Coming soon Domestic Violence Mediation
schedule an Employee Theft Mediation
Finding the right employee is a difficult undertaking at best. Coupled with the expensive associated with training, outfitting, building trust, Employee Theft Mediation, with case management, could be an invaluable tool in saving the cost associated with termination of the employee as well as allowing both parties to find the root causes that led to the negative experience.
75% OF ALL EMPLOYEES STEAL FROM THEIR EMPLOYER
What are my employees stealing?
Services
Companies that offer services may often include an employee discount on those services. There is a potential for abuse with any disount. Employees may try to use those services for free
Company Data
Sensitive company data theft can be the most dangerous types of data. It can put client information at risk as well as company trade secrets. Data theft can also include employee personal information, credit card numbers, customer contact lists, etc. Company assets can also be in danger. The ramifications of the loss of sensitive customer and employee data can go far beyond just the theft itself. Customers and employees alike would hesitate to trust your company again with their data.
Money
Cash is more of a risk for retail establishments than other types of business. Employees manage cash in cash registers and therefore have opportunities to take ash. Alternatively, an employee could overcharge a customer and then keep the difference for themselves. Any business that has petty cash nay run the risk of cash theft.
Theft of Payroll
Every business has payroll tasks and employees responsible for them. Therefore, every business is at rrisk of payroll theft. Employees responsible for tasks related to finance can steal from their employers by either cashing coworkers checks themselves or by writing false checks and then cashing them.
Time
Employees steal time from their employer in two ways. First, they can falsify their time clock records to make it look like they were at work. Secondly, employees spend excessive amounts of time on non-work-related tasks.
How to Prevent Employee Theft
There are some steps that can be taken to prevent employee theft. Installing security measures will help prevent employee theft. Other methods of discouraging theft by making it undesirable to steal. A more sensible theft deterrent is to implement a companywide anti-theft campaign and training program
Hire carefully. Utilization of stringent hiring standards may help to prevent thieves from infiltrating your workforce. Don't appear to be too anxious to hire just anyone. Take your time, it would be beneficial to the company in the long run.
Be Consistent with Consequences. Having policies in place to address theft consequences can be a disincentive to stealing, especially if employees are educated about these policies from the very beginning. If an employee does steal, it is important to be consistent with following through on established policies. If an employee feels they are able to get away with stealing or suffer lesser consequences, they may feel the risk is worth it.
How to handle employee theft situations
If your measures to prevent theft have failed and you discover that employees have been stealing from you, it is important to handle it cocrrectly. Hadling theft properly can help ensure theft does not reoccur, either by the same employee or other employees.
Gather Evidence
Whether you want to involve the police or not (i suggest you don't) it's important to have solid evidence before accusing an employee of theft. It's essential to be able to prove the theft occurred so you can take appropriate action. Its also important you are 100 percent positive you are confronting the right person.
Terminate or Not..That is the Question
Recruiting, hiring, training an employee is a very lengthy and costly process. As a business owner, you would have to assess if the theft is severe enough to warrant a termination or not. If you terminate the employee, it would be necessary to begin the process of attaining a new employee all over again. If you decide to keep the employee, it would be essential to have him or her undergo extensive training and other conditions of employment to keep their job. It is a weighted decision.
Mediate the Theft
Mediating the theft represents a completely different approach to employee theft. By mediating the case, you would discover the root causes of the theft, come up with a customized way to address the theft and maybe even help solve a pressing problem for the employee. By taking this approach, you could save money on repeating the hiring process, and may even discover a valuable employee in the process.
