Common Myths about Employee Theft

Employee theft can cut significantly into profits and cause huge problems for any business that does not actively take steps to avoid it. Unfortunately, there are a lot of myths around employee theft that make it more difficult to detect and deal with.

Some of the most common myths about employee theft include:

Longtime Employees Are Too Loyal To Steal

Just because you’ve had an employee for a long time doesn’t mean that he or she isn’t stealing from you. We hear cases all the time about employees who have been with a company for more than 10 years and are suddenly caught with their hand in the till.

It could be that these employees have been stealing from you the whole time, or it could be that something in their life or in their attitude has changed. Whatever the case may be, the lesson is that no matter how well you think you know someone, they could be stealing from you behind your back.

Also remember that the longer they have been with the company, the more they know about how it works and the better they understand how to hide their tracks when doing something wrong.

Poor Customer Service Isn’t Theft

This myth is true in that technically, an employee giving bad customer service isn’t theft. However, for the sake of your business’ bottom line, it really should be!

Poor customer service is the fastest way to stop a customer from ever returning to your company. When an employee gives bad service, they might as well be taking money right from your wallet and giving it to your competitors!

It’s only by monitoring your employees using surveillance camera surveillance systems and immediately correcting issues can you stop this type of theft.

Bad Employee Productivity Isn’t Stealing

Like the previous myth, this one isn’t technically stealing but it can be just harmful. You’re paying a lot of money to employ people to do important jobs. If your employees are not doing the work that you’re paying them to do, they are no better than another employee stealing cash out of a register.

Only by monitoring employees carefully at all times can you make sure that they are doing what they are supposed to and not getting paid to do nothing.

Honest Employees Will Report the Dishonest Ones

Many businesses feel that their more honest employees will report any dishonest behavior immediately so they don’t have to worry about extra security measures. While this does happen from time to time, it’s not the norm.

Honest employees often don’t come forward because they fear being labeled as a rat or simply feel bad about getting another person fired. Relying on honest reporting is a great way to allow theft to continue as normal. Implementing business security solutions is the only method you should trust to stop theft.