The Perfect Easter Egg hunt

Working Loss Prevention for over 5 years you see a lot of employee theft. There is always a good thrill in catching shoplifters but the real challenge is the internal theft. I have seen all kinds of clever ways associates steal from their companies. As many cleaver ways associates find to steal, loss prevention has just as many cleaver ways to catch the internal theft.

Catching internal theft is really similar to an Easter egg hunt. You know they are out there; you just have to hunt for them. Are they taking cash? Are they stealing merchandise? Are they misusing or abusing their associate discount or company coupons? Are they taking gift cards or merchandise credits? Statistics say that 1 in 4 employees will steal from their employers. So out of the 130 employees I currently have I should have 32 case files for an employee theft investigation going.

(Yeah right I wish).

It’s kind of funny how sometimes you can sit behind a computer screen running exception reports for hours looking for employee theft and come up empty handed. You will scratch your head because you know someone somewhere is doing something but you just can’t put your finger on it. You dig and dig but yet you still can’t find something to add to your employee theft investigation. Other times they just jump right out at you. Its almost like the employee wants to get caught sometimes.

Employee theft makes up about 30% of a company’s shortage. Most of the internal theft comes from things that won’t show up on an exception report. You need to get out there and get your hands dirty. What empty packages or tags are you finding in your stockroom or near your trash compactor? What bags are your associates or janitors walking out with? The most cleaver “Easter egg” I have found so far is a janitor bringing in and out his own vacuum. It was something odd however not exactly out of the ordinary. We later come to find that he was filling up the bag with merchandise throughout his shift and walking out with it at the end of the day. Sometimes that “Easter egg” is hard to find and other times its right there in front of you to find. Just don’t let any of those eggs sit too long, they will rot.

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

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