Employee Theft – Good Employee Goes Bad?

Considering employee theft, no company willingly hires a thief.  Most companies actually run some sort of criminal history or background check before they hire someone, just to be sure that they aren’t hiring a thief.  So why does an allegedly honest employee suddenly turn to a life of crime and take money from his employer’s pocket.

May people may think that calling employee theft a “life of crime” is an overreach, but not the thousands of employers whose businesses are harmed by these thieves.

How do employers allow internal theft to happen?  Is there any way to stop it?

Several of elements have to exist for theft by employees to continue:

The employee has some perceived need for the cash or merchandise; the employee either can’t or doesn’t want to pay for the merchandise; the thief has the opportunity to convert the property to his own use; the thief has little fear of being caught, or of the consequences if he is caught.

After conducting hundreds of employee theft investigations, the common denominator for individuals who continue stealing from their employers has been a lack of oversight by supervision, or the lack of internal controls within the company.

Generally, a trusted employee is allowed to go about his business without being audited or routinely checked up on by supervision.  Employee thieves almost always start by stealing small amounts and grow bolder as time goes on and they remain undetected.  Frequency of thefts and amounts taken increase until the habit is out of hand even in the mind of the employee.

The solution to internal theft lies in the culture of the company itself.  Policies and procedures are designed and implemented which require certain job functions to be directly supervised or periodically audited to preclude continued employee theft.  The fact that this happens should be communicated to all employees as they are hired and reinforced regularly.  This should include every job function fro trash disposal (what else go out with the trash?) to the accounting department (does the same person do receipts, deposits, and disbursements?)

Maybe it’s time to take an objective look at your company’s policies and procedures and whether or not they’re being enforced consistently.

Loss prevention consultants have experience in analyzing and correcting any deficiency that allows employee theft to exist and thrive.  An expert in loss prevention investigation can quickly and economically focus on those areas of the business that actually encourage internal theft through lack of attention.

To speak with a loss prevention investigator about employee theft, internal theft, or an employee theft investigation, call 1-770-426-0547 or click here for more information.