How To Detect and Deal With Employee Theft

As a small business starts to grow, more manpower will need to be brought in to lighten the load of a business owner. The more employees you hire, the harder it will be to adequately manage them. One of the biggest concerns you should have as you add more people to your growing roster of team members is avoiding employee theft. Each year, American-based businesses lose approximately $50 billion to employee theft. 

It is your responsibility to keep an eye out for the warning signs of internal theft and address these issues quickly. Below is information regarding how to detect and deal with employee theft. 

Before hiring a new team member, most business owners will do an extensive background check. The information from these background checks allows a business owner to narrow down the list of possible candidates at their disposal. However, a background check won’t tell you if a person has stolen from a job in the past without being caught. This is why you have to keep your eyes peeled for signs of employee theft. 

While there are many signs that can indicate this theft is taking place, some of the most common are things like:

●  Unexplained travel expenses

●  Sharp decline in profits

●  Payroll discrepancies

●  Missing inventory

Some business owners make the mistake of writing these occurrences off to chance. If you keep noticing the same problems occurring with a particular employee, you have to take action to avoid losing money. 

Once you start to notice one or more of the signs of employee theft mentioned above, you need to start conducting an investigation. In most cases, you will have to reach out to a private investigator to get help with monitoring the activity of the employee you suspect of theft. The team at East Coast Investigations Inc. will have no problem conducting a criminal investigation on your behalf. We also offer background checks and a host of other services designed to help business owners. 

As this investigation progresses, you need to gather documentation that proves theft is taking place. This documentation will come in handy later if you decide to press charges against the employee in question. You also need to take statements from other employees who have witnessed theft taking place. 

One of the best ways to avoid the aggravation and heartache of employee theft is by putting safeguards in place. If you want to avoid employee theft, then you have to be adamant about performing background checks and validating the references a person provides. You also need to restrict access to financial data and bank accounts. Doing this can help you pinpoint the source of theft should it occur in the future. 

Are you attempting to hire trustworthy and dependable employees? If so, you need to use our background investigation services to ensure you are making the right hire.