There is a double-edged sword in the Loss Prevention industry regarding employee theft cases. High dollar cases are often career makers. These are the employee theft investigations that are talked about on conference calls and in managers meetings. Some companies use these cases as examples even in new hire training. Somewhere along the line though, someone always stops and asks- how did this case get so high?

For most incidents of employee theft, there was an operational breakdown. A door left unarmed. Maybe it was the EAS alarm was never responded to, or a refund never questioned. If someone had used the mantra Trust but Verify, would the losses continued?

Generally the merchandise stolen is not recovered in an employee theft case. Same thing goes for cash. Most common is restitution. That means the employee agrees to pay back the dollar amount for which they have conceded to having taken from the company. If the dollar amount gets to high, the chances of a store ever really seeing the money come back is slim to none.

I had a case where the employee agreed to restitution of $100 dollars a month for the next fifty years to pay everything back. The store will eventually get their money, but that year’s shrink line still took the hit and profits were lost, along with a few bonuses!

While employee theft investigations are difficult to catch early on, it’s better in the long run. The key is to track and catch in the early stages of the theft, instead of after the escalation of losses takes place.

For more information on employee theft, employee theft investigation or internal theft contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Each employee theft investigation I have ever worked on has had its own very specific twists and turns. It sometimes took a lot of creativity on my part to figure out just what they were doing and how they would get away with it. In each case of employee theft there was always one common trait- The Curve.

The Curve is the point that an employee’s thefts swing upward in frequency, severity or both. While this is often the easiest time to identify an internal theft situation, it is also the most costly for a store.

When an employee first starts to steal they do it small. They will pick a low dollar amount of cash, or a single item to pocket or give to a friend. Then they wait. They wait to see if anyone notices, or calls them out on it. Once they realize that no one noticed, they are well onto the second step of employee theft.

This is the stage where they start to work out all the kinks in their plan. A change in how often they feel comfortable stealing. They will gradually increase the dollars of their losses to the stores. Still, they are tentative that someone may notice what is going on. This stage could last for weeks or months depending on how long it took them between their first and second thefts.

If they have yet to be questioned, The Curve is now in effect. This is the dangerous time where employee theft is rampant. They are comfortable in their MO and will steal with reckless abandon. They are confident that since they haven’t been caught yet, they have beaten the system.

It is here that they show up consistently on exception reporting. Their pattern has emerged and they are now the low hanging fruit of employee theft investigations.

For more information on internal theft, employee theft, or employee theft investigation contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

One of the biggest issues a business can encounter is rampant employee theft. Most small businesses do not factor in shrink losses into their business plan when laying out a strategy for hopeful success. These same excited business owners can’t wait to flip on the “open” sign but many do not and have not any idea the problems internal theft can and more likely will cause them.

Having a shoplifter enter your business who steals $50.00 in product on one occasion is a scary enough thought ; imagine, when you do the math, how much you have to actually sell to make up that $50.00 loss. Now hypothetically envision you hired that shoplifter, gave them keys to your business, your stockroom and your registers. Visualize that every shift that “employee” works they steal $50.00. Would you have any idea how to conduct an employee theft investigation? Would you have any idea that it was internal theft? Would you be blind in trust of your employees that you would not even think to consider the losses could be a result of employee theft? Let that soak in a bit because this is what happens to business owners everyday and many never recover. As stated earlier employee theft is the biggest business killer on the block.

So what can you do? Preferably you start your business plan including loss prevention in the initial budget, but what if you didn’t? Can you catch up? Is it too late? The first thing to do is access the controls you currently have in place. Start with your hiring process. Do you have a pre employment screening process? Do you conduct employee/criminal background checks? If not then how do you know you aren’t hiring the “shoplifter” we discussed earlier? Do you ask pertinent questions during the job interview process? Do you take notes and conduct follow up interviews to flesh out any potential issues? Do you have a new hire orientation explaining that your company conducts employee theft investigations and prosecutes anyone caught stealing?

What physical loss prevention tools do you have currently? Do you have cameras? Where are the cameras pointing? Are they set up over the registers to deter internal theft? Are they set up in your stockroom to aid in potential employee theft investigations? Do you have any “pin hole” camera kits to aid in internal theft investigations? Do you have anyone employed who is trained to conduct an employee theft investigation? Do you have daily inventory category counts of product to monitor losses? Do you have daily register audits? Do you ensure employees count in and out on their own registers? Do you conduct bag and pocket checks whenever an employee leaves your business?

It is never to late to take steps to deter employee theft. The key is setting up a strategy that starts with the hiring and orientation, then set up your physical controls (cameras/audits etc). Deterrence does not work on everyone so it is important to ensure that you always consider every loss incurred as being perpetrated by an employee. You should take steps to narrow the focus of when the losses occurred, who was working and who had access to the items stolen. At this point you can utilize your daily reports and cameras to catch the employee who is committing the loss. Once you have gathered the evidence and obtain a confession (I recommend that only a trained interviewer conduct a loss prevention interview). Then it is very important to follow through with conviction and termination. That will also help deter other employees from conducting internal theft.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal theft contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia