Protect your Business from Employee Theft
Employee theft is one of the most rampant concerns in many businesses in all parts of the world. Many employees of businesses; big or small are prone to engage in robbing the company of many valuables including office supplies, products, equipments, and spare parts of machines. It has grown to be a widespread occurrence that has been experienced by many businesses nowadays.
Businesses need to recognize this activity as a real threat; regardless of how big or small the values of the stolen items are, this is essential in preventing this deceitful activity in your business. The next important thing that needs to be done is to make the necessary action to safeguard your business.
One of the most effective ways to protect your business from employee theft is to include background checks when hiring employees. This should always be implemented in your company’s hiring policy. Also, you need to include an honesty test for every employee undergoing the job application process. These two acts should be strictly adhered to in order to prevent hiring deceitful personnel.
You should be wary if there is a sudden change in the lifestyle or living standard of employees. Be observant and closely investigate when you notice sudden rise in inventory shortages and prominent discrepancies in the cash register. Either of these can be early signals of an existing employee theft issue. Educate your employees about possible signs of ongoing employee theft activity. Also, including an employee theft awareness program will teach them how to identify and report every possible indications of employee theft.
One of the best defenses to possible employee theft is to limit the number of employees that can get into the warehouse and storage area. It is also advisable that you put into practice repeated and spontaneous inventory audits so as to detect if the cause of loss is really due to employee theft.
Go through all the receipts and keep a close watch on the cash register. This machine is the source of many deceitful actions like issuing receipts that are less than the real transaction amount and stealing the difference, short-changing clients, and imparting generous discounts to anybody. All of these are possible with the cash register, the reason why employers need to monitor the sales procedure undertaken by the concerned employee.
Make it a habit to check bookkeeping records and balances. Assign an accountant to make a regular assessment on the bookkeeper’s work to make certain that everything is going accurately. Accounting software will be a useful tool to be able to distinguish any inconsistency; investing in one is another channel in protecting your business.
Implement a rule that prevents all sales employees from bringing any kind of bag in the sales area. It is also ideal that all employees’ lockers are away from the sales section. These are constructive approaches that can help prevent any kind of employee theft.
Employers should try implementing a profit sharing procedure so that employees will have a much needed concern on the business. Employees will greatly appreciate this course of action; when this happens they will have real concern with the business. Consequently, they will no longer be interested in dealing with any kind of employee theft.