Many businesses and their employees are still working remotely, but as the country looks forward to a return to offices, it’s important to begin planning for the transition. Certainly, each company’s policies will be unique to that particular business, but there are plenty of challenges that will need to be addressed. One such example is the question of what to do when employees begin migrating their at-home work documents back into the office.
These items may be redundant or unnecessary and may do little more than clutter up space. Calling in a professional document destruction service can not only help get the office cleaned up and ready to go more quickly, but it can also help improve day-to-day operations as well.
What a Document Destruction Service Does
For those who might be unfamiliar with the role of a document destruction service, here’s a quick overview of what they do. When documents containing personally identifiable information (PII) or other confidential information are no longer required, they usually can’t be thrown out into the trash along with regular garbage. In certain industries, like healthcare and financial services, there are federal and state legislative laws regarding the disposal of this information.
A document destruction service, also frequently called a paper shredding service, is available to both private residences and established businesses for on-call and scheduled shredding of these items. These services shred papers to a much tinier shred size than commercially available shredding machines can, which makes the pages much harder (if not impossible) to reassemble. Additionally, these companies will remove the shredded particles for recycling, maintaining control of the pieces for the duration of the process, and ensuring that no single scrap of paper is lost or compromised.
One-Time or Regular Shredding Service?
Accumulated Documents: One-Time
When employees return to the office, they’ll likely be bringing along an accumulation of papers and documents that were in use while working from home. If a company is looking to safely discard this accumulation, a one-time shredding appointment is a great way to safely discard the documents without committing to extended service visits.
A one-time appointment is what it sounds like: the shredding service will arrive, shred the items turned over to them, and depart. Easy-peasy. Now, the real power of a one-time shredding appointment lies in exactly how much paper they’re able to process in a single visit. A mobile shredding truck can shred as much as 5,000 pounds of paper in an hour. That’s about 8,333 sheets of paper per minute. When most office shredders can only handle a page or two at a time, this means that what might normally take you and your employees the better part of a week can be accomplished in about a half-hour.
All your employees would need to do is gather the materials that need to be shredded. On the designated shredding day, the shredding service technician will collect the documents, shred them immediately on-site, and remove the shredded particles for recycling. And that’s that! Your employees can return to work as usual, and you can relax knowing that the disposal of the documents was done in full compliance with state and federal regulations.
Regular Document Production in the Office
However, let’s say that producing lots of documents is part of daily life at your company. One visit just might not be enough to cut it. In that case, arranging a scheduled shredding service to visit on a regular basis is an easy way to make sure that all documents are properly destroyed (and don’t pile up in the storage room). The principle is the same: the shredding service arrives and shreds your documents. The difference is that the service will arrive according to whatever schedule you request (weekly, bi-weekly, quarterly, etc.), and most will provide you with locking storage containers for daily use around the office.
What Should We Be Shredding?
Depending on the industry you work in and the materials your employees need to work, you might be tasked with sorting through many different types of documents. A good rule of thumb to follow is that if a document contains a single instance of PII (information that could be used to identify a specific individual) or confidential information, it should go in the shredding pile. This extends to addresses, names, account numbers, and phone numbers. You’ll usually find these on:
- Pay stubs
- Client records
- Conference notes
- Invoices
- Company memos
A-1 Arizona: Professional & Convenient
Moving back into an office for regular work will be a welcome change, but it’s also important to take the time to make sure it’s done correctly. Once you assess the needs of your employees and the company, an on-site paper shredding service can be a big help towards more efficient operations. Be warned, though – once you find out how much easier and stress-free work can be with the help of a paper shredding service, you won’t ever want to go without it.
For more information on our document destruction services, including on-site paper shredding, give us a call at (602) 759-5103. You can also send us a message online.
