Keeping Your Office Secure During the Holidays
The holiday season is quickly approaching us and, while that may mean planning vacations, visiting family and going shopping for most of us, this is also an important time to think about security.
Office security is important at all times of the year, but especially during the holiday season. There are a number of reasons for this. One major reason is that many office workers take vacation during the holiday season. This means that fewer people will be in the office and the company may even begin working shorter hours at this time. In fact, some offices close down completely for a period of time around the holidays. These closures give criminals a good opportunity to strike. They know that they are much less likely to be caught if they’re breaking into an office that has been shut down for several days.
In addition, criminals who break into office buildings may be looking for financial information (such as credit card numbers and bank account numbers) that can be used for identity theft and fraud. These crimes increase during the holiday season as criminals attempt to use the busy holiday shopping period to commit fraud.
Another reason for increased holiday season crime is that individuals and companies are more likely to have valuables in the office at this time. For example, an employee who goes shopping for gifts at lunch might bring these gifts into the office and store them at their desk. In fact, some people “hide” gifts in the office so that their family members can’t find them. Companies might have gifts on hand for employees as well, making this a tempting time for criminals to strike.
Holiday Office Security Tips
There are several different ways that you can protect your office and the valuables of your employees and organization during the holiday season. Here are some tips.
- Stress the Importance of Security
- One way to protect your office during the holidays is to stress the importance of security with employees. Remind them that crime often goes up at this time of year and encourage them to be diligent with security and with pointing out potential security flaws.
- Review your Security Plans
- The holiday season is also the end of the calendar year, so it makes sense to take this opportunity to review your current security plans. In addition to going over them with staff, it can be a good idea to have management review these plans as well.
- Your security plan may have been effective years ago when it was originally set up, but times have changed and so has technology. During your review, make sure that your current plan still meets your current needs.
- Use Physical Security
- Physical security puts a barrier between criminals and your property. By installing physical security tools at your location, you keep your business safe.
- For example, having security gates on exterior doors and windows will help prevent smash and grab robberies. Installing gates and other physical barriers on doors to stock rooms, warehouses, server rooms, etc. also reduces crime.
- Encourage employees to store valuables inside locked cabinets or behind secure doors or gates. This can drastically reduce the amount of loss in a break-in.
We have some more helpful tips to improving the security of your business. Download our helpful guide to Improving Your Security Mindset.
