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Everything You Need to Know About Shredding Your Office Documents


— July 1, 2022

Everyone should shred documents at least every few months.


Almost every business prefers to buy internal shredders to destroy documents internally. However, it can lead to inconsistent destruction and waste a big chunk of your employees’ time. Additionally, you might not know if your staff is adequately trained in what to do with certain documents or how to put the shredder on standby when they leave work.

The best way to complete your shredding requirement is by using shredding partners. While it may not seem cost-effective, there are lots of benefits to it. The solution many businesses opt for is by using one of many document destruction companies across the country. These companies will provide you with a quote, and you tell them what volume you want them to take away on each visit.

  • How Secure Shredding of Documents Work?

By choosing to have your documents shredded remotely, you can enjoy the ease of no-hassle shredding before they reach their final resting place.

A professional shredder will use a crosscut paper shredder rather than a strip-cut one for sensitive personal information or business documents. Strip cutting is considered one of the least secure methods among different shredding processes. Therefore, it’s best to take the help of professional shredder services to ensure everything is accounted for and there are no loose ends in your shredding process.

  • Why Avoid Internal Shredding of Confidential Documents?

If your business has a standard requirement for destroying confidential documents, you need a proper document destruction business plan. Internal shredding of documents cannot be the best way around as it is neither secure nor efficient. In the long run, it will cost your business a lot of harm. There are several reasons why internal shredding is inefficient:

  1. Limited Use & Functionality

Internal shredding is not very useful for the destruction of confidential documents. It works best when you have to destroy old records and most of the time. You will have to leave the sheets in stacks. A better solution would be hiring a professional document destruction company in London. They will provide secure destruction of every sheet, including paper clips and staples.

  1. Diminishes Productivity of Your Business

    Image via Libreshot. Public domain.

Another disadvantage is the loss of productivity in the office. When many sheets are sent away to be shredded, most employees will begin to take their time when shredding their documents. This will reduce productivity and affect your employee’s mood if they’re working on shredding documents. Even though it is easy to send away for shredding, there are often a lot of inconveniences involved in this process.

  1. Security of Confidential Files

Most of the time, you will only have to walk up to a bin and look through the documents. However, this is not very secure as it can make personal information easy to track down, significantly affecting your business’s reputation.

Therefore, you need a company that can shred documents safely and effectively to ensure a friendly environment at your workplace or office, where confidential information would be protected from a breach as much as possible.

Three Points to Remember While Shredding Confidential Documents

Some of the essential points that must be remembered by everyone who is shredding documents for the first time are:

  • Minimize the Shredding Volume

To make things easy, you should not send away a large volume of paper. You can always contact your document shredding company and ask for a quote for volume-based services. You can also go ahead if they can give you a better selection. However, be ready to pay more if you have too many documents to destroy in one go. Using inefficient systems will only make matters worse rather than better and will only lead your business to loss of business and money.

  • Dispose of the Waste Properly

If you’re going to be getting rid of a lot of papers, then you had better make sure that they are disposed of appropriately. It would help if you aimed to avoid creating any waste. Instead, hire a professional document destruction company to get rid of documents that can no longer be used by your business or confidential information that you do not want leaking out to anybody. Not only will this create problems for the environment and with local authorities, but it also increases your costs.

  • Shred regularly

Everyone should shred documents at least every few months. Ensure you don’t send away too little or too much at a time. This will ensure that you are always ready in case of any emergency. It would help if you devised a monthly routine to stay on the right track. Before you go on to send the documents for shredding, do a final check to avoid losing any critical document pieces.

Final Words

You never know if your employee might happen to leave a stack of papers lying around or whether someone will walk in and take a look at the documents that could be used against your business. So, it is best to take the necessary steps to ensure that no one ever has access to this information.

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