Employment theft in your business – Risk Management Tips

There have been a variety of recent articles of employees committing theft and or fraud within their employment. It is not a new epidemic; however, statistics suggest it maybe on the rise.

When you choose to employ people to work for you, trusting them is essential. It may not be something you achieve straight away, however employees will inevitably gain your trust. Once trust is gained employees can take advantage of this and use it to make a financial gain. Managing risk in your business is invaluable to ensure successful growth.

To assist businesses below are some of our top tips on what to look out for and how to prevent employment theft from your business;

1.       Know your employee – Employees at risk of stealing from your business maybe suffering financially in their personal life. Before employment, we always advise using our background checks. We can verify references, build a picture of their personal life and carry out financial checks to ensure they are not vulnerable to committing theft to help a dire personal situation. We can carry this out fixed fee for our clients, giving them piece of mind before they recruit staf

2.       Notice change in behaviour – Are they turning up to work late? Unusually stressed and short tempered? This may indicate personal problems which could lead to poor judgement. The welfare of employees should be paramount for an effective workforce and spotting any unusual behaviour first could prevent further problems 

3.       Track your stock and finances – Always keep on top of stock and finances within the business. I understand you pay an employee to carry this work out however once a month ensure your numbers match up. Doing so regularly can highlight any anomalies quickly. The sooner it is detected the quicker to tracing the culprit and preventing further loss of revenue. Also ensure you are completing the audit to ensure numbers aren’t presented as being tampered with

4.       Staff sickness – When an employee is on long term sick that they are being paid for, you want to ensure this is fully the case. If you have any concerns your employee is fit for work we can carry out surveillance to ensure they are not using this as an excuse to be paid for work they are not carrying out. Detecting this quickly again will ensure further loss of revenue. You may have an instinct or word of mouth from other employees to suggest sickness fraud. Always trust your instinct on this and get the proof you require.

5.       Security – Ensure you have well developed security equipment within your business. High quality CCTV systems are an effective deterrent to dishonest employees. This can also ensure employment safety from other staff and the public.

In short, be open and aware of all ongoing in your business, as it is you who may ultimately be stung by a dishonest employee. Private Investigation companies such as Taylor Investigations offer incredible solutions for businesses in any industry, sector or business size.

At Taylor Investigations, we understand employee investigations are extremely sensitive cases and our investigators take time to uncover the evidence professionally and discreetly.