| We are coming up to the end of the year and the | | | | inopportune times. Disgruntled employees often times |
| time when many of us look to clean out the clutter in | | | | save these records only to produce them for the |
| the office. It may be just to fill the time during the slow | | | | plaintiff in a lawsuit. |
| holiday week but it can also be an opportunity to | | | | A good records retention policy should cover |
| practice good document retention practices. | | | | secondary records and provide for reasonable life |
| Most offices have a retention policy for official | | | | spans. Employees should be encouraged to regularly |
| company records, i.e. tax returns, employee files and | | | | shred documents past their usefulness. |
| bank statements. These documents are carefully filed | | | | As your employees clean out their desks this month |
| and stored neatly in boxes in a storage area or at an | | | | why not bring in a shredding service and hold a paper |
| offsite storage facility. Each box is labeled with the | | | | shredding day? Provide everyone with the company's |
| owner and the year of the document. Every year a | | | | retention guidelines and encourage them to clean out |
| shredding service comes in and shreds the outdated | | | | their desks and file cabinets. Have shredding bins |
| records. | | | | located around the office so everything ends up in the |
| This is a great system for the official company | | | | shredder and not in the trash. Not only do you increase |
| documents but what about the secondary records in | | | | security but the paper is recycled. |
| the office? Secondary records are everything that | | | | You might also consider allowing each employee to |
| employees keep stashed away in their desks and in | | | | bring in a box of shredding from his or her home. Let |
| filling cabinets around the office. They can be | | | | everyone know you would like them to bring in any |
| customer lists, memos, printouts or even copies of | | | | paperwork they have taken home but they are |
| official company records. It is these records that make | | | | welcome to fill up the box with any other shredding |
| up the bulk of the documents an office produces. | | | | they need done. This not only helps protect your |
| Don't think you need to worry about these old meeting | | | | employees from identity theft but also helps you to |
| minutes and customer lists? Don't forget that if you | | | | better control your company's information. |
| allow your employees to treat this information as trash | | | | Employees will appreciate a break from slow home |
| you have no legal recourse under Corporate | | | | shredders and it is an inexpensive perk. The |
| Espionage Act if it is given or sold to your competitors. | | | | incremental cost to have an additional box shredded is |
| It is also these documents that show up at the most | | | | low. |
