Employee Theft Investigations…What is your policy?

No matter if your business is big or small; you should have a policy for employee theft investigation.  There are many definitions of employee theft; stealing, falsifying documents, theft from possessions of customers, embezzlement.  According to the US Chamber of Commerce,  employee theft is costing American businesses $40 billion dollars annually.  Yes, that was BILLION with a B!!

Employee theft investigations can be tricky. The first precaution is always using a third party investigator.  But how will your employees know if they are breaking the rules?  You should always have a WRITTEN employee theft POLICY.  This policy will outline disciplinary actions and also define what stealing is!

Then you should have a written policy outlining how the employee theft investigation will be done.  For instance, have the policy outline things such as how personal articles would be searched in the event of an investigation.  Also outline how things such as lockers or company property should be treated and used.  Even misuse of a company computer can be considered employee theft, but actions such as these would be very hard to terminate based on that if a policy is not in place.

Lastly, always ensure that your management team leads by example.  If an employee theft investigation is underway, but management has never led by example and always violates the written policy, you may not have any leg to stand on to prosecute or terminate.

For additional information on employee theft investigation, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.