Theft & Embezzlement

We have heard some business owners say, "They are acceptable losses." "We have calculated the anticipated theft in our pricing and raised the prices to limit our losses."

THIS DOES NOT WORK!!!!!

Those who are stealing a small amount will eventually feel empowered to steal more because, well, let's face it . . . they think you're not going to do anything. You've let the smaller thefts go by without investigating or disciplining.

Why do companies feel it is impossible to get the upper hand on employee theft? The truth is, no employee would risk their job for stealing items worth $10.00, $100.00, $1,000.00, or , $10,000.00 if they knew the consequences of their actions would lead them to lose their family, lose their life, and end up in jail; it's not worth it.

Statistics indicate, about one out of every three businesses go out of business because of employee theft. Employees who do not engage in employee theft are not coming forward because they simply do not want to be branded as the "snitches" at work, they fear retaliation, it's not "their problem", and because they "don't want to get involved."

The longer this problem continues, the more complacent others become. Employees who would normally not be engaging in this violation begin to steal because "others were doing it, too."

"Small theft" is a problem. If an employee steals $5.00 worth of merchandise in one week, it's only five dollars. If you have 200 employees, and they all steal $5.00 worth of merchandise in a week, that's $1,000.00 worth of stolen merchandise per week. Do the math; if this trend continues and employees think it's "no big deal," at the end of the year your losses are very noticeable.

Theft is theft. Your employee handbook does not say it's O.K. to steal, as long as it's a small amount. To avoid despaired treatment issues, you must treat all theft the same; why discipline one employee and not the other . . . you can't say because one stole more. The last thing you need is a discrimination claim after catching employees involved in stealing from their work.

While conducting our investigations, we can not only tell you who is stealing, what they're stealing, how and when they are stealing; we can also tell you what they're doing with the stolen merchandise. Who are the receivers (it might be a client) and how long this theft has this been going on behind your back.

Call us for a free consultation. We will tour your facility and give you our recommendations.