Unfortunately employee theft (also known as internal theft) is a reality when operating a business of any size.  More than half of all retail industry shortage is a result of employee theft.  Every business owner needs to be aware of this and take the appropriate actions to confront this reality.

Employee theft frequently manifests through internal collusion or assisting the theft by an external party.  Most often though internal theft is the primary form of employee theft that impacts businesses.

Internal theft happens in a variety of different ways.  Most retail businesses have cashiers and, of course, these cashiers have access to many assets.  Retail cashiers have access to the register funds.  This access and the level of direct supervision frequently create an environment that is conducive for internal theft.

It is critical to remember that each employee is a potential avenue to loss.  Every employee in an organization has access to assets.  This means that not only the business’s cashiers present the possibility for loss.   The stock workers have access to your inventory, the facilities’ staff often work unsupervised and after hours, and the management staff has direct access to the safe and reserve funds

If employee theft is suspected, the next step should be to initiate employee theft investigations.  As soon as an owner or manager notices that loss has occurred, the employee theft investigation is indicated – it should also become a routine measure to uncover loss yet unnoticed and to serve as warning as well.

The goal of employee theft investigations should be to uncover and address internal theft issues.  An CCTV systems, personnel surveillance, and controlled auditing.

The goal should be not only removing the guilty party, but also identifying any control or supervision issues.  An employee theft investigation also can support the course of correction that might be indicated.

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

There are numerous instances in business when it is necessary to perform the employee theft investigation.  The fact is – employees steal … a lot!! – this is the distressing reality. Research reveals internal theft (also called employee theft) accounts for 50-70% of retail shrink.

One of the most difficult aspects of investigating employees is the trust factor – we want to trust our employees.  It is especially troublesome to accept that one or more employees are stealing from you. Conducting an employee theft investigation is imperative when money and merchandise start missing in order to uncover internal theft.

There are several things to do during the employee theft investigation.  Reviewing reports is first on the agenda.  Many losses can be solved by tracking cash over and cash shorts, reviewing refund and void trends, and researching ordering and inventory change histories.

Cameras are great instruments for catching and verifying employee theft. We turn to cameras if reviewing reports does not produce results.  Either by standard cameras on the sales floor or covert cameras in offices, cameras can indisputably verify the identity of the thief.

Unfortunately, there are times when none of these methods work.  I have found myself at wits end on several occasions with strong suspicion of an employee, but no actual proof.  This is where an Integrity Shop can be of great benefit.

The employer can create a circumstance or set of circumstances providing an employee the opportunity to “do the right thing” in order to assess a suspected employee’s integrity; thus demonstrating integrity or lack thereof.

One may put extra money into the till or drop a gift card by the register and then watch cameras to see what that employee does with the money or gift card.  The employee should turn in the money or gift card since it does not belong to him or her. The employee proves whether he or she can be trusted by what they choose to do with the money or card.

If the employee keeps the money or card, they have given the employer the leverage needed when confronting the dishonesty as well as the other shortages in their work station.

For more information about employee theft investigation, employee theft, and internal theft please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia.

I received a phone call recently from a friend of mine who works for a national retail chain as a district level investigator. She observed an undercover police officer escorting someone back to his patrol car as she was leaving a store. She also noticed that the parking lot was suddenly filled with squad cars surrounding the area.

Needless to say, she was rather intrigued by these events and decided to stay and observe what was unfolding before her eyes.  One of the store employees who had been sitting in his car was handcuffed and taken away moments later.

She immediately went into the store to let the store managers know that there was a very distinct possibility that this employee would not be returning from his lunch break.

Although the protocol of innocent until proven guilty is vital to our legislative system, it does not follow that we should be negligent in regard to our due diligence.

Initiating a valid employee theft investigation when doubt exists about an employee’s integrity in the workplace is vital in protecting assets, reducing losses and assuring that only trustworthy employees remain employees in one’s business.

An employee theft investigation yields no evidence of wrong doing if the employee under suspicion is clean. However, if you have an employee selling drugs, or conducting other illicit activities on his or her lunch break in the store’s parking lot, odds are good that something will be found when conducting an employee theft investigation on such an employee.

We like to think as investigators that we are on top of every employee theft incident. We don’t ever want to think that we overoked or weren’t smart enough to catch every instance of employee theft or internal theft happening right under our nose.

It is wisdom to set aside our pride and allow someone else’s investigation open the door to conducting the employee theft investigation indicated as a result of another’s expertise and good fortune.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help deter employee theft and internal theft challenges and facilitate employee theft investigation.

For more information about employee theft, employee theft investigation and internal theft please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia.

We recently had a situation with one of our soda vendors. These are commission-based positions that are paid based off of how much product we invoice from them. If they take away bad/ old product, it is deducted from their monthly totals, and of course from their commissions. While they are not specifically employees of our store, this form of vendor theft falls into the category of employee theft.

This vendor had been stealing back his own product for about five years. He would drop off and invoice for ten cases of soda. After sitting and chatting for a bit, the manager would go off to attend to other things. The vendor would then put cases back in boxes and wheel them back out. Anyone who saw him just assumed it was old product that he was supposed to take back. No one ever thought to check for an expiration date on the drinks, much less to see if the cases were properly documented on an invoice.

The store was not reconciling their invoices with each shipment, like they were supposed to, and the vendor knew it. That is why this internal theft was so easy to do. No one noticed, and no one paid attention or questioned what was going on.

It wasn’t until my first set of inventories that I noticed huge quantities of sodas missing. When I saw this same trend in several stores in the district, I knew I needed to start an employee theft investigation.

After noticing the lack of credits on the invoices in several stores, and seeing the same vendor in each store I knew something was going on. It didn’t take long to figure out what had been happening. The vendor’s company was notified and the vendor was terminated immediately.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problemsand helpwith your Employee Theft Investigation.

While it did occur, it was very rare that potential employees went out of their way to get hired to a particular company just so they could steal. Background checks can only tell you what someone has done in the past, not what they will do in the future. That is why it is so unfortunate when you are face with an employee theft situation. One of the hardest parts of working is retail management, is dealing with employee theft– alternately referred to as internal theft. It’s a personal blow to think that someone you know, someone you trust, is stealing from you and your company.

During the interview portion of employee theft investigation, most employees said that they stole because they couldn’t afford the items. In my experiences dealing with employee theft investigations, it is often an unforeseen circumstance that makes these associates change their honest ways. It could be that a spouse lost their job, or medical bills came sneaking up on them.

While you can’t control the outside circumstances of every employee’s life, there are some steps you can take in preventing internal theft. By using anti theft devices like pedestals, hard tags and labels you can often keep your employees honest by making them realize how hard it will be to discreetly steal from your store. Providing visual cues like these retail anti theft devices, goes a long way to preventing employee theft.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation

I was taught three things cause shrink throughout my loss prevention career: internal theft, external theft, and paperwork error. The number one cause is internal theft, followed by shoplifting, then operational miscues. 

Conducting an employee theft investigation is imperative to keep track of employees. These investigations take very little time to complete and are extremely beneficial in weeding out dishonest employees who are causing more harm than good to your business. 

In order to prevent employee theft, store management together with loss prevention has an obligation to monitor and follow up on transactions that appear out of the ordinary. When dishonest employees are apprehended and their employment terminated, other employees take note. The end result is more employees who are disinclined to act dishonestly. 

The impact is extremely powerful when an employee is considering stealing and observes a co-worker being escorted out of the store by loss prevention, or in extreme cases the police. When employees realize that their work is monitored at all times internal theft is prevented. 

The worst cause of shrink is employee theft and unfortunately it does occur. However, with loss prevention initiating and concluding a proper employee theft investigation, the amount of loss is reduced and profit increases. Attending to effective loss prevention produces and maintains honest and productive employees in your business.   

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that prevent employee theft and internal theft and help with Employee Theft Investigation. 

For more information about employee theft, employee theft investigation and internal theft please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.

I was coordinating a large internal theft investigation case which required that several employee theft investigation interviews were taking place simultaneously due to the large number of employees being interviewed.

After having completed one of my employee theft interviews, I stepped outside to take a break.  A few minutes later I was joined by another loss prevention consultant. Tony had just interviewed an employee who admitted to theft and while he was writing out his confession, Tony decided to take a break as well.

I have more than 2,000 employee theft investigation cases under my belt and I always try to think of ways that someone may be committing employee theft . Needless to say I have trouble passing some integrity tests since I do spend a great deal of time thinking about theft. I am not making plans for myself to steal but I always wonder how other people may go about stealing.

While standing outside, I noticed some fuel pumps. The fuel pumps didn’t have a look to secure them and I also didn’t notice any log sheet where anyone would record the pumping of gas.

As my mind was honing in on how easy it would be to steal gas from pumps that are not secured and most likely not audited in any form, I asked Tony to go back inside and ask his suspect how many gallons of gas he was stealing on a regular basis.

The suspect was surprised by the question but admitted to having stolen at least 40 gallons of gas each month over the last 24 months. Guess thinking about theft had paid off again for the good guys.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.

I remember the times when my husband of 32 years first shared his career goals with me. He wanted to be a police officer initially and I was proud to stand behind him and had promised myself to be understanding of his crazy work schedule and the bizarre things he would encounter during the days and nights while being on duty. But after receiving his degree in Criminal Justice – Private Security Administration and Management, he turned his mind to discovering internal theft and conducting employee theft investigations .

I was raised to put in an honest day of work with your employer and even bringing a pencil home from work could be considered employee theft . I could simply not believe that anyone would be stealing from their employer and I was truly wondering what he was going to be doing each day with his time. Since employee theft was a foreign concept to me, I didn’t realize at first how busy he would actually be during his working hours.

His days consisted of performing loss prevention audits, conducting training sessions for associates of all levels and conducting employee theft investigations. I simply could not believe how many internal theft cases he was dealing with day in and day out.

People would be risking their jobs to steal money from the cash drawers, steal merchandise, commit time theft, etc. It certainly kept him busy and at the dinner table we always had a very interesting subject to discuss – his day at the office.

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

When we talk about baiting as it relates to employee theft or an employee theft investigation, we are not talking about catching fish that live in the streams or oceans. However, bait different from a live worm or a fly can be used when trying to uncover internal theft and trying to hook the responsible party.

Years ago my husband was hired by a local business after guests had reported that they were missing cash and jewelry from their rooms. And he knew just what to do. Instead of accompanying him on a fishing trip on a rocky boat, I was able to spend time with him at a beautiful hotel while he was fishing for the culprit who was responsible for the internal theft.

After having checked in, he installed a concealed camera in the room, we changed into beach wear and he asked me to count out $150 in various denominations after he had turned on the camera. We then put the money into my wallet which we hid in one of the drawers of the dresser. Then we left for the pool.

After a few hours in the sun, we returned back to the room. It was all clean and properly made up. My husband had not yet turned off the camera and he asked me to open my wallet and count out the money in front of the camera.

I was almost giddy when I counted the money; although I had experience with counting money acquired when being a bank teller, I had to count the dollar bills multiple times. Sure enough, a $20 bill was missing. A regular hotel guest may have never noticed that the money was missing.

My husband had turned into full camera, rewound it and watched the tape to find the culprit responsible for the employee theft.

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

It isn’t something that we would ever want to admit too or acknowledge openly, but the truth is that there are some Loss Prevention Agents out there guilty of as much employee theft as any other employee.  The fact of the matter is we are human beings and as such are prone to the same moral lapses, financial pitfalls, or sociopathic tendencies as anyone else.  No human being is perfect, even those who try to put out the image that they are.

Just as with any other form of authority there needs to be a method of checks and balances to ensure that no one can try to take advantage of any opportunities.  Of all the tools available to provide these checks and balances the CCTV system is by far the greatest asset.  With a well implemented camera system any store can observe the sales floor as well as any offices in the building.  Giving employees, no matter their designation or level, as few places to covertly commit internal theft as possible allows for a greater reduction simply through deterrence.  However the threat of being seen isn’t enough.  LP agents and managers usually know where any and all cameras are currently active in your store which is why measures need to be taken to discreetly place covert units from time to time.  Utilizing these prudent tools is vital to guaranteeing that there is little to no chance for ANY of your employees to get away with an employee theft.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Internal Theft and Employee Theft problems and helpwith your Employee Theft Investigation.

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