Employee Theft: The Quiet Threat Of The Retail Industry

Employee theft like external theft is an unfortunate reality for the retail professional.  Many small business owners and large corporations are looking to new and traditional methods to reduce their exposure to internal theft.   Although, technology increases and new methods of detecting employee theft are developed, traditional employee theft investigations can be an effective method of removing this element from you business.

The traditional employee theft investigation aims to not only remove the individual form your operation, but also attempts to identify any control failures or preventable loopholes in your business.  These employee theft investigations usually involve the work of the entire loss prevention and management teams.  The investigations most often begin with a tip, an observed behavior, a cash shortage or just general suspicion of an employee.  When the loss prevention department receives this information they begin their employee theft investigation.  Commonly, the in store loss prevention team begins by monitoring and working with the store management team to effectively schedule the employee in question.  This gives the team the opportunity to watch the employee and identify how they are causing a loss to the organization.  This not only provides the method, but also what controls the store needs to change to prevent these actions in the future.  Once the internal theft is identified, the employee theft investigation moves on to the interview.

The internal theft interview is a controlled employee theft discussion.  This allows the loss prevention professional to discuss the situation surrounding the loss and allows the individual engaged in the employee theft to provide a reason why.  The interview often results in corrective action, up to and including termination or prosecution.

While most large organization have a department that is solely dedicated to deal with the internal theft issues, smaller businesses do not.  So what is the small business owner to do?  There are many organizations that can provide this service and an effect price.  This service can have a large impact on your business and improve your general moral.

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