Most small business owners cannot estimate
employee theft happening secretly at their workplaces. There are numerous ways to detect the entire thing. You must be more alert and develop an eye to catch. Small-scale businesses are more susceptible as they have not instilled procedures to prevent these threats. If not controlled on time, employee thefts can result in considerable costs for the company.
Employee
theft is a termite that nibbles the base of your business, dragging it into huge and unseen losses. In the very first place, to
overcome employee theft, you must identify the thief. The task can be tricky as it can be tough to pick up the culprit among thousands of working staff, especially when the thief is good at what he does. Here are the ways to be more precise about spotting the
stealing bug roaming around in your workplace:
Signs to recognize employee theft
Luxurious lifestyle
Consider a situation where you observe a sudden change in the
lifestyle of one of your working staff. Automatically that person becomes your prime suspect. It can be a sign to identify employee theft. You may observe the expensive purchases of new cell phones or maybe a car clearing the entire payment in advance. It can be focal points to lay your eyes upon without a measurable upsurge in the
monthly wage; how can an average earning person afford such indulgences and that too with full
payment.
Cultivates close and friendly connections with vendors
The person secretly stealing from your company will gradually become
over-confident. The suspected employee will develop or may have developed an over-friendly relationship with the vendors and suppliers. The intentions of such a person can be
deducting a certain amount of goods secretly, aiming to sell them quietly to make even more money.
Tampered bookkeeping record
Minor errors in financial records once or twice can be tolerated. But constant
miscalculations are an indication that something is seriously fishy. Demand a serious inspection of the maintenance of the financial records.
Defensive attitude
Such employees will adopt a self-justifying attitude. They show poor performance, decreased working hours, and carelessness in handling business chores. Upon investigating the suddenly
changed behavior, the employee will either come up with self-justification or try to highlight the
mistakes of the other employees.
How to avoid employee theft
Once you discover the culprit disguised as your working staff, you can
monitor these measures to avoid further employee theft in your office:
Demand an explanation
After you get to know the pickpocket inside your firm, handle the matter with a calm breath. Call for a meeting with that employee, and try to
discover the reason behind the scene. It is a probability that the guilty person is needy and was not
courageous enough to approach you. Discussions always lead to better solutions.
Instill an anti-theft policy
As a boss, you must teach an anti-theft policy in your
company strategy. The consequences of stealing from the office must be severe. The fear of being punished will help you avoid facing such threats in the future. Be
strict where required, and be lenient when necessary.
Check your financial records personally
Being a lazy boy in checking and reviewing your
financial accounting details can cost you a lot. Collect financial statements, transaction data, and every recorded credit facet weekly or at least monthly. Check each record prudently. Once you get habitual of checking company credit details on your own, your employees will become more alert and specific about their work. They will
re-check the financial statements repeatedly before the end of the week to sidestep every possible inaccuracy.
Maintain a physical record of your financial statement
It is sensible to rely on technology or mobile application to a limit. But completely trusting the same is not
legitimate. Imagine your software crashed, and you had not prepared a backup! If all your financial records, transaction data, and credit details
disappear in a snap. What will be your next step?
Final words
Maintain a physical record of each of your accounting particulars. It will
encourage you to play safer. You can capture a breath of relief, even if all your virtual record gets deleted. Ensure to keep the idea a secret, as it can back in getting your hand to the collar of an employee thief (if any).
You can deduce the employee theft
risk factor from your workplace in many other ways. Keep a regular check on your employees’ moves, attitude, working hours, and performance. Last but not least, don’t skip
performing weekly audits.
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