Nearly two thirds of UK SMEs are concerned to some extent about their staff contracting coronavirus as the pandemic continues to disrupt businesses across the country. This looks likely to prolong the increasing trend of working from home and present new challenges for insurers.

GlobalData’s 2020 UK SME Insurance Survey shows that 62.8% of SME employers in the UK are slightly, very, or extremely concerned about this. The split by size shows that larger SMEs are somewhat more likely to be extremely concerned or very concerned about their employees contracting the virus. This is largely because they have more staff to look after, even though one staff member contracting the virus could be more damaging to a company with fewer employees.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

coronavirus smes

The survey also showed that 16% of SMEs had reported significantly increased levels of working from home, reducing the risk of employees getting the virus. This high level of concern is therefore likely to drive continued working from home for the foreseeable future. This could see businesses across the country move out of cities, or at least reduce their office footprint, which would be a huge blow to commercial property insurers. With offices being swapped for homes more regularly, the opportunity may switch to home insurers, who could upsell cover for equipment such as laptops.

Only a very small percentage of SMEs expressed no concern at all, which suggests that this new way of working will continue for the majority of SME employees until the spread of coronavirus is curbed or a vaccine is found. This concern will lead to significant changes in how SMEs in the UK operate, and while commercial insurers are set to lose out, household insurers could capitalise.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.