Businesses tend to hire student interns during the summer when school isn’t in session. This gives the students a chance to gain real world experience without having to worry about balancing schoolwork and course lectures. Other seasonal employees, like those who work for department stores, landscaping companies, and additional businesses that are undergoing a busy season, find themselves with plenty of tasks to do this time of year.
While it’s obvious that these summer and seasonal workers play a significant role in your business, are they properly insured? Do you need additional policies to protect your business? Let’s find out.
Benefits for Seasonal Hires
Generally, seasonal hires and interns do not receive benefits because they are only working for a company for a brief time. However, if you did want to offer them options like health or dental insurance, you certainly can. It all comes down to the business’ preferences. There may be short-term options that could work. It’s important to speak to your insurance agent if this is the case.
General Liability
No matter what your company does, you need to have general liability insurance. These policies cover the unexpected things that happen, like an intern slipping in your lobby on their first day of work. While that would also fall under workers’ compensation (check out the next paragraph for more on that one), you never know, so it’s good to be prepared and have adequate general liability insurance in place.
Workers’ Compensation
Speaking of important insurance policies, you need to ensure that your company’s workers’ compensation insurance is enough to cover your temporary employees as well. They may only be employed for several months, but if they get injured on the job, your business may be found liable for their medical bills and lost wages. Your workers’ compensation insurance will cover these unexpected expenses.
Company Car Insurance
Depending on the type of job, those summer interns and seasonal hires might need to drive a company car to meet with clients, accompany mentors on sales calls, and more. These employees need to be on the company’s commercial auto insurance policies so that everyone has proper coverage in case of an accident. The worker’s personal car insurance won’t cover accidents that happen while driving a company car, so they need to be added to your current policy.
Professional Liability Insurance
Depending on what you have your summer workers and interns do, having professional liability insurance coverage on them is a good option. If they work on projects for clients or interact with them in any way, there are many possible things that could go wrong, like a typo on a sign that has already been proofed, approved, and printed. Your professional liability insurance can help in these types of situations.
Do You Need Insurance Coverage for Your Seasonal Employees and Summer Interns?
If you need to change or make additions to your business’ insurance policies in order to accommodate seasonal employees and summer interns, reach out to Spivey Insurance. Our knowledgeable and friendly insurance agents can answer any questions you may have and help you select the right policies to protect your business all year round.
