Working from Home in the Farming Industry
In March 2020, Farm and General Insurance staff slipped seamlessly into working from home full time and never missed a beat. This is because we operate out of our head office in Hampshire, with several established farm consultants already familiar with remote working.
We have invested heavily over the past ten years to successfully enable our staff to work from home, providing them with technology such as VOIP phones and excellent cloud computing systems. Whereas many of our competitors have struggled, this investment put us in a much stronger position to communicate with our farms throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adapting to Change
It has been interesting to see how farms and rural businesses have adapted over the past year. Of course, you cannot milk cows, lamb ewes or load a grain lorry from home. However, many managers and farm secretaries have managed to operate well from home, cutting expenses and travel time in the process. After all, farming involves a large volume of paperwork. As lockdown restrictions begin to ease, we can start being more flexible in our decisions about where we want to work from. Soon our own team will be working part in the office and part from home, hopefully getting the best of both worlds.
The Future of the Workplace
Farm and General Insurance are great believers in team spirit; working together is something by nature we all need, both on our farms and in our offices. However, perhaps we will find that the pandemic has irreversibly changed our work patterns. If this is the case, let us hope our environment and country lanes benefit from reduced travel to and from the workplace.
Our Cyber Liability Insurance Policy
Cyber-attacks have increased over lockdown. Indeed, ransom attacks (where criminals manage to ‘lock’ your system) in particular have become more commonplace, something that is having a significant effect on farmers and their businesses.
Farm and General Insurance are a leading provider of insurance for farms. Our ‘cyber liability’ insurance policy covers the cost of losses from cyber-attacks, including the disruption caused to your farming business and the cost of putting it all back together. Furthermore, not only does this policy cover your office computers and the documents stored on them, but also any other digital equipment linked to the internet, such as robotic parlour grain and livestock management systems. For more information about Farm and General’s cyber liability insurance policy, contact us today.
