Vital Tips For Document Management, Clutter Control, File Organizing & Business Shredding
It is essential to have proper techniques for file organization, document management and clutter control if you want your office operations to run smoothly, to eliminate the chances of chaos, and save yourself legal trouble. If you are Human Resource professional, administrative professional or office manager, here are some of the things you need to focus your attention on:
File Organizing Tip: File Papers Instantly
Imagine your superior walks up to you and ask for a certain report. Will you be able to produce it immediately while he or she is standing there, or will your tell him or her you will bring it later.
If you do not have an effective filing system that enables easy retrieval, valuable time will be wasted hunting for tat specific document, and you will fail to make a good impression to your superior. An easy system you can implement for an efficient filing system is to have broad headings for all the files. It will also help if you file any document you come across instantly.
Clutter Control Tips: Organize, Assign & Move Files
- Arrange the files around retrieval: Your main goal when organizing files should be easy retrieval. Not being able to locate a certain file is as good as not having it. Hence, aim to organize and arrange the files around easy retrieval.
- Assign expiry dates to the files: Holding on to every little piece of paper forever will certainly make the cabinet sellers rich but you will spend huge amounts of time trying to find something. You do not have to keep every piece of file forever. Have expiry dates for your documents and when their time is up toss them out. This is when a credible shredding service comes in handy. Some documents especially those of financial and legal nature may need to be kept for as long as the company exists.
- Move your files: Never allow any paper to pile up on your desk. Try to move your paper every week. Make it a habit to through them a few times each week. Begin at the bottom of the pile, and aim to do something with each piece. When you have no idea of what to do with some pieces, place them in a holding file and sort them out later but make sure you assign a date to it.
Record Retention And Business Shredding Guidelines
The Federal Trade Commission rule regarding records disposal requires every employer to a reasonable degree destroy all paper and electronic documents that contain identifiable data of employees and job applicants, such as credit history and social security numbers. Even though the rule does not stipulate any disposal method, for paper records, it suggests shredding.
If you fail to destroy these papers after the required retention period has passed, you may be liable to heavy penalties. Before you even create an effective records management system, you should know what you have and how long you must keep it both legally, and for the purpose of your business.