Do I need home office insurance in Manitoba?

June 8, 2020 | Home & property

Do I need home office insurance? If you’ve been working from your home during the COVID-19 pandemic, this may be a question on your mind. And it’s a fair question to ask with the recent suggestion from Manitoba’s chief public health officer, to continue working from home for the time being.

Unfortunately, the question “Do I need home office insurance?”  has somewhat of a complicated answer. To put it simply, it depends. We know that’s not a great answer, but like with most insurance, there are different factors that go into what sort of coverage you get. Trust us, you don’t want a cookie-cutter approach to protecting your home and livelihood.

In normal times, what you do for work and what home insurance you currently have both can affect whether you need additional home office insurance coverage. Right now, though, some insurers are extending home coverage to include home offices. In the end, the simplest way to find out if you need to get home office insurance is to give your Brio branch a call and ask.

Find a location

Work from home tips from the Brio Insurance team

Here at Brio Insurance, most of the team has still been in the office so we can support you, our awesome clients, but our support services (IT, accounting, and marketing) have been working from home. Over the last two months, they have learned a lot about working from home full time and have a few tips to share.

  • Create a morning routine. A few of us like to get up and do something each day before working, rather than rolling out of bed and jumping into it. A morning shower, reading a chapter of a book, a bit of. yoga, or taking the dog for a walk are a few ideas of how to ease into the day and get ready for work time.
  • Create a comfortable and clean space. Creating your work zone can really help you feel that it’s time to work. Not all of us had offices setups at home (or we had to rearrange things with more than one person at home.) Creating a set workspace, with minimal distractions, helps us get to work.
  • Set boundaries with your co-habitants (if possible). This is easier if you don’t have kids at home or live in a one-bedroom apartment, but we find that setting some sort of boundaries for workspace or time, help us focus. If you do have kids at home, try to negotiate no-distraction work hours with your spouse (and make sure to take turns).
  • Make sure you take breaks! Taking a break can help you boost your productivity, which sounds backwards, but it does give your mind time to rest so it’s easier to focus. Some of our favourite break activities are working on a puzzle, prepping for dinner, watering plants, or taking the dog for yet another walk.
  • If your workplace allows it, try different work hours. Maybe you’re more into working at night once the kiddos are asleep or want to start extra early or you want to work a bit on Sunday morning. Working from home can give you the freedom to flex your schedule and work when you’re ready (which we love!)
  • Stay connected to peers and co-workers. Working remotely can feel isolating. Keeping connected to our teams, helps us stay engaged with what we are doing and also helps to boost our spirits. A quick zoom call or slack chat makes a huge difference
  • Have an end of day routine. Just like the morning routine helps you get into the workday, a daily end of day task can help you end the day and put away the work. Some of us like to end the day by checking emails or writing out a plan for the next day.

We hope our tips are helpful to you, but in the end, do what works best for you.

Back