Fellowes urges office managers to prevent careless confidentiality in the office

Fellowes, makers of the world’s toughest shredders, is helping office managers to empower their employees with a free-to-download asset pack to help protect confidential company information.

Research* shows that more than a quarter of office workers (27%) leave behind confidential paper-based information on a printer, 15 % on a scanner, and even in plain view of the wider workforce in the staff canteen (12%).

Office specialists, Fellowes, is encouraging office managers to launch a ‘Shred it Challenge’ to encourage employees to protect paper based information as part of National Identity Fraud Prevention Month. 

Away from the workplace, almost a quarter (23%) of office workers leave behind confidential paper-based information belonging to the company on a train or bus, and some 15% even recall leaving documents in a pub and a further 12% in a café or restaurant for the next person to see.

Darryl Brunt, sales and marketing director at Fellowes, said: “Businesses really should take extra care when destroying sensitive documents as our research shows that employees are becoming far too complacent with the security of company information.

“As soon as you hit print, or you no longer need copies, then destroy to protect. Information really isn’t secure until it’s shredded! If confidential information falls into the wrong hands, then the repercussions can be detrimental to a company.

“Our downloadable assets will help raise awareness of the issue to ensure every employee is thinking about shredding before it’s too late.”

Educate and inform employees about the issues surrounding fraud, by visiting www.stop-idfraud.co.uk.

Top tips for companies

• Register with Companies House and make sure you sign-up to their Electronic Filing, PROOF & Monitor services which help to prevent fraudsters changing the names of your directors and effectively ‘hijacking’ your company
• Make sure all staff are fully aware of the risk of identity fraud. Create a clear set of guidelines concerning the handling, storage, sharing and disposal of sensitive information, both online and off-line
• Always make sure that unwanted information is disposed of properly and securely. As well as paper, don’t forget to shred CDs and always make sure that information on old computers is wiped clean before throwing them out
• Always check the identity of your customers. Both business and consumer credit reference agencies offer a wide range of solutions to authenticate and verify the existence and identity of customers