At the end of every year, it’s common for many of us to feel drained and worn out, and that’s okay! We’re not machines after all.
While you may be feeling exhausted, believe it or not now is the perfect time to get on top of your archiving to ensure you start off the new year on the right foot.
Read up on our top archiving tips so you can have your archives in tip-top shape before taking that relaxing break that even the hardest hustlers desperately need at this time of the year.
Communicate with your staff
Get your staff into the archiving spirit by sending out an email or announcement about your end of year archiving wrap-up!
Make your communications as interesting and motivating as possible. Start by telling them exactly why they should take part in an end of year document clean up. Many people don’t realise just how unorganised their documents really are – so let them know how archiving can be a major headache if not given the proper amount of time and attention!
Divide your archiving cleanup into sections
Get a good overview of your archives’ sections that need the most attention. One of the best approaches to an efficient cleanup is to break it down into separate parts. This will also help make the task feel less overwhelming, especially if there’s a lot that needs to be done.
Start with the areas that need urgent attention first, such as frequently-used or frequently-accessed items like archive boxes. Finish up with one section first before shifting your team’s attention to another.
Box up your files
To ensure that you have a clutter-free, space-efficient archiving space that’s easy to work with (and easy on the eyes too), you’ll need to box up any loose files, documents, or miscellaneous items that may be hanging around.
Follow these steps to ensure that you box up your files the smart way!
Audit
Take a thorough audit of all your current documents. Decide on what should be kept and what can be destroyed based on retention schedules.
Purge
After double checking that each document has exceeded its required retention requirements, you can begin disposing of the documents.
Verify
For documents that need to be kept, verify their retention timeframes and accessibility requirements so they are stored correctly.
Digitise
If you need to access a document frequently or keep it forever, consider scanning it and making a digital database of files.
Destroy what you don't need
If you’re unfamiliar with retention schedules or maybe you’ve fallen behind on your destruction list, it’s possible that you’d end up storing too many files which no longer serve an actual purpose for your institution or organisation.
Our document destruction and shredding process is T4 & NAID AAA Certification accredited. We go to special lengths to make sure that the documents we shred are given as much importance as the ones we store.
Having a document destruction bin will help maximise storage space while ensuring that the sensitive documentation of your clients, staff, or students are safely and securely destroyed.
After all that jazz…it’s holiday mode!
That wraps up our end of year Archiving Tips. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide on what’s the best course of action for your organisation. Having your archives in top shape before the year-end holidays will help keep archiving off of your mind (and your team’s!) during your well-deserved break.
Remember, our team is always here to provide you with all your archiving and storage solutions.
If you need any assistance get in touch.
Happy Holidays, and enjoy your well-earned break!
