Personnel file purge?

Employees come and go from businesses on a regular basis. As employees leave work spaces are cleaned, files are thrown away and computer hard drives are wiped clean. At many businesses, purging files is part of the standard business practice. But developing a policy specifically addressing the retention of personnel files is also needed to protect your business:

• Emails:  In most cases, email messages are now treated just like any other record, so retaining emails is important.

•  Hard drives and shared drives:  Be sure to go through hard drives before wiping the computer clean. Also, check any shared drives as there may be different files that weren’t on the employees’ hard drive.

•  Content and document management systems:  If your company has a records storage system that manages and retains records through a secure website, you’ll want to review the files stored here.

•  Hard copy files:  Review hard copy records that the employee may have had including blueprints, maps, magnetic media and mail.

•  Backups:  Chances are there will be backup files so be sure whatever you decide to keep, toss or delete, the same is done for the backup.

•  Document destruction:  After you determine which records to destroy, shred all of them in a safe and secure manner; don’t just toss in the garbage.

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