>> Employee Theft

Every business, no matter the industry, product, or service, runs the risk of experiencing problems with some degree or another of employee theft. The different items that employees are willing to steal from their employers are virtually without limit. It is estimated that approximately 95 percent of all businesses experience some level of employee theft, without even knowing how much their company's potential is being reduced as a result of these activities.

Studies have shown that employees currently steal over one billion dollars every week from unsuspecting businesses. It is also recognized that over thirty percent of all bankruptcies are a result - directly or indirectly - of employee theft.

It takes approximately $20 in sales to recover from every dollar lost to employee theft. However, this is very difficult to identify at a management point of view. When examining the numbers, all that may be visible is an issue with declining profits, as well as sudden, or unexplainable shortages of inventory. There may be rumors and some other signs, but otherwise, there is nothing concrete to see within the business.

It is often very challenging for an employer to believe that those employees that they trust the most may be the same people who are taking part in employee theft and slowly degrading the profits of the business. It is hard to accept that the people they hired and have built relationships with are being so dishonest and disloyal.

Therefore, management is frequently a victim of denial that lead them to make false assumptions about the problems the business is experience. These false assumptions frequently include:

That the theft is a result of non-employees That employees who are well paid are loyal and won't steal That senior employees are trustworthy That honest employees will report any knowledge of employee theft That it is easy to spot employee theft, so it will be detected before it becomes a real problem It isn't necessary to formally tell employees that theft in any form will not be tolerated within the company There are ways to recognize employee theft within a business, especially because there is an extremely large number of signs that can be watched for. The main thing is that management has to realize that employee theft is not a result of carelessness or incompetence by supervisory staff and the rest of the team members. Take note of all deviations and irregularities and evaluate each with an open mind. Keep special tabs on any inventory or product that is located near the employee exits, copy machine areas, or break rooms. All sensitive documents should be shredded. Once a habit has been formed to prevent, identify, and stop employee theft, the number of instances will naturally decrease