Who Commits Employee Theft? – Atlanta Georgia

At this point we all know that employee theft goes on in every organization. However, the million dollar question still remains: who will it be? I was told once of an old accepted truth within loss prevention circles. It’s called the 10-10-80 rule. What this rule basically states is that 10% of people will never steal, no matter the circumstances. 10% of people will steal given their first opportunity and continue to do so at every chance they get. 80% of people can go either way depending on how they rationalize the opportunity and access the risk involved. It is our job to sway the thinking of that 80% to believing that it’s just not worth it.

Statistics show that younger employees tend to steal far more often than older ones. Before you go putting the kibosh on your hiring of the under 30 crowd, statistics also show that when older employees do steal they tend to steal a lot more than their younger counterparts. Managers who have been employed for over 3 years are the usual culprits when it comes to employee theft . They’ve been around long enough to know the system inside and out, including any loopholes that might exist. Often they may be disgruntled or consider themselves underpaid, under-appreciated or both.

Most employee theft comes to the attention of the employer by another employee or strictly by some sort of accident. On average it can take up to 18 months for an employer to catch an employee that has been stealing. Imagine how much damage one person can do in that amount of time. A smaller business is less likely to be able to absorb that type of loss when it happens. There are a number of cases where the theft of one individual has driven a small business into bankruptcy. The fact is that anyone can commit employee theft , so you must be vigilant in your efforts to identify them.

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