How to Reduce Employee Theft

Want to Reduce Employee Theft?

Whether you want to believe it or not if you’re a store owner you have to understand this one simple fact. Your employees steal from you. You probably have discovered staff doing it before, and you probably will again. The LP prevention consulting firm Jack L. Hayes International did a retail theft survey and found that 1 out of 40 employees was apprehended by their employer for theft in 2012. Additionally, it found that employees steal 5.5 times more than shoplifters on aper-case average. That’s $120.12 to $715.24!

Weed out bad apples. (Keep out the riff raff.)

Make sure that you drug test and run a background check on all potential employees. Candidates addicted to drugs are more likely to steal to support their addiction. The LP and security management consulting company King Rogers Group CEO, King Rogers himself warned, “I believe that past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior… If someone has been convicted of theft in the past, then you don’t want them handling your money.”

Use the buddy system.

More often than not, theft occurs when an employee is by him or herself at the register or in the store. Mark Doyle, the president of Jack L. Hayes International recommends you have two employees or more both opening and closing to mitigate opportunity. “Always have refunds and voids witnessed by a second employee or a manager as well,” says Doyle, who also added that the employees paired together ought not be close friends if it can be helped.

Keep a virtual eye on employees. (Virtual brother is watching.)

Knowing that they are being watched is a major deterrent for potential shoplifters. Many of the individuals who would shoplift are opportunists, ASE security systems help to eliminate that opportunity. In the event that theft happens anyway, our systems help to catch it after it takes place. Installing security systems in loading areas, the store itself and storage areas. Facial recognition software and High-definition video can help to clearly ID staff and their transactions.

Monitor trash removal.

Employees often steal merchandise by concealing it in the outgoing trash and then retrieving it later from the outside trashcan or dumpster. He recommends putting controls in place to reduce the opportunities, such as using clear garbage bags, requiring all boxes to be flattened and locking all dumpsters.

One method frequently used by employees trying to steal from the store is to stash it in the trash, hiding it and then retrieving it later. Doyle observes, “It’s trash. No one wants to deal with trash, so dishonest employees will often take advantage of this opportunity.” he advised that you put controls in place to reduce opportunities, which might look like using clear garbage bags so that any merchandise would be visible, locking all dumpsters so the employees know they can’t go retrieve stashed items, and flattening all boxes so there is no chance of hiding items therein.

Have an employee tip line.

Reward associates for reporting suspicious behavior. Sometimes employees will notice something fishy but either don’t feel comfortable speaking up about it because they don’t want their boss or peers to judge. Sometimes they are just suspicious and are not positive if it is a real theft. An anonymous tip line gives them the opportunity to say what they’ve seen without it being a big deal if it wasn’t, while being incentivized with a reward if it leads to the transgressor being caught.

Additionally, a locked anonymous tip box in the break room or somewhere visible gives them that same opportunity. Terrence Shulman, founder of the The Shulman Center for Compulsive Theft, Spending & Hoarding and author of Biting the Hand that Feeds: The Employee Theft Epidemic (Infinity Publishing, 2005) notes, “If people know that their fellow co-workers are watching out for theft, they will think twice before stealing because there are higher odds they will be caught.”

Get to know your employees.

“A happy employee is a more honest employee. It really does help reduce employee theft when your staff feels that you care,” says Shulman who advises talking and getting to know whether your employees are undergoing financial difficulties or exceptionally stressful times which are factors that increase the impulse to steal. He suggests, “You might be able to give them extra work, point them in the direction of a local food bank or help them connect with charitable services in the community.”