The Two-Headed Monster: Employee Theft and Shoplifting

The big news is that in 2013 the rate of retail shrinkage continued to grow because of the continuing economic crisis.

Employee theft and shoplifting still take the largest bites out of a retailer’s profits out of all categories of shrink, combining for 66 percent of the total.

Comparing the two, employee theft and shoplifting, most people would expect shoplifting to lead the way. Statistics from the Global Retail Theft Barometer for the United States, shoplifting does win the theft race at 34 percent of the total to 32 percent for employee theft.

In frequency of instances, there are far more shoplifters than employee thieves, but the average amount stolen by employees is estimated to be 6 to 10 times the average amount taken by shoplifters.

The crime of employee theft should be easier than shoplifting for the retailer to control:  After all, the employee is a known quantity (why would any business owner hire a thief?) and his/her actions are apt to be examined at any time by management or storeowners.  Yet, employee theft continues.

If there are any recurrent themes in employee theft cases, they are these:  The employee began stealing on a small scale and increased both frequency and amounts as he/she became bolder; and the employee is generally in a position some of degree of trust and is not audited or checked up on regularly.

No retailer should assume that he knows his employees well enough to say, “Sally Salesclerk will never steal from me.  She’s my most trusted employee.”  A statement like that will only lead to disappointment. The Retailers who make these types of statements are naïve to the retail environment. There is always a threat of both employee theft and shoplifting. What separates good leaders from bad, is awareness and action.

If you are not aware of how and why employees steal you will never see it unless it hits you in the face. The very nature of employee theft is behind the scenes. So unless you know what to look for such as specific employee behavior, actions and attitudes, you will have lost a lot of money and merchandise and it will be too late. We can provide you with training that is both easy and affordable. Arm yourself with these techniques and you will win the employee theft battle.

When it comes to Shoplifters the best attack is to make their life difficult enough that they go down the street to someone else who is not prepared. This is not that difficult to achieve. Shoplifters by their very nature require anonymity and brief privacy to do their “job”. Customer service will take care of much of this. However, as retailers we cannot provide enough customer coverage as we would like because of payroll limitations. And we cannot be everywhere at one time. Camera systems are passive and are not a threat to the shoplifter and they know it. That is where a Checkpoint System comes in. A Checkpoint System is working 24/7, no holidays, sick time, breaks…

Regardless of the shrink figures, no retailer should relax his standards.  Continue to educate staff members on shoplifting prevention, install a Checkpoint System and have training and controls in place to eliminate the possibility of employee theft. Then react quickly when it is suspected. We can teach you how!

Take steps now to avoid having profits eaten by the Two-Headed Profit Monsters, employee theft and shoplifting, and reduce your shrinkage losses. Call us today at 1-770-426-0547 or email us at [email protected] and fix the problem once and for all.