To most businesses, employees are both the most valuable and the most costly asset to your business. You couldn’t operate without them and most of us would assume that because you pay them, they are loyal to you.
Unfortunately, dishonest employees cost Australian retailers millions of dollars in “shrinkage” every year. In fact, employee theft can be so prevalent that it can cause a small business to permanently shut its doors.
So, how do you identify employee theft and prevent it from ruining your businesses’ bottom line?
In retail terms, shrinkage is the loss of stock caused by shoplifting, employee theft, supplier fraud and administration inaccuracies. These factors all contribute to business losses and can threaten or reduce its ability to operate effectively. Therefore, identification of employee theft and its cost is critical.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, there are numerous ways employees can steal from their employers. These can include, but are not limited to:
- Outright theft of money and/or cheap jerseys China goods
- Undercharging accomplices who pose as customers
- Deliberate damage of goods for the purpose of buying at a staff discount
- Using company time and resources for non-company projects
- Altering company records – such as delivery dockets and stock receipt, invoices and receipts to hide discrepancies
- Defrauding customers – fraudulent refunding, using a customer’s forgotten credit card, charging for additional items not taken by the customer.
Why do people steal from their employers?
There are a multitude of reasons why people steal from their employers and these motivations can vary by age, gender, economic and psychological factors. DIEZ Economic disadvantage and psychological factors, such as marriage breakdown or separation, employee dissatisfaction, victimisation and unfair pay – can all contribute to employee theft.
Other contributing factors thought to have seen the trend for employee theft rise include the ease of reselling stolen goods – particularly in the online environment, economic uncertainty and the likelihood of being caught (and prosecuted) – as most small retail businesses are unlikely to report employee theft to the police.
The sad fact is that employees are in the perfect position to steal from their employers – they generally understand cheap jerseys the business and how it operates, they know other employees and when/how they work and more importantly, they have access to the money and/or goods.
With so much emphasis on customer theft – CCTV, security tags, entry/exit scanners and undercover security to name a few, many businesses nba don’t place as much emphasis on employee theft.
What can employers do to reduce the likelihood of theft?
There are a number of strategies employers can implement to reduce the likelihood of theft. wholesale nfl jerseys These can include:
- Rigorous recruitment procedures
- Regulating employee unofficial ‘perks’
- Job satisfaction, respect and remuneration satisfaction
- Change management
- Employee training and compliance audits
- Loss prevention systems
- Improved analytics
- Balance everyday and determine the reason for non-balancing
- Track sales back Homepage! to employees and trace the cash trail
- Employee bags to be kept away from counters, cash registers and other areas that can facilitate theft
- Strict refund policies
Please contact us on 1300 791 794 to understand more about employee shrinkage and discuss how we may assist you.