In a recent article I asked "Do Your Employees Trust You". The answer was no, and I discussed why not. In this article we look at the other side of the coin - Can You Trust Your Employees?
Available statistics on the annual value of employee theft range from $50 Billion (USD) to $660 Billion (USD) from activities including theft, embezzlement, falsifying time records, and theft of product design and trade secrets.
I believe very strongly that most people are good, decent and trustworthy. I also know that it only takes one individual's unethical act to create major financial and legal pain for a business. What can you do about it? What should you do about it? How can you protect your honest employees while also protecting your business? Here are some suggestions:
Hire Honest Employees
- Verify Previous Employment
- Verify Education and Certificates Claimed
- Check References
- Do Pre-hire Drug Screening
- Run Criminal Background Checks
Publish And Enforce An Anti-theft Program
- Regularly Audit Susceptible Accounts
- Have Unscheduled Audits of Susceptible Accounts
- Require Vacations Be Taken, Especially For Employees With Financial Oversight
- Rotate Job Responsibilities So No One Person Controls Anything
- Put Monitoring Systems In Place
- Establish Clear Reporting Policy And Procedures
- Set Up A Hotline For Anonymous Reporting
- Offer Rewards For Reporting
Fraud Insurance
- Invest In Insurance Policies (Fidelity Bonds) that cover outside crime, employee theft and computer fraud.
Bottom Line
Employee theft is a big problem. Smart managers will take appropriate steps to prevent it. The policies and procedures you implement must be appropriate for your organization. Lots of people will be happy to advise you, but in the final analysis, you may just have to trust your gut.
John Reh--
