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How to Best Prepare Your Business for the Looming Holidays
For many business owners heading away to a holiday destination for a well-earned bit of rest and relaxation is one of the top highlights of the busy working year.
When your business premises are left empty over the holiday period however, the opportunity and likelihood for vandalism, theft, or damage caused by the weather to occur can increase.
Yet, although these risks may seem unavoidable, there are some key measures business owners can take to mitigate this risk and safeguard their business and their business premises over the holiday period.
First: Protect against vandals and thieves.
There will always be an increase in cases of vandalism and theft when people aren’t attending to their businesses over the holiday break, it’s just an unfortunate matter of fact.
Especially those businesses who ramp over the holiday period like retailers and supermarkets can see increases in theft, because they have more stock sitting around to meet the seasonal surge in consumer demand.
The best thing you can do is to take time to assess and evaluate the security measures that you have in place, as this can be an effective deterrent to people looking to vandalise or steal from your premises.
Leaving the outside of your premises tidy, hiding away anything valuable, and making it look like your premises are regularly used will also be effective.
Consider installing timers and motion sensitive lights as lighting can be a key deterrent for both inside and outside your premises.
Vandals and thieves are looking to deface and steal what they can, at business premises cash is typically targeted, as well as stock, so make sure excess cash isn’t left around and consider how to safely store the surplus stock.
Second: Protect against weather related damage.
As is becoming custom, the holiday season often brings with it some unpredictable, and at times unbearable, weather changes. At the far end of the scale, this can include violent storms, high winds, droughts, and sustained high temperatures. These can all have a negative effect, particularly if your business premises are left completely empty during the holiday period.
Water related damage can result in some of the highest amount of insurance claims over the holiday period, as a small leak that would usually be spotted and fixed can spread into surface flooding when gone unnoticed and cause significant interior damage to any business premises.
Water can also enter through the roof due to unforeseen weather severity. So be careful to check roof fixings and seals.
If you’re a business that is retaining an increased amount of stock, you might have to consider making additional arrangements for disaster preparedness or perhaps even reconsider and fully replan those arrangements.
Ensuring that your premises receive regular maintenance and following up on reports of specific issues will mean that your risk of such issues occurring decreases, this is especially important with the holiday season looming.
Third: Check your insurance!
Coming into the holiday period, it is always important to make sure that your insurance cover is sufficient for the increased volume of stock levels and the increased value of your goods that goes along with it.
It is also a good time of year to take a look over your Business Interruption cover as well. Instead of simply planning for business as usual, it is best to think about how your business would survive if something happened that made trade impossible, and to consider what you would need for such an event.
Making sure you have a watertight business continuity plan, and that you have surplus stock and turnover are some key steps to ensuring business longevity.
Although the holiday period is a time of respite, it is good practice to think about the security measures in place and the structural integrity of your business premises and to ensure that you have measures in place should business in the new year not run to schedule.
Then you can enjoy that hard-earned poolside beer with total peace of mind!