Cintas Shares Document Management Best Practices in Honor of Administrative Professionals Day

According to the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), there are more than 4.1 million secretaries and administrative assistants working in the United States. The theme for this year’s Administrative Professional Week, taking place April 18-24, is “Power of Commitment.” While responsibilities vary by business, administrative assistants are an integral part of organizations and are often charged with assigning tasks, monitoring progress and ensuring momentum for critical projects. In honor of Administrative Professionals Day, celebrated on April 21, Cintas Corporation today issued best practices to help administrative professionals manage, maintain and protect confidential business information.

Cintas’ best practices include:

Proactively identify and maintain a document retention schedule. Many administrative professionals have an abundance of documents and records to maintain, but often have limited space. To maximize space efficiently, work with management to identify a retention schedule based on legal requirements and internal company policies. Depending on the type of business, proactively learn and implement these retention guidelines to maintain an organized, uncluttered office.
Properly shred and discard unnecessary documents. Once a document retention schedule has been defined, it is important to safely and securely dispose of documents no longer needed. With identity theft and data breaches on the rise, doing so will protect confidential business data and customers’ sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands. Recommend a shredding service that destroys business documents onsite on a scheduled basis. These companies place secure storage containers in accessible and identifiable locations to make it safe and convenient for all employees to properly shred documents.
Develop a records storage plan. Outline a records storage plan and make it available to all parties involved in the process. This will encourage employees to follow protocol and ensure that files are easy to locate and retrieve. If your company has a large volume of records with long retention rates but limited space, consider an off-site storage provider. This will not only free up space, but the ideal provider will offer a secure storage facility equipped with 24-hour security cameras, alarm systems and complete fire protection systems to protect records from catastrophes such as floods and fires.
Limit accessibility to records. Only personnel who require record access to perform their job properly should be authorized to view records. Limiting accessibility is critical as every business retains some degree of confidential information regarding their employees, customers, patients and/or business partners. Such information includes names, addresses, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and other account information. By enforcing these rules, administrative professionals can greatly reduce the threat of data breaches from internal employees and other unauthorized sources.
Create an office recycling program. Ensure that your office or department is doing its part to protect the Earth by encouraging and promoting a paper recycling program. Many companies that offer shredding services recycle the paper into secondary paper products, such as paper towels, to reduce the impact on the environment. Recycling paper saves water, reduces green house gas emissions and uses 25 percent less energy than manufacturing paper from trees.

“Administrative professionals play a vital role in managing and protecting confidential business information,” said Brittney Kirk, Marketing Associate, Cintas. “This Administrative Professionals Day, we want to recognize their initiatives and provide best practices to help them continue to grow, improve and protect their workplace environments.”

About Cintas Corporation:

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas Corporation provides highly specialized services to businesses of all types primarily throughout North America. Cintas is the first AAA NAID Certified and PCI DSS Compliant provider. Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs, and provides entrance mats, restroom supplies, promotional products, first aid, safety, fire protection products and services and document management services for approximately 800,000 businesses. Cintas is a publicly held company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS, and is a Nasdaq-100 company and component of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024