Shredding Company Secrets requires a Quality Paper Shredder

The shredding of secret documents is mostly associated with government and business malfeasance rather than good business practices.  The media has highlighted every corrupt use of a paper shedder in government practice from the Iran Contra hearings, to the Enron scandal to Sandy Berger's shredding of secret files.  But in a corporate setting, there is a need to secure company secrets, and one of the best ways to prevent the loss of intellectual capital and prevent information theft is to use a quality office paper shredder.

Shredding company secrets is a proactive practice that is beneficial as an internal deterrent to the loss of important information.  A prime example is salary information.  This type of data in the hands of anyone other than the most senior of management will no doubt cause problems with employees.  Similarly, management projections and sales information should not be accessible by all employees, as every worker that leaves the company is one more potential loss of your important sales and client lists to your competition.  Furthermore, if you are concerned with industrial espionage, know that it is usually committed by your own employees, just as most identity theft is committed by family members.  So protect yourself from potential internal information leaks.

But just as importantly, a companies intellectual capital must be protected from the competition and public exposure.  You may not have the burden of having to keep the Coca Cola formula secret, but every company has information that they would rather keep in house.  According to an article in SIFY Finance, an owner of a chain of Subway restaurants in India made a point of shredding labor cost, food cost and other financial information after every meeting rather than risk a potential loss.  Every paper that the managers are shred after each meeting and each manager has a crosscut paper shredder at their desks for added security. 

Businesses always have to be cognizant of federal disposal guidelines in relation to exposing private consumer information, but the need to protect company trade secrets, business lists and other important data must also be considered.  A quality office paper shredder can go a long way to helping a company protect their secrets.