Nibletz Staff
It may not be a particularly pleasant thought, but not all of your employees care about your business quite as much as you do. In fact, some of them might actively resent their job, enough to actually steal from the office! Though every employer should have a certain degree of trust for their staff, employee theft is a very real problem which you need to be aware of. Here’s some of our best advice on preventing employee theft.
First, get to know your employees. I know that you’re probably very wrapped up in the fast pace of your business, and that you may not have a lot of time for getting to know everyone on a personal level. However, it’s been shown time and time again that having a close relationship with your workers will reduce the chances of anyone stealing from the office. After all, wouldn’t you be less inclined to steal from your work if you knew that your boss actually cares about you? Take the time to form a connection with your employees, and be aware of when they’re experiencing high levels of stress, or going through financial difficulties. By and large, a happy employee will be an honest employee.
Next, use all the tech at your disposal to keep an eye on your employees, and ensure that they’re aware that they’re being watched. Having CCTV in vulnerable areas will help to discourage would-be criminals, and identify culprits after a theft has taken place. If you have any storage rooms or loading areas, make sure they’re kitted out with cameras and that there are no blind spots. Of course, you’re not going to have unlimited resources to cover every last corner of your office with CCTV, so prioritize certain areas carefully. You can add an extra level of security by introducing mandatory ID cards for all your staff who may have an opportunity to steal office property or sensitive files. Have a system for logging who goes in and out of certain areas, and it will be a passive but powerful deterrent. Click here to check out some ID cards.
Finally, have an employee tip line. In the large majority of cases, thieves in the workplace are caught out by the upper management, and whether or not anyone knew about it sort of falls by the wayside. The fact that no one comes forward to point the finger doesn’t mean that everyone in the office is apathetic to workplace theft. It’s usually more of a case of no one wanting to be known as a rat or gossip. You can make things easier by setting up a system for your workers to give anonymous tips. When you become aware of things going missing, announce it to the whole office, and set up a lockbox for giving anonymous tips. Even if no one comes forward, the visibility of these things will act as one more deterrent to thieves. Ideally though, this level of anonymity will give more responsible employees the courage to give you a name.
