Document Shredding: When Employees Are the Problem

Document Shredding: When Employees Are the Problem

In-house paper shredders may seem like a solid investment for offices that generate a decent amount of paper that needs regular destruction, but what businesses fail to realize is that office shredders come with a unique set of challenges that can pose as a major detriment on many levels. Offices may invest in a permanent shredder thinking that it is a financially sound asset, however the idea that it’s a cost-saving measure is usually one that is misguided.

For one, any type of office equipment is going to require regular maintenance. If an in-house office shredder is use on the regular, it is subjected to over-exertion, which translates into costly repairs.

The biggest obstacle, and probably the most important when it comes to in-house shredding is one that is often overlooked: potential security breaches due to the mishandling of sensitive documentation. In this situation, employees who are not trained to properly handle documents that need destruction almost always have catastrophic outcomes in the form of identity theft or, worse, the leaking of sensitive information. When your employees do the shredding, you will likely have entry-level employees perform the task, in which case you may expose sensitive personnel records and competitive information to individuals that are not meant to see it.

While we all like to believe that we live in a world where we can 100% trust our employees, the fact of the matter is employees can also fail to shred intentionally, perhaps to take company secrets elsewhere, or to protect information about their own jobs.

This is certainly not the statistical norm, but businesses need to protect their assets as well as their information and treat it as a precious commodity. Why run the security risk when the aforementioned is completely avoidable?

Outsourcing to companies like LegalShred means document destruction happens very quickly with little, if any handling by the shredding service’s screened professionals. Not only are we members of Naid (National Association of Information Destruction), we have Liability insurance of 1,000,000/3,000,000 and Errors & Ommissions.

We offer offsite and onsite destruction, and with that kind of convenience comes compliance and peace of mind.

Legal Shred
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