| Studies show that 25% of loss in the retail | | | | they have taken, because they think if they say |
| business comes from shoplifting, but a whopping | | | | nothing it will look like they are lying. |
| 38% of loss comes from employee theft. If your | | | | 5. Keep valuables under lack and key at all times |
| business has workers like that, who needs to | | | | and severely limit access to sensitive areas. |
| worry about shoplifters? Too many small business | | | | 6. Make sure employees know that you expect |
| owners and even large business managers are | | | | them to be honest. If you don't clearly define the |
| too trusting of their employees and therefore | | | | rules of right and wrong you're leaving them open |
| don't take some common sense steps toward | | | | to interpretation and employees will take |
| deterring employee theft. Here are some proven | | | | advantage of you by claiming, "I didn't know |
| ways to keep employees from stealing from you. | | | | these supplies weren't for personal use" or "I |
| These suggestions come from professional | | | | didn't know I couldn't take this one little thing |
| theft-prevention consultants: | | | | home" or even "No one told me I couldn't just |
| | | | borrow that" and so on. |
| 1. Tell applicants that they will be subject to drug | | | | 7. Keep a closer eye on employees. Do your job. |
| testing. Even if you don't test, the suggestion of | | | | 8. Order the money saving guide put out by Small |
| drug testing is enough to weed out many | | | | Business Administration. The SBA guide suggests |
| unsavory characters. | | | | tempting employees with the opportunity to steal |
| 2. Complete background checks on potential | | | | in order to test them as well as other effective |
| employees or at least to employees who will be in | | | | strategies. |
| sensitive positions such as handling money, | | | | 9. Watch out for employee theft of company |
| handling goods in an unsupervised area, etc. A | | | | time. Many employees are time thieves; some |
| few hundred dollars spent on employee screening | | | | without even being aware of it. Time theft |
| will save thousands in future theft. | | | | contributes to hundreds of billions of dollars worth |
| 3. Ask the right questions in the right way, during | | | | of employee theft each year. |
| interviews. Rapid-fire questions will catch applicants | | | | 10. Prevent time theft by watching for: |
| unaware and make them spit out truths they | | | | employees who make long and unnecessary |
| weren't planning to tell. How? Write out questions | | | | personal calls while at work, employees who linger |
| ahead of time which bluntly test the employee's | | | | at the water cooler or coffee pot or other social |
| ethics. Design some scenarios in which the | | | | gathering place, employees who deliberately drag |
| employee will have to answer a question or solve | | | | their feet on projects. |
| a problem in a hypothetical situation and give him | | | | It's up to you to solve the problem of employee |
| a very short time to answer, or just ask blunt | | | | time theft by making your employee aware of |
| questions about their past employment | | | | what they are doing and by requesting that they |
| experiences. | | | | stop immediately. Let them know that you'll be |
| 4. Ask outright how much they've stolen, the | | | | checking on them and follow up on a regular basis. |
| approximate dollar amount of how much they | | | | And remember to prevent employee theft in the |
| steal a year, examples of what they have stolen, | | | | first place by following the suggestions in this |
| etc. Thieves assumes that everyone steals a little | | | | article and by making wise hiring decisions. |
| and will be surprisingly forthcoming about what | | | | |