10 Document Retention Policy Best Practices

Practically every business process either occurs via documents or generates documents as a byproduct. It is important to follow document retention policy best practices because:

• Organizations must safeguard sensitive information
• There are regulatory requirements that demand compliance
• Adhering to a strict policy will provide a solid defense in legal disputes

Though many documents no longer have a use beyond fulfilling their primary purpose, regulatory requirements call for document retention so that organizations can fully comply with legal processes during a dispute. Decision-makers within the organization also benefit if it becomes necessary to refer back to previous documentation for any business-related purpose.

Creating a document retention policy that guarantees legal compliance while also serving to further business outcomes requires thoughtful implementation of policy-drafting best practices.

Alt Text: A laptop with pages coming out of the screen as a way to visualize document retention policy best practices.

1. Involve Stakeholders

Giving stakeholders a say in the drafting of important company policies is an important professional courtesy. The organization’s stakeholder agreement may even include a clause requiring it outright.

Additionally, certain stakeholders are likely to be already participating in the organization’s document management processes. Those with the expertise to create a strong policy, and those who will bear the responsibility of implementing it, should be part of drafting or reviewing the document retention policy.

2. Define Affected Document Types

In a time of data-centric business practices, organizations naturally stockpile myriad types of data as digital documents. For the sake of clarity and upholding document retention policy best practices, it is important to thoroughly define all the types of documents affected by the retention policy. It is impossible to be too granular – list everything from financial records to web page metadata as necessary.

3. Anticipate Reasonableness Concerns

A document retention policy describes strict processes and thorough contingency plans that employees must abide by. It may also define the rights and responsibilities of customers and business partners regarding important documents as well. It is for this reason that the first concern a judicial court might raise during legal proceedings will likely be the reasonableness of the document retention policy.

In anticipation of these concerns, the policy should conform with all applicable state and federal laws. It should be easy for employees to understand and follow, with all terms of the policy having a clear connection with intended business outcomes.

4. Be Aware of Retention Requirements

Alt Text: A businessman checking digital boxes to ensure his document retention policy fits the requirements.

Different document types have different retention requirements. For example, the IRS recommends keeping business income tax returns for three years under standard circumstances or seven years if the business filed a claim for a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction.

Decision-makers should be aware of legal requirements and internal business processes pertaining to document retention requirements. This will help them uphold document retention policy best practices when specifying retention periods in the policy itself.

5. Do Not Ignore Communication Documents

The eDiscovery phase of an antitrust investigation does not only apply to financial records and transactional documents. Courts value digital communication as a form of documentation and evidence.

This means that saving chats and emails for a reasonable amount of time is also a part of upholding regulatory compliance. An email retention policy works hand-in-hand with a document retention policy to ensure that communications do not become lost to automatic digital file disposal processes.

6. Automate Retention Practices

While automation can sometimes be the enemy of retention if it leads to the uncontrolled destruction of vital documents, it can also be a valuable tool that streamlines and guarantees retention.

A comprehensive document management system will include automated functionalities that apply and enforce a defined retention policy according to the system manager’s specifications. This ensures that the system carries out document retention policy best practices with no risk of human error and without the need to expend manual effort or extra organization resources.

7. Train Employees on Document Retention

The document retention policy should be something that every employee can reasonably follow. The terms should be clear and understandable, ideally with consistent naming conventions for document types that share common identifiers.

Ensure that employees can and will follow document retention policies by providing reasonable training on the topic. If the training process reveals weaknesses or complications in the policy, be open to adjusting accordingly.

8. Designate a Process Manager

The policy itself should name an assigned document retention process owner. This person should also implement access controls and security measures as part of their role in managing the retention process.

The process owner might be a key stakeholder who participated in the creation of the document retention policy. It can also be a leader within the organization who demonstrates expertise in document management. The most important consideration is ensuring that the process owner will strictly adhere to document retention policy best practices at all times.

9. Describe Document Removal and Destruction

Document retention only protects documents until the organization no longer requires them for legal or business purposes. When the retention period ends, there must be an established method of removing or destroying the documents.

For the sake of responding to inquiries during a legal investigation, the policy must clearly define what happens upon document removal. The process manager should also be able to provide proof that document removal or destruction did occur exactly as specified in the policy.

10. Adopt Mindful Data Minimization

Keeping in mind that data retention is a matter of legal compliance, sifting through mountains of outdated documents can only bottleneck the investigative process if legal concerns arise. There is rarely a need to keep documents indefinitely and, in fact, some data privacy laws have data minimization requirements built in.

The discovery phase of a litigation case or audit can quickly become a costly burden on an organization if there are numerous storage drives overflowing with related documents and files. Data minimization is the necessary “other side of the coin” for documentation retention, saving time and money.

Solutions for Implementing Document Retention Policy Best Practices

Cloudficient revolutionizes the way businesses manage their data. With next-generation data retention solutions in the cloud, we deliver client-focused document retention tools that are fast, seamless, and scalable to accommodate your growing business needs.

Cloudficient’s unrivaled, next generation migration technology is revolutionizing the way businesses retire legacy systems and transform their organizations into the cloud. Guiding customers through every step of the process, our expert team provides the support and solutions you need to succeed. 

Bring Cloudficiency to your legacy data and cloud transformation: visit our website or contact us directly.