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A well-trained workforce is essential to protecting organizations from a potentially damaging data breach. Shred-it offers five tips to help organizations develop and execute a comprehensive employee training program. (This content originally appeared on Information Management)
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Commit to a Culture of Security

When management demonstrates a commitment to information security, employees are more likely to follow suit. If managers behave in a way that undermines security policies and procedures, employees won't take them seriously either. Consider asking employees to take a pledge to make their workplace a more secure environment. Display the pledge in various locations throughout the office. To encourage participation from all areas of the business, consider appointing employees from a range of departments to participate on a committee focused on improving information security practices.
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Repetition and Frequency is Key

Training should occur throughout the year and include various modules on organizational information security policies. Consider a "multichannel" approach utilizing a mix of in-person and digitally-delivered video training content to ensure employees are aware of how to handle and dispose of confidential information.
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Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Place visual cues throughout the office to remind employees of their responsibilities in protecting confidential information. Consider reminder posters, that targets common workplace errors and areas that increase the risk of a data breach.
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Go Where Your Employees Are

A growing number of employees are now working outside of the traditional office environment. Ensure training addresses the safe destruction of confidential information for both office and remote workers. Also leverage internal newsletters, intranet news feeds, employee and corporate social media accounts to provide constant reminders about different aspects of information security that employees can access regardless of their location. Keep the information short to make it more digestible.
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Embed It

Make security best practices a seamless part of daily tasks. Implement a policy which requires all documents to be destroyed when they're no longer needed and a ‘clean desk’ policy which encourages employees to clear their desks and lock documents in a filing cabinet or storage unit when they leave their workstation at the end of each day. When these policies become common practice, there is little decision left to employees on what should, and shouldn't, be destroyed.