The Do's & Don'ts of Records Retention and Destruction

Most organizations don’t have “a records problem.” They have records spread everywhere; paper files, shared drives, email, HR systems, cloud storage, Teams/Slack messages and vendor platforms. When information lives in too many places and there is no clear records management approach, it’s hard to know what to keep, what to delete and what you must be able to find fast. 

Records retention is not just about storage. It’s about risk and proof. If you keep the wrong thing too long, you can increase legal and privacy exposure. If you delete too soon, you can face fines, investigations and costly disputes. A strong records retention policy and retention schedule help you stay compliant, respond to audits and legal holds and reduce clutter without guessing. 

This practical session gives you a clear, modern approach to retention and destruction. Learn how to build simple rules that work across paper and digital records, including today’s biggest trouble spots: collaboration tools, cloud sprawl, privacy-driven deletion and ransomware-ready recovery. 

Stop digging through file cabinets and random folders. Stop relying on personal inboxes and “tribal knowledge.” Build a document management system that makes it easy to store, find, protect and dispose of records the right way. 

• Identify record importance and sensitivity
• Map the record lifecycle: creation, storage, access, retention, legal hold and destruction 
• Apply guidelines for access, retrieval, and secure storage across paper, cloud and HR systems
• Follow best practices for proper records disposal
• Recognize when email, voicemail and modern messaging qualify as records
• Manage retention across collaboration tools, shared drives and cloud platforms
• Protect metadata, audit trails and record copy decisions across multiple systems
• Safeguard web content and online tools
• Reduce risk from removable media and unmanaged copying
• Implement legal holds and pause deletion when required
• Keep your records program current as laws, tools and work habits evolve

This webinar is for HR professionals, small business owners and anyone responsible for keeping, finding, protecting or deleting HR and business records. It is especially useful for people who manage files across email, shared drives, cloud systems, HR platforms and collaboration tools, and who want a clear, compliant process that reduces risk, supports legal holds and makes records easier to manage every day.