Paper documents left lying in prominent places in the workplace are posing a security threat and a potential breach of confidentiality, a new report suggests.
Research, conducted by IDC, shows that 40% of employees have found confidential reports on shared printers which could have presented legal problems to their companies.
The survey also shows that a third of workers leave sensitive documents on their desks in full view.
Sensitive documents left on a shared printer also cause problems, with 53% saying that they have found details not belonging to them.
Personnel records and financial data are among the things found on the print shelf by staff with 18% and 24% respectively saying that they had picked them up.
IDC warns that obligations to legislation such as the Data Protection Act, or even Non Disclosure Agreements could be broken if companies do not do more to protect confidentiality.
Matt Marshall, research director at IDC, said: “These findings do appear to be shocking especially in terms of today’s compliance driven business environment.
“Many companies may unknowingly be breaking legislation and commercial agreements in terms of client and employee sensitive data such as company financials and personal information.”
