Prevent Employee Theft
According to the US Chamber of Commerce, one-third of business failures are a direct result of employee stealing. They also said that three out of four employees take something from their companies’ property, and that 50% of them do this repetitively. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also reports that it is more difficult for a company to detect intellectual property stealing from an insider than from a non-employee as insiders are given legitimate access to corporate files and possessions. Different factors like greed or an employee’s desperate need for money, personal problems, behavioral issues or the compulsion to retaliate to the company help influence stealing of physical and intellectual property in the workplace. Several appropriate solutions can be done from hiring until dismissal of employees to counteract such valuable losses.
Contents
Steps
- Screen employees' personal and financial background. This must be done prior to hiring an employee. Search for history of gambling, drug problems, debt or other factors that might pressure him to pilfer. Determine the potential employees’ behavior and work attitude through his references from past employment. You must provide full disclosure of this beforehand not only because the law requires it from employers. Also, this eliminates the perception that the company does not implement strict measures for preventing and dealing with employment theft.
- Implement data and office area access restrictions. The FBI also suggests that being lenient with employee access to classified data and other valued properties provide opportunity for stealing. Limit the right to open or use company files, storage facilities and computer data to those who need it. Do not grant access of company development plans, to those in the sales or customer service department.
- Watch employees from a distance. Sometimes, employees need to know that someone is watching them to keep them from doing a wrong move. Using internet protocol (IP) cameras allow employers and managers to record and monitor stealing occurrences and people’s productivity at work even if you’re at another location.
- Restrict unauthorized websites. With the use of Web filters, you can restrict the company’s Internet access to certain gaming and gambling websites, as well as social sites like Facebook or Twitter. Through this, you are already controlling employees from robbing you off the time you pay them for work-related tasks.
- Use Biometric Identification Systems. Employees’ tardiness may be one issue to handle but timesheet fraud related to this is definitely another to control. Utilizing Biometric Identification technology accurately monitors the employees’ at work. This also keeps colleagues from punching in other colleagues’ time card to cover up for their lateness and prolonged breaks.
- Avoid workers from bringing out items from office/ company premises. Results from the 24th annual Retail Theft Survey carried out by inventory- protection consulting firm Jack L. Hayes International consultancy show that for every retail company, one out of 36 employees was caught pilfering in 2011. The total value stolen in that year amounted to more than $47 million in the retail business. The radio frequency identification system (RFID) is one of several types of wireless security systems that uses radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data from the products’ RFID tags to readers and enables easy tracking and retail inventory.
- Prevent Company Data Piracy. According to a recent survey conducted by Iron Mountain, employees are more susceptible to steal data when he leaves the company. To avoid this, one must establish and implement strict policies of confidentiality, as well as those regarding accessing, transferring, and handling information. There are also online sources on information safety that suggest the restriction of using portable devices. Constantly changing a company’s online accounts like those for cloud data storage also blocks employees from accessing data after termination.
Tips
- The FBI reports a wide range of factors and indicators, which makes employees prone to stealing within the office. This can be confirmed by the elevated rate of theft incidences in the recent years. The only way to ensure security and protection and prevent profit loss is by:
- constant monitoring;
