The average employee thief steals $1,876 per incident compared to the average shoplifter who steals on average $226 per incident. Why is this? Most retailers are shocked when thy see these numbers some are even in denial. The words ring out “my employees wouldn’t do that to ME”. Oh yes they would and do!

I have personally conducted over 2300 investigations of employees involved in employee theft . They do steal and will steal anything they see as of value to them. This could be paper, pens or other office supplies for their kid’s school work (that’s not so bad…is it?) to your merchandise, cash and time.

Employees steal, including some of yours, sorry but that is just fact.

Oh man that is depressing now what do you do? Well, first off keep in mind I am not saying all employees. But at an average theft of $1,876 how many bad ones can you afford?

The solution begins with better management and controls. Remember those famous words of President Regan “trust but verify”. You must verify employee’s work as a routine. Look into a little here and a little there. Employees should believe that you look at everything. Keep them guessing.

But keep in mind you will still have people that will try to steal and some will succeed in employee theft . What do you do when you suspect employee theft ? The old school and macho approach is to investigate it yourself. Have you ever heard the analogy “a person who acts as their own attorney in court has a fool for a client”?

Another failed method is to just fire them. In that case you should first ask your self several questions: Who taught them to do this and is that person still employed here? How much have they really stolen from me? You would be shocked in most of these answers. Are you trained to look for employee theft ?

Get professional help. OK, yes that is what we do. But we are VERY good at it. However, more importantly you can waste your time and money doing it yourself and get poor results because it is not what you do for a living. Or we can fix the current employee theft problem and put you back into the drivers seat then help you to correct the situation so it does not occur that way again.

For more information about employee theft or internal theft or corporate fraud investigation or corporate fraud investigator contact us at employee theft investigation or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Statistics from Global Retail Theft Barometer 2010

Internal theft is the biggest factor when talking about inventory shrinkage. Employees around the globe cause the greatest loss to retailers. Yet, to this day, there are still managers and business owners that don’t believe their employees are stealing from them.

Recently, a window company, which has been in business for 31 years, had been operating in the red. For the last 10 years, they had been experiencing inventory shrinkage and loss. This is a small business run by a husband wife and two close friends. The friend, a bookkeeper, reported the poor sales weekly to the main owner. Worried about his business, he decided to bring in consultants to help with his losses. It was all or nothing. The consultants recommended to the owners the need for a thorough employee theft investigation and review the possibility of internal theft .

Insulted, the manager refused and stopped business with the consultants. Internal theft was not a problem at his company, and there was no need for an employee theft investigation as this was a small company and no one was stealing from him. He believes his losses were because of the downturn in the economy. Weeks passed and the poor performance continued. The managers got together talked about the possibilities of closing the business. As a result of the inventory shrinkage and poor sales performance, the team knew this could be it.

Later, the husband and wife team hired a corporate fraud investigator. The corporate fraud investigator spent a week going thru the inventory results, conducting forensic accounting, speaking with employees. The corporate fraud investigator found the answer, but knew the owners were not going to like it.

The corporate fraud investigator went to the home of the business owners, specifically, the husband and wife. He explained to them what he had done over the last week and his results. It wasn’t good and employee theft was definitely the cause. The bookkeeper of 20 years had been pocketing cash for 10 years, totaling over $1 million.

Do you really want to wait until employee theft gets to this level before you take action?

For more information about employee theft or internal theft or employee theft investigation contact us at corporate fraud investigation or call us at 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Some retail studies show that one third of all theft that a business may experience is caused by employee theft .  When a business owner looks to hire an employee, he hopes that the employee will be trustworthy and able to perform their job in a manner that helps in the function and profitability of the business.  No business owner hopes to have employees contribute to their shrink percentages.

Internal theft can be prevented or reduced in a variety of ways.  Managers and owners should maintain a good relationship with employees.  Those that are disgruntled are less likely to care about stealing from their employer than those that are happy with their jobs.  Businesses with low turnover rates have been shown to have reduced rates of internal theft in some cases.

Policies and procedures need to be in place for a business’s vital areas, and these need to be followed by everyone.  Business owners and managers need to realize that all employees could potentially choose to create a loss for their business, regardless of the fact that they have previously been a trusted employee.  Circumstances may change in an employee’s life to where he or she may be able to justify a theft from his employer.  Policies have to be enforced for every employee in order to prevent the opportunity to steal.

Another best practice is to have a background check conducted on all prospective employees.  This will weed out the candidates that may have been caught and prosecuted at another business for internal theft or other illegal activities.

When there is an employee theft investigation that needs to be conducted, businesses are wise to consult a corporate fraud investigator in order to complete an accurate and thorough investigation.

When something raises a red flag that makes a business owner suspect employee theft, there is probably much more that went unnoticed before that red flag was raised. In this case do not wait to order an employee theft investigation .

For more information about employee theft or internal theft or employee theft investigation or corporate fraud investigator or corporate fraud investigation contact us at corporate fraud investigator or call 1.770.426.256 – Atlanta Georgia

Did you know doing an employee theft investigation boosts your profits? Retail loss prevention experts estimate that employees cause larger losses than shoplifters. These facts prove the necessity for a solid retail loss prevention program and diligent employee theft investigation.

Now, we all know that inventory shrinkage caused by internal theft can cripple a store. An employee theft investigation should be tailored to your business to specifically target the highest shrink merchandise in your stores.

Recently, a company I worked for had a 10% shrink number after an inventory. Now, being in retail loss prevention , this high number told me that this store needed in depth employee theft investigation . It was obvious this store was suffering from internal theft and it was only gonna get worse if the retail loss prevention department didn’t do something about it. So, I initiated an employee theft investigation on several employees in the store.

Conducting investigations on internal theft suspects can be a daunting task if your business is not suited with the right equipment. After reviewing several hours of video, speaking with several associates, I was able to narrow down the main culprits to loss inside of this store. Employee theft was rampant in this store. The managers were even part of the problem. I arranged my employee interviews based on the active amount of their participation. First, was the manager on duty. He had keys to all parts of the store including the receiving area roll-up door (where most merchandise was exiting), and had codes to access the alarm panels and camera systems in the store.

During the interview of the manager, I asked him about internal theft in his store and what he thought of the inventory shrinkage. Immediately the manager told me that none of his employees were stealing and that shoplifters caused all of the 10% loss.

For more information about employee theft , internal theft , corporate fraud investigation or corporate fraud investigator contact us at employee theft investigation or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia