Employee theft biggest threat & most overlooked

When interviewing retailers experiencing inventory losses I am not surprised anymore how quickly they dismiss employee theft as a possible issue.  Not surprised because it is almost universally met with the response “I trust my people they have been with me for a long time” or “we have a family business here”.  In fact they often seem pretty defensive and sometimes mildly offended that I would bring up internal theft as a possibility.

Year after year the number one source of retail loss is via employee theft as measured by multiple neutral organizations that are tracking a wide variety of retailers across the nation.  In fact it is found to account for close to half of all inventory losses on retail businesses.

To properly catch employee theft you should be sure you have good procedures in place that are checked by multiple people.  There should be more than one person responsible for any task related to inventory. Having systems in place will raise questions when anything unusual happens.

You should also be sure to have a good camera system in place that records activity in your store.  This is a major resource for proving  internal theft and many other issues like false slip and fall claims.  A good system will deliver face recognition.  How many times have you seen the news show a blurred out figure caught “on tape” in a robbery?  Quality only costs a little bit more.

The best way to solve an employee theft issue is to rely on those who are trained in the area.  Loss prevention professionals are trained on interviewing and conducting an employee theft investigation .  Using these professionals also separates you from the process and protects you from potentially damaging relationships with good employees.

For more info visit employee theft.