The 5 Most Overlooked Elements With Employee Security

With the holidays right around the corner we are all looking forward to locking up our businesses and getting all comfy and cozy at home. However if you are like I am you cannot get 100% relaxed because you are still trying to figure out if you took care of everything back at the office before you headed out to celebrate with your family. No matter how much we want to take it easy, something keeps nagging at us. Sometimes we are right in thinking we forgot something and sometimes we are wrong. In order to have a good time at home though, let’s take a look at the five most overlooked elements of employee security so they can be put on a checklist to be gone through before you leave.

Element 1: Physical Security

We all have that niggling though in the back of our minds of whether or not we locked up before leaving for the day. (I even do this when it comes to my house!) Check all doors including the emergency exits. If an employee wanted to break into the business after hours, they may leave the emergency door unlocked so they can get in with ease. Make sure this step in on your check list. Check the doors once while going through the rest of your list, and again once you are finished and ready to go home.

Element 2: Proper Disposal Methods

If you do not already know how important proper disposal methods are then you may be at risk at this very moment. In order to fully protect yourself you must properly dispose of any sensitive documents, storage media and other devices that may contain any sort of information that may compromise your company. The only real way to dispose of these things without them falling into the wrong hands is by completely destroying them.  If that is not an option though there are IT specialists that can do the job for you without full destruction.  Depending on the size of your business you may wish to get a contracted IT person on board if you do not currently have one. Add all of this to your checklist. It is especially important to take care of proper disposal if you will be away for a period of time longer than a weekend.

Element 3: In House Security

In house security is extremely important. Even the smallest businesses have at least one security camera set up in the place it is most necessary. Did you set your cameras before you left for your holiday or weekend? Adding this step to your checklist is a must because you never know what can or has been going on inside your business when you are at home thinking that all is well.

Element 4: Outsourced Security

If you run a larger company you may wish to add this to your checklist: outsourced security services. This can be something as simple as hiring a company to watch your live security cameras and post a guard on your business, or as large as having an security company installing inferred lights and other alarm systems and security methods. There are several companies who do not consider this but it can be very important to the safety of your company.

Element 5: Encryption

I cannot stress enough how important it is to encrypt all of your files. Without this you are open to anyone who has the skills to hack into them; and that is at least half of the world’s population nowadays. Encrypted files will give you an extreme amount of peace of mind –maybe even more than in house or outsourced security. If an employee cannot get to your important files then they cannot steal your important information or information that can lead to your important information. Add this to your checklist as well.

Now that you know what elements you may have been missing you can go home for the holidays (or weekend or on vacations) and breathe a bit easier.