The Right Way to Shred

Even when organizations shred for the right reasons, some practices may promote the appearance of impropriety.

Thankfully, there are ways to minimize that risk.

• Shred on a regular schedule. Sporadic shredding can be misconstrued as suspicious.
• Use your shredding contractor for all of your shredding. If some documents go to your shredding contractor on a regular basis, and others are shredded outside of that process, it may draw attention to that activity.
• Treat all documents equally... shred everything. Isolating special records for destruction could lead to the conclusion that those documents were treated differently for the wrong reason. Never let some records go in the trash, while others are shredded.
• Have a destruction policy. If it explains the what, why, when, and how of your destruction practices, a stated policy will minimize any hint of impropriety.