New Email Policy: Old Emails Will Be Deleted Regularly

Everyone at CommonSpirit Health plays a vital role in being mindful of the information we use to care for our patients and support our business operations. We must retain information that is required of us, but it is also important to properly destroy records at the appropriate time.

Email systems tend to store vast amounts of information. Plus, they tend to be extremely vulnerable to cyberattack and we owe it to those we serve to be responsible stewards of information. That’s why starting in 2024, CommonSpirit will implement a one-year email retention period.

Starting on April 20, all Gmail emails and Google chats will be retained for up to one year from the date of receipt. After one year, they will be automatically deleted.

Note that Google Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Keep/notes will not be impacted by this change at this time.

The only exceptions to this change are:

• Any emails subject to a Legal Hold;
• Pre-identified position types (not individuals) who have already been notified of their exception. If you have not been notified of an exception, individual exception requests may be submitted to the Compliance Information Governance team at Compliance Information Governance ([email protected]). But, we anticipate very few exceptions will be granted.

Since this change will require an adjustment to how information is managed, we are allowing several weeks to prepare and save any required documents and/or correspondence. We have created some tips on how to move any necessary attachments or email correspondence to an approved location outside of your email.

As well, there are additional Gmail tips and tricks to help you stay organized going forward:

• How to store/move any necessary email correspondence or attachments to an approved location outside of your email.
• If you are directed to retain emails subject to a Legal Hold, the hold process is taken care of for you. When initiated by the Legal department, IT ensures your emails do not get automatically deleted.
• Gmail tips and tricks to organize your inbox and messages.
• Google’s tips to optimize your Gmail inbox.

As you start preparing, please remember you may not send company emails to your personal email account, this is a violation of company policy.

Many employees interact with sensitive information every day, and it’s important that we do not forget the trust that has been granted to us. This change to our email retention period could save thousands of individuals’ information from potentially being compromised.

For more information please see the FAQs or visit the Corporate Responsibility department website. For questions contact Compliance Information Governance ([email protected]).