I have just been for a lovely walk in the spring sunshine and I have to say I feel good!

Many people use their renewed energy to do some spring cleaning. Suddenly streets are filled with car washing, lawn mowing and window cleaning activity.

As it is good to give our homes a bit of a spring clean and declutter, so it is good to regularly review our businesses to see what needs to be cleared out.

I come across plenty of businesses who spend cash on new filing cabinets, folders and storage space because they are being swamped with paperwork – invoices, payroll reports, government letters etc.

So what can you do to make sure you don’t fill your offices unnecessarily with paperwork?

Firstly, check to see how long you need to keep specific government and tax related records. In most cases the limit is 6-7 years. Anything older than that can be properly disposed of. There are great companies out there such as ShredIt who come to your premises and make sure that any papers are disposed of securely and completely.

Secondly, there are many systems these days which allow you to scan and save important documents in a properly organised, virtual filing system. This will allow you to save digital copies of any documents and dispose of the hard copies. The initial work to digitise past records may be a bit of a pain, but once over that first hurdle you should find it easy to digitise documents as they come into your offices.

Of course you will need to ensure that you have robust back up systems – but then you should have those in place anyway.

As part of the clear out process it is worthwhile checking that you are up to date with the statutory data protection requirements as they apply to your business.

Happy spring cleaning!
Fiona 🙂