Employee theft is considered and perceived as one of the biggest crimes affecting the retail industry today. Billions of dollars a year are lost due to employee theft and shoplifting crime. Many retail stores seeking to prevent losses employ security devices to counteract this ever present issue hopping to increase their revenues and decrease their losses. For a retail owner, preventing shoplifting loss is of the utmost importance. Shoplifting is a crime that continues to increase yearly, and owners need the most current technology in the market to counteract this devastating crime. What are some of the anti-theft devices your business should be using? From Jewel Lok’s, Shark Tags, Spider Wraps, Nano Gates and clothing alarms to video surveillance, these are some of the devices businesses would benefit from to decrease their losses. Visit Our Web store at www.RetailLossPreventionStore.com for more information.
7 Ways Your Employees Are Stealing From You
You don’t know it, but one of your employees may be stealing from you. But why would anyone want to steal from you? Don’t people think you’re a nice person?
Not him. He doesn’t show it, but he thinks you’re kind of a jerk. He thinks you’re too demanding and that you don’t treat him with the respect that he deserves. He thinks he’s underpaid and overworked. He thinks you’re clearly making the big bucks, driving around in that new, expensive car and mysteriously disappearing for “business meetings.” He’s got a family and expenses to consider too.
Yeah, he thinks he has every right to steal from you. And you will probably not even notice. He’s got some tricks up his sleeve to put a few extra bucks in his pocket.
He may collude with a fellow employee. If he’s frustrated, then maybe someone else is too. He’s going to try and find someone a little higher up on the food chain, someone who has authority to approve expenses. They’ll create a fake supplier — a little shell company equally owned by both of them. Then they’ll fabricate a few invoices and write checks to that company and split the money — your money.
6 Tips to Reduce Employee Theft
Storeowners don’t want to think their employees will steal from their store. But every day merchants discover that their trusted staff members have done exactly that. According to a retail theft survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International, a loss prevention consulting firm, one out of every 40 employees was apprehended for theft by their employer in 2012. The survey also found that on average, employees steal 5.5 times more than shoplifters on a per-case average ($715.24 vs $129.12).
Thankfully, there are ways to surround yourself with staff you can trust. Here are six tips from our experts:
1. Weed out bad apples. Run a background screening and a drug test on all potential hires. Employees with drug addictions are at higher risk for stealing to support their habit. “I believe that past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior,” says King Rogers, chief executive officer of the King Rogers Group, a loss prevention and security management consulting company. “If someone has been convicted of theft in the past, then you don’t want them handling your money.”
Use the buddy system. Often theft happens when one employee is alone in the store or at the register. Doyle recommends having two employees work for both opening and closing to limit opportunity. Always have refunds and voids witnessed by a second employee or a manager as well, says Mark Doyle, president of Jack L. Hayes International. Rotate the employees paired together and avoid having close friends witness transactions for each other.
5 Technologies to Help Reduce Employee Theft
According to an investigation by CBS news, most companies lose about five percent of their revenue to an inside job: Employee theft. The Department of Justice asserts that 33 percent of employees commit some type of fraud and–not surprisingly–about 33 percent of all companies that file for bankruptcy are directly put into that position by employee theft. However, the US Chamber of Commerce cites an even scarier statistic: 75 percent of employees will steal from their company at some point, and many do it repeatedly.
Employee theft can range from seriously toying with accounts to taking home a stapler from the office, but it all adds up. The first thing to do in order to prevent employee theft is to simply expect it. Employers should also be firm, and institute a zero-tolerance policy for theft. Theft will happen inevitably, but here are 5 technologies to reduce the occurrence of it.
1. Remote Monitoring
Remote monitoring involves placing cameras throughout a work environment, which is especially useful for businesses with lots of inventory, such as retail stores. Whether or not the employees know about the monitoring is up to the discretion of the employer. However, letting employees know they’re being monitored can help sidestep any potential “privacy violation” finger-pointing down the road.
