have basic cyber security measures in place.

No one wants to be thought of as a “Scrooge,” so even if you, as an employer, have had a bad experience in the past, it is doubtful you would ever decide to ban the holiday office party. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be prepared this time to deal with an out of control employee.  

Social Security numbers (or SSNs) used to be tied just to your Social Security benefits. Now, that number is tied to just about everything used to identify you. In this age of identity theft, your Social Security number is one of the most valuable – if not the most valuable – identifiers you have.