Employee Theft: It’s hurting your team.-Atlanta Georgia

The benefit of stopping employee theft as soon as it is suspected is enormous for the retailer or business owner.  Employee theft depletes profits and also the morale of associates who are aware of the theft, but choose not to get involve or notify their supervisor.  In my past experience I have seen entire work teams improve their performance simply by seeing a dishonest associate finally get caught.  Employee theft is not isolated to just monetary profits.  Poor morale and a poorly performing work team can also be a consequence of internal theft.

Internal theft places honest employees in a rather awkward position.  Many hard working and honest associates do not want to get involved and allow dishonest associates to continue to steal from the company.  Sometimes these associates are afraid or do not think they will be taken seriously by management if they come forth.  Internal theft is often seen by other employees before it is ever brought to the attention of management.  Associates in an organization need to know that every report of theft will be taken seriously and handled confidentially. An employer should start an employee theft investigation at once to determine the validity of the report and the scope of the associate dishonesty.

An employee theft investigation is first begun as an answer to a question about a specific incident or transaction.  The purpose of an employee theft investigation is to answer those questions and to determine whether suspicions of theft are validated based on the evidence.  As a loss prevention professional, I have solved many dishonest associate theft cases because I had honest employees share their suspicions and concerns. I have never had an employee theft investigation that I conducted based on employee tip to not identify theft or a training issue. It is imperative that a retailer have a program in place to help honest associates feel they can share their concerns about their fellow employees and it be handled confidentially.

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