Every business and company must keep documents tracking various data, such as financial records or employee data. However, every document has an expiration date. After that, it’s no longer necessary to store the information. At that point, you can shred the documents according to two policies: shred-all or selective shredding. To make that choice, you must know the difference between shred-all and selective shredding.
Shred-All Policies
Shred-all policies are the simplest policies to uphold and follow for your business. Simply put, these policies focus on shredding all documents the moment their expiration dates hit. You send them to the shredder as soon as you no longer need to legally carry them. However, this method requires a heavy-duty commercial paper shredder, as you need to get rid of a lot of paper at once.
Saving Space
This policy is very useful because it takes very little training to have employees check the dates of files and shred them if they’re past their dates. Additionally, it means you’re constantly cleaning out all the documents you don’t need, saving space and freeing it up for other documents.
Selective Shredding Policies
Selective shredding focuses on only shredding certain documentation. What each company shreds depends on the policies they create and enforce for their own data. This requires more organization, as someone needs to go through the data to determine if the company should shred it.
Keeping Sensitive Data
The main benefit of this system is keeping sensitive data or important information for longer than legally necessary. Some data is useful far after the date of expiration. It may be important for the company years later. Sorting though the data can help you preserve the things you may need in the future.
Which To Choose
It’s hard to say that one is better than the other, as they both come with benefits and issues. Larger companies will likely benefit from selective shredding, while small businesses can save workers and space by using shred-all policies. However, you’ll likely need to weigh the risks of keeping information around versus how useful it may be in the future for your field and company.
Learning the difference between shred-all policies and selective shredding can help your company. Choosing the right one can protect your data and make it easier for your employees in the long run. It all depends on what you need for your documents.
