Most employee theft cases never make the news, but the highly unusual ones or those that involve tens of thousands of dollars sometimes make it to the six o’clock broadcast or the local morning paper.
One such incident occurred recently near Albany, NY, when an employee of a major retailer was arrested and charged with the theft of over $42,000 in jewelry since 2009. That’s a lot of jewelry, even for a department store.
Read the entire story here.
The theft was discovered by Loss Prevention and store management when a merchandise audit showed an excess of items unaccounted for. When the loss prevention investigator confronted the employee, she was wearing some of the stolen jewelry.
The takeaway from this story was in a quote by the police lieutenant assigned to the case: “When we get these internal theft cases, it’s someone they trust. It ends up being a significant amount of money before it’s found out.” He added the internal theft of this magnitude happen about six times a year at his department.
According to the police, the ex-employee sold some of the jewelry to pay bills, kept some for personal use, and gave some away as gifts.
No matter the reason, employee theft hurts businesses both large and small. As a matter of fact, it probably harms small businesses even more, since they operate on smaller revenues, and don’t have an employee specifically tasked as a loss prevention investigator. Small business’ ownership and employees are generally more close-knit and more like family than those of a large employer. Because of familiarity, there is a tendency to trust employees of a small business more and give them more responsibilities with less supervision.
When a small business owner suspects internal theft, it is difficult for him to view the situation from an objective standpoint. Frequently by the time there is an indication of employee theft, the problem has reached a point where it goes deeper than one employee and involves large amounts of merchandise, money, or other assets.
Loss prevention consultants can develop and conduct loss prevention audits that will expose vulnerabilities in supervision, policies, and procedures. If a problem is suspected, loss prevention consultants can isolate the cause and determine the solution. If there are dishonest employees involved, the loss prevention investigator has the ability to gain knowledge through interviews with key personnel and make appropriate recommendations.
Don’t wait until employee theft puts you and your company in the headlines. Take action to prevent it from happening in the first place with an unbiased and objective analysis from experienced loss prevention consultants.
Call 770-426-0547 to discuss your employee theft suspicions with an experienced loss prevention investigator, or click here for more information.
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