Client
Avon Products, Inc. - New York, NY

Problem
Avon Products, a major manufacturer and retailer of cosmetics, fragrances, skin care products, clothing, jewelry and home decorative items, had no comprehensive records management program and no formal guidelines for the retention of records or their destruction at the end of their useful lives.

In two office locations, 25,000 cu. ft. of records were stored in various building areas. Approximately 15 percent were either loose or maintained in storage boxes. More than 10,000 cu. ft. of less active files were stored at a warehouse. A database contained information about only 60 percent of the boxes stored at the warehouse, rendering the remaining 40 percent irretrievable and useless.

At the same time, a move to new, smaller headquarters was imminent.

The Naremco Solution

• Prepared records retention schedules for 270 distinct work units.
  
  
• Negotiated retention schedule approvals with each department and with the Tax and Legal departments.
  
  
• Prepared a corporate records management policy statement.
  
  
• Created an extensive records management manual that contained:
  Prepared recommendations for Information Systems to address the particular requirements for the management of digital records
  
  
• Installed a records management database application to assist in maintaining records schedules, tracking storage and retrieval of records sent to off-site storage, and managing the timely destruction records in compliance with the records retention schedules.
  
  
• Trained a Records Manager and instructed office personnel in the basics of good records management.
  

Client Benefits

• Approximately 14,000 cu. ft. of obsolete records stored in active office areas were destroyed, and approximately 1,000 cu. ft. were sent to inactive storage. This translated into a direct savings of 50% for space allocated to filing records in the company's new offices.
  
  
• Over $450,000 was saved in the purchase of filing equipment for the new offices.
  
  
• Space requirements in the new headquarters offices were reduced by 15,000 sq. ft., representing a savings of $ 750,000 per year in lease costs.
  
  
• Moving costs were reduced by approximately $13,000.
  
  
• Of 7,200 boxes of records stored at the warehouse, 40% were destroyed, and the remaining 60% were properly identified and transferred to a commercial records storage facility.
  
  
• New procedures for the storage and retrieval of inactive records.
  

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