Exiting employees helping themselves to information


It's not just stationery that walks out of the office with exiting employees.  According to a survey conducted by the records and information management company Iron Mountain, a significant proportion of employees has removed confidential information from the office - in spite of data protection and other information governance guidelines.2,000 office workers in France, Germany, Spain and the UK were surveyed.  32% of them admitted to taking or forwarding confidential information on more than one occasion.  Of those who are removing information:

  • 51% are taking information from confidential customer databases
  • 46% are taking presentations
  • 21% are taking company proposals
  • 18% are taking strategic plans
  • 18% are taking product or service roadmaps
The employees' attitudes to their actions are interesting.  Many of those surveyed felt a sense of ‘ownership' of the information, particularly if they had a role in creating it in the first place.  34% of respondents were completely unaware of any company guidelines regarding the removal of information from the office.Information and data are - of course - key organisational assets.  Information professionals have the opportunity to influence organisational information governance policy and educate employees about their information responsibilities.

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