One of the most important things you can do as a business is to keep your company, employee, and client information secure. Sometimes, though, it's hard to know what documents you need to destroy, and which you can merely put in the recycling bin. Though this list may seem at first glance to be little bit "over the top," you truly cannot be too careful these days. Not only is identity theft running rampant, but according to some new laws that are on the books, your company could be held liable, or even incur hefty federal fines if it can be proven that a victim of identity theft was compromised by sensitive information that your company mishandled or did not properly destroy.
Another reason to be diligent in destroying your sensitive documents is to protect your competitive edge. If, for instance, something as simple as even a patent application fell into unscrupulous hands, it could cost your company untold amounts of money. So in order to keep your company secrets as well as your customer and employee information secure, shredding is recommended. Here, then, is a list of documents that your business handles every day that should be shredded on site, every day, given of course, that they are no longer needed. Check out the list, print it out and give it to your employees or post it next to your shredder so that you are always thinking about the types of items that need to be shredded.
1. General
Address and phone numbers
Any items marked confidential
Company by-laws
Certificates
Expired maintenance records
Inventory supply and services
Passwords
Policies
Signatures
Social security numbers
2. Customers
Account Numbers
Credit history reports
Data
Lists
Purchase orders
Invoices
Sales Orders
3. Employee
Benefits package
Discharge papers
Employment Information
Health Documents (medical and dental)
Organizational chart
Promotion and merit raise documents
Records or contracts
Resumes
401K info that is no longer needed
4. Finance
Account Statements
Bank statements
Bills unless for tax purposes
Budgets
Canceled checks and debit receipts after reconciled exept for tax purposes or warranties
Cellular phone statements
Corporate credit card statements
Estimates
Expense statements
Financial records
Invoices
Leases and or rental contracts
Loan contracts
Sales forecasts
5. Legal
Claims
Confidentiality agreements
Expired Contracts with customers and vendors
Expired service agreements
Incorporation documents
Licensing agreements
Non-filed patented and trademark documents
Patent and trademark search request forms
Patent disputes
Patent studies
Settlements
Severance Agreements.
Software agreements
Trade secrets
Trademark Oppositions
Unsolicited disclosure
Product information
Design documentation
Engineering specifications
Expired Warranties
Liability documentation
Patents
Plans
Prototype documentation
Research
Testing documentation
6. Strategic
Competitive documentation
Marketing plans and objectives
Operating expenses
Pricing information
Pricing structure
Sales goals
Strategic plans
7. Travel
Expired passports and work visas
Luggage tags
Telephone bills
Travel itineraries
Used airline tickets
This is just a brief overview of some of the different types of documents that your organization should be shredding. In truth, the list could go on and on. However, this is a starting place and it should help you to get thinking about shredding in a whole new way. Take the list, print it out. Post it by your shredder. Do whatever you need to do to make sure that you and your employees protect your company, your clients and your employees.
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