It has been said that 10% of staff will steal, 10% will never steal and 80% could be tempted depending on the opportunity and rewards.
a supplier to commit fraud. The fraud went undetected for 3 years, and it was a very simple fraud but would have been detected if appropriate audits were in place. The supplier would make a bid to supply a product, say a PC monitor at $69, win the tender but when the invoices were sent in would charge Best Buy $1669 for each monitor. The amount involved is exceptional, but this type of fraud, although not sophisticated can cost businesses dearly. Ask yourself if this could happen in your company and do you have audits in place to identify irregularities such as this? Once an employee has been apprehended for dishonest activity, each business should learn from this to prevent further loss, but a proactive approach must be implemented to deter theft in the first instance. There is no point celebrating the apprehension of a dishonest employee, if your business has suffered loss as it is too late. Many cases of employee theft are only identified by chance when there are staff moves or employees are absent and profits increase during this period. Employee theft can become an epidemic if not controlled, and in some businesses I have seen whole departments involved in theft from the senior manager down to the shop floor worker. If workers can see a colleague benefiting from theft, then the temptation to ‘have some’ as
well is increased, and before long several employees will be stealing. Each business needs to have a robust strategy to combat employee theft and should include at least the following:• Robust Loss Prevention Strategy, including risk and crime prevention modelling • Education and awareness for all staff • Regular audits – security, financial, operational • Data analysis – loss data, financial data, contracts • Effective policy and procedures • Trained Investigators • Thorough vetting of staff
DFB Security is a provider of Bespoke Security Consultancy; assisting businesses identify risk, loss and crime in order to reduce the exposure, focusing on all aspects of business operations. • Security Consultancy – Identify physical and procedural security risks, such as robbery, burglary, employee theft, external theft etc. • Investigation Consultancy – Conduct investigations into criminal incidents • Operational Consultancy – Identify the root cause of loss through operational failings • Training – Loss Prevention training and specialist investigation training
www.dfbsecurity.com
It has been said that 10% of staff will steal, 10% will never steal and 80% could be tempted depending on the risk, opportunity and reward. Remember, if you don’t know what the losses are or where they are happening then you won’t know if you have a problem with employee theft, so nothing will be done. Don’t take the risk.
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