Going Remote: Are Company Laptops Covered at Employees’ Homes?
By Atlas Risk Partners ·
Do not assume company laptops remain covered simply because the business owns them. Coverage depends on the policy’s covered property, locations, causes of loss and endorsements. Before closing an office, ask which wording addresses equipment kept at employee homes and what limits, deductibles and exclusions apply. The practical question is whether the policy fits ongoing home use—not merely whether it mentions computers.
Review equipment coverage before removing the office location
Chubb identifies a transition to a fully remote workforce, equipment purchases and location changes as developments that may call for different insurance or higher limits. Treat the office closure as a coverage review point, not simply an address change.
For a SaaS or AI company, separate the premises decision from the equipment decision. Prepare a before-and-after summary showing what the company will still own, where employees will use it and where spare devices will be stored. Ask the broker to review that arrangement before removing a location or canceling an existing policy.
Sources: Chubb: Protect your company with an annual business insurance review
Identify the wording that applies at employee homes
The California Department of Insurance’s commercial insurance guide explains that the insuring agreement generally identifies covered property, locations and causes of loss. Use those provisions, together with endorsements, as the starting point—not a proposal’s shorthand description of equipment coverage.
Travelers describes inland marine insurance as coverage for movable or transportable property and includes computers and electronics among its examples. That identifies another coverage category to discuss if the existing property wording does not fit; it does not establish coverage for a particular employee’s home or mean every remote company needs a separate policy.
- Ongoing use: Does the wording address equipment kept at employees’ homes throughout the year, rather than only temporarily away from an office?
- Listing requirements: Must individual devices, employee-home locations or spare-equipment storage locations appear on a schedule?
- Movement: What applies while a laptop is shipped to a new hire, returned after offboarding or carried between locations?
