Practical Advice for Human Resources Professionals on Destruction and Recycling

As a human resources, people lead or personnel manager, you will fully understand how data security is essential. With discretion and privacy vital when handling personal information, you will recognise the importance of properly destroying all of your confidential documents, including employee records, applicant records, and medical records.

The pressures on managers have grown since the pandemic disrupted working practices. With hybrid and remote working now playing a growing part of UK business life, a 2022 survey of more than 6,000 individual contributors and managers claimed that managers are twice as likely to report an increase in responsibilities versus individual contributors compared to before the pandemic.

Against the backdrop of this increase in workload we recommend you use services designed to help you protect your employees’ data. As a secure and confidential paper shredding partner we can offer services specifically designed for human resources and personnel departments.

Working with a range of HR and people professionals, ShredPro help by specialising in the destruction and recycling of employee documents, contracts, financial reports and accounts, payroll and HR records, supplier contracts, client contracts, internal audits, staff rotas, contact information and much more – the list is nearly endless.

With more sensitive information being stored than ever, it is essential to ensure that the information kept is properly disposed of when it’s no longer needed to comply with relevant regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

With more employees aware of their rights, the risks are high for companies which cannot maintain compliance and face the consequences. For the largest companies there have been eye watering penalties. Internet giant Meta’s EU base in Ireland was fined €1.2bn by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for breaching the flagship data protection law.

Ensuring your HR department carries out good practice around document destruction and recycling will help prevent you falling foul of the regulations.

How we help

ShredPro is a professional shredding company delivering secure, efficient and cost-effective shredding and recycling services for a range of customers.

Whether you are a human resources director or manager, a recruiter, an employee relations specialist, a performance management expert or a training and development lead, we ensure you meet legal requirements on the collection, storing and certified destruction of confidential information.

Working to the highest accredited levels, we ensure customers receive maximum protection of their confidential information while helping the planet, recycling your shredding to reduce the demand for natural resources.

Legal Requirements

The Information Commissioner’s Office, which oversees the enforcement of GDPR, says: “You must ensure that you have appropriate security measures in place to protect the personal data you hold.”

The ICO adds: “Deleting records that you no longer need, or are not proportionate to retain any longer, is an essential part of a good records management system.”

With unrivalled experience of supporting legal clients, ShredPro can ensure you meet all requirements.

Practical steps you can take

Here are some tips for HR and people professionals looking to stay safe in a fast moving world:

1. Do not just throw your documents in the rubbish: With your organisation liable for its confidential information at all times, simply getting rid of your paperwork as a waste is taking too much of a risk. Use a professional shredding service to ensure that your documents are destroyed securely.
2. Identify your confidential documents: Some documents contain more sensitive information than others. It is  important to identify your confidential documents so that you can properly destroy them. ShredPro can help you put together an effective document destruction and recycling policy to ensure best practice.
3. Shred your confidential documents: Shredding is the most secure way to destroy confidential documents. With multiple locations, including home working, as well as changing volumes in documents to be disposed of, partnering with professionals like ShredPro ensure your data is destroyed first time and with a certificate of destruction to prove it.
4. Designate responsible parties: As well as HR colleagues, who within the organisation will be responsible? This could include employees in the IT department, the legal department, or the facilities department. An identified person in every section of the business can share responsibility.
5. Promote a positive work environment: Complying with data regulations is not about scaring colleagues. Encourage them to take responsibility to play their part in a supportive culture where people are encouraged, not frightened.
6. Recycle your non-confidential documents: Not all documents need to be shredded. Non-confidential documents can be recycled. However, it is important to train and supervise colleagues to remove any confidential information from these documents before recycling them.
7. Factor in the practicalities of recycling: The easier it is for employees to recycle, the more likely they are to do it. Make sure that your recycling bins are located in convenient places and that they are clearly labelled. Colleagues also need to know why recycling is important and how to do it properly. You can educate them through posters, flyers, and training sessions.

8. Review your progress regularly: As your company’s needs change, you may need to update your approach. A regular review with a partner like ShredPro can help you evaluate your progress.
9. Keep your computer systems up to date: Install security patches and updates as soon as they are available. These patches can help to protect your systems from malware and other threats. Also use strong passwords unique to each account.

If you are a HR, people or recruitment professional looking for a paper shredding company which delivers a high quality of service through to a certificate of destruction, contact us today. We offer a variety of paper shredding services to fit your needs, and we’re committed to protecting your data.

Guarantee

We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all of our paper shredding services. We are confident that you will be happy with our services.

Customer Testimonial

“ShredPro have recently completed a large scale destruction exercise for us. The service provided was excellent and ShredPro’s staff were certainly prepared to go the ‘extra mile’ to ensure that the task was carried out to our satisfaction.”
Gerry Kennelly, McDonalds