Who Is Stealing From My Business?

While it’s good to trust your employees, a healthy dose of precaution is definitely wise.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that American employees steal $50 billion a year from their employers. Now it’s not worth becoming “Big Brother” to all your employees, awareness is key-- both for current employees and new potential hires.

In order to better protect your business from internal theft, keep the following in mind:

Limit Access to Company Credit Cards

Sure, your intern needs the company card number to order office supplies, or plan a company dinner. Fine, no problem. Be careful as to how you give them the credit card/number.

Do not email anyone the card number. This is crucial not only for employees potentially abusing the card, but also for hackers. As secure as you think your email is, an experienced and diligent hacker can easily break in and take whatever they want.

Only give a card, or the card number to team members who really need it for their daily work. This could include PA’s, controllers, VP of finance, etc. Reimburse employees for their expenses whenever possible verses giving them access to a card.

Be Aware of Changes in Work Habits

Is an employee often sneaking off to conference rooms for “important calls” more often than usual?

Is he or she arriving much earlier than usual? While this might just be their taking initiative, it could also be something else going on. Awareness and vigilance is key.

Review All Expense Reports

If you have a big company, it’s normal to breeze through employee expense reports after a trip.

You trust that they expensed the appropriate things, and paid for everything else themselves. This isn’t always the case, unfortunately. Make sure all the numbers make sense. I had a former co-worker who went on a “business trip” to Las Vegas and when she returned we noticed additional flights to other locations had been charged on the company card. Needless to say, she was fired promptly.

Lots of Missing or Damaged Products

This is another thing to look out for. Sometimes a manufacturer will accidentally send you a small number of damaged items. This is typical, and not something to make a huge deal out of. If, however, you notice the amount of damaged or missing items increase, a red flag should pop up.

An employee could be stealing, intentionally damaging merchandise so they can quietly “dispose of it” (i.e. put it in their car in the parking lot). Before jumping to this conclusion, it’s smart to first double check with the manufacturer. If everything seems clear on their end, then start investigating internally.

Security Camera and Quarterly Reviews

Depending on the nature of your business, and size of the company, there are lots of options for you to consider regarding security.

Cameras both inside the office, as well as outside, street facing can be valuable-- particularly in retail settings. This way, if a number of products do just “happen to disappear” you can review the tapes since your last shipment of products and keep a sharp eye on all those cases.

Additionally, review your security measures every quarter. Take a look at security tapes if things seem off. Make sure all your cameras are working, and review the books. Nothing, however, beats vigilance and awareness.

Unfortunately, you’ll never be 100% safe.

Really great, nice, smart people can do unthinkable things for money. Keep an eye on your employees and meet with them regularly so you have a handle on their mental state and general frustrations.

If you stay alert, focus on security, background checks and hiring quality employees, you should be fine.