an empty office with desks and computers

As businesses slowly explore reopening in the future, there are plenty of things to consider. Many are opening with reduced staff, or rotating staff in and out to maintain a safe environment. It may take a while to figure out exactly what new daily operations will look like, but there is one question that businesses will have to consider: how do we safely integrate or discard the documents employees produced while working from home? 

Remote work creates the challenge of continuing to produce as usual while still maintaining appropriate levels of security in an unknown environment. Returning to the office creates the opportunity to establish a fresh protocol for dealing with extra documents. As you consider the methods that might be best suited to your company, keep mobile shredding as an option. Not only does it offer a quick and cost-effective way to discard accumulated documents, but it can also help make daily life in your workplace easier.

What to Do With Documents From Home Offices

While employees are working remotely, they’ll likely still be producing and using documents with confidential or personally identifiable information (PII) printed on them. These documents are essential for the work they do, but when it’s time to return to the office, they likely won’t be necessary to keep around. Employees might have had copies of documents to reference at home, but in the office, they may not be needed. 

Employees may also return to the office and discover that the records they used to use on a daily basis are now outdated. New records will likely have to be generated or compiled, creating a pile of records that need to be discarded. 

What Should You Throw Out?

Anything with information that could be used to identify a specific person or company will need to be securely discarded. This can include:

Before you throw something out, assess whether or not you’ll need to retain the information for future use. If so, you’ll want to create a digital copy for easy reference. Once you have the information in question safely recorded, you can proceed to discard the original document.

How Mobile Shredding Services Can Help

With the task of reopening, there will already be plenty of tasks to keep you busy. Properly shredding papers, especially if you work in an industry regulated by privacy laws, like healthcare or finance. These industries require that private information be processed in a particular way to ensure the protection of clients and customers.

A professional shredding service takes care of everything involved with proper document destruction, absolving you of the time and resources required to perform the same service in-house. All your employees need to do is gather the items for shredding (rubber bands and staples can even be left in place). If you only require one-time paper shredding, the shredding service will arrive and shred your materials during a single appointment.

If your company regularly produces paper documents, then a scheduled document shredding arrangement would likely be more beneficial to your daily operations. The shredding company will provide you with locking shredding containers, which can be placed around your workspace, giving employees a consistent place to discard confidential documents. The shredding company will then arrive on a schedule you determine to empty the containers, shred the contents on-site, and return the consoles for continued use.

Document Shredding Services in Louisiana

Secure Shredding and Recycling has received AAA Certification from the National Association for Information Destruction, which means that every aspect of our shredding process has met or exceeded the national standards for document destruction. We provide on-demand mobile shredding services to homes and businesses across Louisiana. If you think your business could benefit from the time and money savings provided through a scheduled shredding service, just let us know – our staff is ready to help.

For more information on our scheduled and one-time paper shredding services, give us a call at (225) 751-8535. Alternatively, you can always send us a message online or request a free quote.

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