Employee Theft: The Silent Killer

The biggest killer of small businesses is employee theft. Most small business owners have little or no experience in the field of Loss Prevention thus never seeing first hand the ravages employee theft can wreak upon a business if left unchecked. There are many tools that can both deter and catch a thieving employee. A business owner’s main goal should be to deter internal theft. There are several ways to deter employees from stealing but nothing is guaranteed to work 100%.

If an employee has their mind set to steal then losses will occur, it then becomes a cat and mouse game to catch this employee. Once again most small business owners have never conducted a quality employee theft investigation. One of the best ways to either deter or catch a employee stealing is purchasing a quality CCTV system. Once again, you can but the best camera system in town but you have to set it up so as to be able maximize the deterrence value and to be able to catch the employee stealing either product or cash.

I have performed many LP consultations for small business owners who had unfortunately never gave a thought to internal theft believing that they had the best employees on the planet since they were mostly either family or friends. Many times the consultation started off with me conducting an employee theft investigation and catching their employees “red handed” stealing from their businesses. At that point we had to discuss what mistakes they had made in setting up their business and how we could change it to deter further internal theft. Numerous times it started with the purchase and set up of a good CCTV system. I always ensured the registers were adequately covered to catch any “till taps” or product pass off’s known as “sweet hearting”. The next area I would ensure was covered was the stockroom where shipping and receiving occurred, a lot of product can disappear out the back door or be concealed in the stockroom. I would also suggest the owners implement a bag/pocket check to be conducted and logged every time an employee left the premises for any reason.

These few changes in a small business owner’s mindset and strategy saved their businesses. Purchasing and implementing the right tools allowed them to deter theft and conduct quality employee theft investigations. Deterrence is the key however when losses occur having the capability to switch to investigation mode will benefit any business owner.

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

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