Preventing Employee Theft
No business owner wants to believe that his or her employees are stealing from the company. Unfortunately, employee theft is quite common. In fact, a report issued in 2012 estimated that employee theft in Canada grew to more than 33 percent of theft-related incidents that year. This is up from 19 percent in 2008. The retail industry tends to suffer more losses from employee theft than other industries, but it happens in all businesses. Therefore, it’s important that you take steps to reduce the likelihood of it happening to you.
Here are a few tips for what you can do to reduce incidents of employee theft.
Know Your Employees
It’s important to learn about your employees and to get to know them. Not only can this help raise morale and engagement, but it also allows you to spot suspicious behaviour. Employees who are acting differently than they normally do could be up to something.
Plus, building personal relationships with employees improves comradery, which decreases theft. People are much less likely to steal from someone that they have a positive relationship with.
Supervise Employees
No one is suggesting that you watch over every employee’s shoulder every minute of every day, but supervising employees is crucial. This is especially true for new employees.
You don’t need to do all of the supervising yourself. Whenever possible, have more than one employee working at a time. People are much less likely to steal when there is someone else around. Rotate the employees who are paired together for extra safety.
Make sure that transactions such as voids, refunds and other transactions involving cash or returned merchandise are witnessed by a second employee. Make this a company policy.
Keep Accurate Records
Employees often take advantage of lax records to steal because they know that the likelihood of the theft being noticed is much lower than in a company where diligent record keeping occurs. Keeping detailed records of store stock, cash on hand, cheques received, etc. can let employees know that you are aware of everything that goes on at work. This will reduce theft.
Use Video Surveillance
By installing video surveillance cameras at your property, you can watch over the location at all times. Make sure that your employees know that you have this capability. The fact that they’re being watched will reduce the risk of theft. No one wants to be caught in the act.
Control Access
Physical security tools can be used to control access to areas that contain valuables or commonly stolen items. For example, stock rooms and other such areas should be locked and only trusted staff members should be provided with keys. The same is true for cabinets that contain merchandise, such as those that hold jewelry, electronics or other valuable items. These cabinets should be locked and only a select number of employees should be provided with keys.
This reduces theft and, if a theft does occur, it makes it much, much easier to pinpoint who may have done it.
As you can see, there are a number of steps that you can take to prevent employee theft. Using a combination of the techniques listed will give you the best chance at keeping your property safe.
Want some more helpful tips to improving the security of your business? Download our helpful guide to Improving Your Security Mindset.
