Insurance for Office Professionals

What it covers

An office package bundles the coverages most office-based firms need into one policy. The exact wording varies by insurer, but a typical package includes:

• Contents and equipment: computers, phones, furniture, files and supplies, usually on a replacement cost basis.
• Leasehold improvements: walls, flooring, lighting and fixtures you paid for in a rented space.
• General liability: claims that your office or your operations injured someone or damaged their property, such as a visitor who trips over a cord.
• Business interruption: income you lose and expenses you still have to pay if a fire, flood or other insured loss shuts the office down.
• Valuable papers and records: the cost of recreating client files and records after a loss.
• Crime: employee theft, forgery or theft of money and securities, usually at modest limits.
• Extensions: many packages add small amounts of coverage for things like equipment off premises, accounts receivable records, or a basic data breach extension.

For most office firms, the package sits alongside a separate professional liability (E&O) policy, which covers claims about the quality of your work.

What it doesn’t cover, and common gaps

• Professional mistakes. A client claiming your advice cost them money is an E&O claim, not an office package claim.
• Real cyber exposure. Small cyber extensions in an office package rarely cover a serious breach or a ransomware attack.
• Laptops on the move. Equipment off premises may be limited. If your team works from home, client sites or coffee shops, check it.
• Business interruption that’s too small. Many firms set the limit years ago and never revisited it. If your office burned down, how long would it take to get running again?
• Sewer backup and flood. Often limited or optional, especially for ground-floor and basement offices.
• Fraud by email. Fake invoices and changed banking details are a common loss for accounting and finance offices, and are often not covered by a standard crime extension.

Where your business and family policies overlap

Many office professionals work partly or entirely from home, which is where the policies blur.

• The home office. Say you’re an accountant with a small office downtown, and you also keep a desk, a laptop and client files at home for tax season. The office package may limit coverage away from the office; the home policy may limit business property. Between them, the home office can end up underinsured.
• Clients at the house. If clients come to your home to drop off documents or sign returns, a slip on your front steps may not be covered by your home policy, because it’s a business visit.
• Family devices and client files. If client files sit on a family computer, or family members use the same Wi-Fi and devices, it affects both your cyber exposure and what your policies will respond to.
• A building owned through a holdco. Some professionals own their office condo or building through a holding company. The holdco should insure the building and its rental income; the practice insures its contents, improvements and liability.
• Umbrella limits. A personal umbrella usually excludes business activity, including professional services. If you want higher limits for the practice, that’s a separate decision.

Steve asks where the work actually happens, home, office or both, and who owns the space, then checks the office package, home policy and any holdco policy together.

How Steve works on this

Steve reviews your lease, your space and how your team works before recommending anything. He walks you through the package, explains which limits are small and which extensions matter for your kind of practice, gives you options for the gaps, and tells you what he’d do. Where E&O or cyber are needed, he looks at the whole set together so there’s no overlap or hole between them. At renewal, he calls to check on new staff, a move, new equipment or a change in how much work is done from home.

If you’d like a second set of eyes on your office coverage, book a review.