The end of the year means many things. It is generally the end of the fiscal year for businesses, and requires some recordkeeping and document clean-up. Accounting departments gather together financial records, such as taxes. Human Resource departments gather together personnel records. Each group has specific regulations dictating what needs to be kept and what needs to be destroyed. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to know the next best move, and a new year is a great time to start fresh. How can you do that effectively? Choosing a qualified document management company is the first step in the right direction. 

5 Tips for Year-End Records Management and Shredding 

After enlisting the services of a records management company, gather your team together to make the process easier. You might even have a day dedicated to the tasks at hand, including company-provided lunch. You can all beat the overwhelm that can come with purging old records by utilizing these five tips:

1. Follow Your Retention Policy: Your company should have a written plan in place, and if it doesn’t, it’s time to make one. A policy tells employees how long records should be stored, how often to move these files and the process for purging them.
2. Know What Document Can be Disposed of and How: Anytime you handle sensitive or personal information, you should have policies in place. Regulations indicate how to handle destruction processes. Working with a NAID-certified company, you can rest assured your documents will be appropriately destroyed.
3. Enlist the Services of a Qualified Shredding Company: For added secure shredding, work with a shredding company that will set locked bins around your office for employees to place documents into. Make it practice to immediately put papers in need of shredding into the appropriate container.
4. Utilized Common Searches to Aid in Organizing: If you do not have an organized way to sort and purge your files, now is a great time to begin one. Do you use names? Do you use numbers? Whatever is the most common way to search records, use it. You will be glad you have a better way to find the files you need throughout the year.
5. Move Archived Records to a Secure Offsite Facility: You may find that keeping all your documents in your office gets quite crowded. It also puts private information at risk. Files can be misplaced, or visitors may have accidental access to things they shouldn’t. Offsite storage facilities with qualified and certified companies ensure a higher level of safety.

Make a Great Start to the New Year – Choose Crown Information Management

Start the year off right with adequately purged and securely stored records. The team at Crown Information Management stands ready to assist you with your shredding and storage needs. We are NAID certified, which means we have met the stringent qualifications required to attain certification. Contact us today for more information on how we can help your organization.

For secure, pest-free storage and easy and timely destruction of records, count on a SOC1 Level 2 Report,NAID AAA, and PCI Certified company. Call Crown Information Management at 800-979-9545 or contact us online to learn more about our document storage and shredding services.