unavailable. The information in file cabinets scattered around the office is “owned” by no one in particu- lar. Theses file cabinets primarily contain files no longer needed by individual employees, or left by employees who are no longer there. Even though they often contain information that could be useful, individual employees don’t know it exists, and thus end up creating new information. The information in storage rooms and offsite filing facilities contains vital information that could save money, or cost millions of dollars in the case of an audit or law- suit. Unfortunately, offsite storage often contains information that should never have gone there, but no one wanted to take the time or effort to clean it out! Why records management really matters Your ability to accomplish any task or goal is directly related to your ability to find the information you need when you need it. Finding information in every organization – regardless of whether it is in paper or electronic format – is becom- ing an ever-increasing challenge. This inability to find information causes all sorts of problems for the organization and for the individual – wasted time looking for informa- tion or recreating already-existing information, missed opportunities, and increased stress, which in turn results in increased health care costs. Research shows that 80% of the information kept in most offices is never used. Ironically, the more information that is kept, the less it is used, simply because it’s too difficult for employees to find. Often employees can’t even find the documents they themselves created – let alone any informa- tion created by another employee – especially someone who is no longer with the organization. As a result, it’s easier to just start over! Who is responsible for the problem and what can be done about it? Blame for the records manage- ment debacle falls in several courts: 1. Management blames employees for the problem. 2. Employees blame management for the problem. 3. Organizations don’t have a user- friendly system. 4. Employees aren’t trained on the filing systems. 5. Management fails to look at records management as an ongoing activity. To create and maintain an effec- tive records management program, we must answer the following six questions: 1. What information should we keep? 2. In what form? 3. For how long? 4. Who is responsible for main- BUSINESS FEATURE –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 76 TileLetter | October 2018