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We are an architecture-engineering-construction company with offices in WI, IL, IA, MN, and two new small offices in TX and GA.
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In your original post you mentioned select types of records for "indefinite" retention. These final project documents - specifications, drawings - probably already have a long retention period due to statutes of repose in the states in which you design and build facilities. As a former records manager at an architectural firm, I know there is an argument for keeping those select records for the life of your company. Corporate documents that establish the legal rights and obligations of your company should have a retention of "life of the company,"  as well as select marketing materials that document the history of your projects. A good records retention schedule will have taken all of that into account.

But keeping ALL records - your accounting records, emails, administrative records, HR, payroll, facilities, etc., -- is a path fraught with much risk, as Dr. Bailey pointed out. All costs go up when you keep everything - not just storage, but also discovery & audits. Your exposure risk in data breaches increases proportionately with the amount of records & non-records you keep (think Home Depot, Sony, Homeland Security & FBI, DNC ). Breaches expose your data to the public and created as a minimum reputational risk, and possibly risk of lawsuits. 

Consider outlining all the costs and risks of keeping everything forever to your manager, then suggesting only the select long-term records as discussed. Hopefully that compromise will make sense to him.

Gary




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