Back in my early days of management, I had a significant cash shortage. In fact, it was most of the day’s cash sales. This was well before I knew anything about employee theft, much less conducting an employee theft investigation.

I had worked the morning shift, and my closing manager called me when she counted down the till for the night. We were several hundred dollars short and she couldn’t figure out why.

I told her to count one more time, and to go ahead and finish closing. I would look at it when I got in the next morning. Sure enough, there was a shortage. I called my district manger to let him know, but he didn’t have any other advice or input to resolve the shortage. I didn’t think much of it until a few weeks later.

It was my turn to close and when I cashed out the drawer, it was again several hundred short. There were no cameras, but I knew it was a problem and that this was probably one of my employees stealing.

I called my district manager again. This time, he started to go over some basic procedures that we were not currently using. One of them was a sign-on and off for our registers. We let one person sign on and then everyone used their log in to ring sales for the rest of the day.

After we started using the sign-on and logging off after we were done, the issues stopped. Months later, I had an employee tell me that he had seen the old assistant manager come into the store and go behind the counter when no one was around. We suspected then that he had been coming behind the counter and opening the drawer while no one was looking because we never logged off the register.

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

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It is almost always assumed that a person was caught stealing money or sneaking unpaid goods out of the store when people learn that a coworker is discharged for theft.  However, employee theft assumes many forms and does not only refer to an associate taking merchandise or cash from the register.

In fact, one of the most prevalent ways that a staff member causes loss to their employer is often not viewed as internal theft by most associates. Instead, they assume it is a policy violation addressed by Human Resources. This often overlooked form of shrinkage is known as discount abuse.

Although most corporations and employers outline their policies for newly hired associates, employees often fail to remember the rules they are expected to keep. They may have been advised that sharing their discount with unauthorized family members and friends is considered to be employee theft; however, chances are this won’t be a fact most employees concern themselves with unless they work in loss prevention.

On the other hand, they may just assume they won’t get caught. While employed in retail loss prevention, an associate’s brother approached her as she was talking to my boss and me. He handed her a pair of shoes he had picked out with the money to purchase them while we all standing right there!  Needless to say, I don’t think she ever forgot our company’s policy after that encounter.

This form of internal theft has the potential of costing employers serious losses of profit if left unattended. Although discount abuse cases are not as interesting to investigate as a merchandise theft situation, it can be a huge source of loss for the company and requires education, frequent reminders, and monitoring.

This can be a gray area for many employees created by lack of thought or awareness; however this policy needs to be repeatedly conveyed to employees and monitored as well. I’ve been asked frequently by family members and friends to share the benefit of working for a clothing retailer with them.

None of them have been pleased and some are surprised when I inform them that I cannot share the perks because this would actually initiate an employee theft investigation that I am expected to conclude if one of my coworkers is thought to be guilty of such acts.

For more information about employee theft, employee theft investigation, and internal theft please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia.

Often the case can appear complex or even inconclusive regarding the subject’s guilt or innocence when initiating the typical employee theft investigation.  Examination of the associate’s behavior may have revealed what seemed like a minor indicator – perhaps a decrease in job performance or not parking in staff areas.

However, it is the investigator’s task to consider these small infractions and determine if these pieces when put together create a distinct picture of theft. Frequently the piece of the puzzle that instigates the search does not conclusively point to internal theft.

One case in particular comes to mind to perfectly illustrate this point. My team and I conducted perpetual inventory assessment twice daily of “hot” items easily taken by employees while employed at a big box retailer. We observed an entire line of popular anti-aging products disappearing from the shelf within a week of initiating this particular employee theft investigation.

Our perpetual inventory established time frames of loss, so the other agents and I began reviewing video to look for a possible subject.  Nothing struck us at first because the customer always headed to a cashier whenever these products were selected. We discovered upon further investigation, that although the products appeared to be taken to check out, there were no sales around these times.

We started focusing on a particular cashier once this piece of the puzzle was in place and we realized we were undertaking a probable employee theft investigation. The customers purchasing the anti-aging products were consistently approaching the same cashier when checking out.

Upon further investigation into the cashier’s ringing history, we confirmed numerous cases of this associate passing merchandise to friends and family. The customer would approach the line, purchase a couple low-dollar items, and the cashier would “sweetheart” our high-risk merchandise.

This employee was terminated for internal theft after documenting these incidents for the employer. The ability to take these seemingly unrelated pieces and put them together to create a coherent picture ended a toxic employee’s opportunity to propagate employee theft and served as a warning to everyone involved.

For more information about employee theft, employee theft investigation, and internal theft please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta, Georgia.