What Is A Shred-all Policy And How Can It Benefit My Company?

The proper disposal of sensitive documents is a vital part of any document management plan. A business must know what to shred and when to shred it in order to protect its security and comply with federal regulations. A security or data breach is the last thing any business wants to be responsible for. The best choice is to implement a shred-all policy.

What is a shred-all policy?

This type of shredding policy is one that requires the proper destruction of all information that is no longer needed by the company. It lessens the effort required by employees to decide whether or not certain documents should be shredded. They are most common in businesses who work with private information daily such as financial offices, medical offices, and law offices.

Shred-all vs. selective shredding

So what’s the difference between a shred-all policy and a selective shredding policy? Here are some of the key differences.

A selective document shredding policy:

• Changes often, depending on the current regulations or supervisor opinions
• Has complicated guidelines that you must establish for your employees
• Leaves it up to employees to decide what goes into the shredder
• Usually implements the use of company shredders, which can be inefficient

A shred-all policy:

• Leaves no room for error by providing concrete guides and timelines
• Takes a large workload off your employees’ shoulders
• Frees up much-needed space for more important jobs by getting rid of documents that are not useful
• Can be taken care of by a mobile shredding company
• Gives your employees time to focus on other tasks over the destruction of documents

What are the benefits of a shred-all policy?

There are several benefits to implementing a shred-all policy. These include increased security and cost savings.

Increased security

Identity theft is a serious issue. Fewer papers that are tossed in the trash means less probability of theft. All expired documents, whether they are sensitive or not, get the same shredding. By eliminating the process of having your employees decide what gets destroyed, the risk of human error dwindles. Your business won’t have to worry about lawsuits or damage to its reputation due to a mistake.

Regulation compliance

There are several federal laws in place to ensure the safety of your private business and client information. Ditching selective shredding policies in favor of a shred-all policy will make it much easier to comply with these laws. As these regulations change, you won’t have to worry about making a new plan, just updating it when necessary. A shred-all policy will always be compliant.

Less effort and fewer costs

Selective shredding almost entirely relies on the skills of your employees. That means they’ll have to take time out of their work to sort through documents in order to find what needs to be shredded. By adopting a shred-all policy, documents get sorted better when they are being used and destroyed as soon as they expire. Your employees can stop focusing on waste paper and get back to doing what they were hired to do.

Environmentally friendly shredding

Shredding every document means there will be a lot of paper waste left over. However, shredding companies are more than prepared for that. No matter the size of the load, most shredding companies will recycle 100% of the waste that is generated. So, you can rest easy knowing that your private information is being destroyed in an environmentally safe way.

How to implement a shred-all policy

Implementing a shred-all policy is much easier than it sounds. It already does most of the work for you. All you need to do is follow these three easy steps.

1. Place several shredding bins that are easily accessible to your employees around the office. Make sure that the contact number of the shredding service is posted nearby, so employees know who to call if there is an issue with the bins.
2. Be certain that your employees understand the concept of “shred-all.” Remind them that they should never place a document that might contain sensitive information in a trash can. If they think the document could be even the slightest bit confidential, have them toss it in the bins. Only do this as long as the documents do not need to be kept for legal or tax purposes.
3. Set up guidelines on what can and cannot be put in the shredding bins. Reports and documents are fine, but CDs, batteries, and flash drives are not.

Hire a shredding service to help with your shred-all policy

Before you put your shred-all policy into motion, you need to find a reliable document destruction company that will help you. Most shredding companies offer scheduled pick-ups and will either shred your documents off-site or on-site with a mobile shredding truck.

UCI Document Destruction in Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas offers these services and more. From papers to computer hard drives, UCI can safely dispose of your business’ private information. Our staff goes through background checks and drug screening before ever touching your documents. Our top priority is the security of your information. Call us at (806) 372-7722 in Amarillo, (806) 722-0544 in Lubbock, or Contact Us by email to learn more about our Shredding Services.