HOLIDAY EMPLOYEE THEFT: CHRISTMAS FOR CRIMINALS

The holiday season is upon us. With all the chaos upon retail stores, December is a key month for thieves. And with all the retail theft that happens around this time of year, it’s one of the busiest times of the year for my private investigative agency (another being Valentine’s Day).

Business owners usually conceptualize “theft” mainly as customers that shoplift. That’s the tip of the iceberg.

Business owners usually conceptualize “theft” mainly as customers that shoplift. That’s the tip of the iceberg. With all the temporary help put on for the holidays, employee theft is a big issue.

This is an important post for retail business owners and store managers. I cover why 75% of employees steal, what they steal, how employee theft works, as well as how private investigators can help and/or assist security directors during the holidays.

In the 1960’s, statistics found that about 15% of employees were stealing. From 2006 to today, that number has risen to 75%.

Sounds high, right? How is that even possible?

There are 4 ways employees steal from their employers: They steal either products, money, time, or commit some sort of fraud (I’ve written about the common types of business fraud that happen, here).

Most employees steal time, but that still takes away from the bottom line. Sometimes it’s worse. In this video, I discuss a case in which a business owner found out that nearly all of his employees were stealing from him – and he ended up having to fire ALL of them:

When presented with employee theft, most businesses have NO IDEA what to do about it. Small business usually don’t even report employee theft. Many times it gets overlooked, or the employee is admonished – only to steal again in a week or two. People rarely change.

When management realizes that theft is going in the company, I always hear the same thing from clients: They want to put an undercover employee in place. While this can be done, it’s expensive, time-consuming and it has a low-guarantee of results. A better option is to simply have a professional private investigator interrogate and interview employees.

In this video, I discuss one such case – a large soda pop manufacturer in Southern California that suspected they had a problem with employee theft, and they called us to investigate:

Interrogation and interview services are a better option for most businesses, because they’re cheaper, take less time, and (when you get a PI that knows what he/she is doing) the results are much better.

Some business owners and managers get squeamish at the word “interrogation”, which (thanks to Hollywood and recent world events) has a negative connotation to it. They shouldn’t be. An interrogation is simply an interview, with the goal of getting more information, evidence, confessions – anything that helps identify the truth behind the situation at hand. I’ve written in detail about how private investigators use interrogation, questioning, interpellation & interviewing. Every question a business owner would have about the process is answered in this post.

I’m more than pleased to give any business owner or manager a free consultation to prepare for the holiday season. Even if you don’t currently have a problem with employee theft, we can help you greatly reduce the possibility of this happening in the future with security review and procedural analysis, employee background checks, and employee interviews.