The cornerstone of a strong employee culture is honest and consistent communication throughout the employment relationship. There are many ways to achieve this and following seven strategies are a great place to start to prevent employee theft.
1. Recruitment: As part of your recruitment process, conduct reference checks that include questions like “Was there ever any issues of dishonesty involving ‘x’?” Get the employees permission to conduct police checks and if the role includes significant financial duties a credit check is advisable.
2. Pre-employment and inductions: You can limit potential “I didn’t know that” wiggle room if your standards for theft and dishonesty are ‘nailed down’ in your employment contracts and ‘Employee Handbook’.
3. Monthly meetings: Discuss how the business is performing and raise any issues of wastage or stock loss. Make it clear that any incidents of theft will be swiftly investigated and all thieves will be prosecuted – whether they are employees or customers.
4. All systems are Go: Create audit systems for purchasing, inventory management and cash handling that require regular checks and balances. If you have the opportunity, job rotation and having a group of people trained to conduct monthly audits will quickly highlight discrepancies. Always treat resistance to these systems as suspicious.
5. I’ve got my eye on you: If you don’t already, having visible cameras installed will act as a deterrent in most cases. However, be careful about installing covert systems as you may be in violation of Privacy laws.
6. Surprise! Have regular unplanned audits so your employees know they are under review and you are serious about your commitment to preventing theft. This means managing your team as a manager not as a friend.
7. Employee Appraisals: Let your team know that they can come and talk to you at any time and it is important that they let you know if they see anything that they are uncomfortable with.
Even if you have not had to deal with the issue yet, your Mission for the Month is to review your internal systems and implement at least two new theft prevention strategies. Go forth and keep your assets secured.