An acquaintance found that one of his employees was secretly stealing from his business.  He said that this employee was taking more than the occasional pad of paper or stash of pens.  This employee was actually stealing money from the business.  My friend felt betrayed by the employee.  We talked about what could have been done to stop this thief.  Here is our list:

    • Require receipts for everything.  Having receipts for everything provides a 
        clear paper trail.
    • Never use a signature stamp.  Leaving a signature stamp around the office is 
        like handing over your checkbook to a thief with all the checks signed.
    • Open all business mail yourself.  Opening all your business mail enables 
        you to see all the checks that are coming in and need depositing. 
    • Don’t allow the person preparing the deposit to make the deposit.  If the 
        same person who creates the deposit makes the deposit it is too easy to 
        change the deposit slip amount and pocket the difference.  The only record
        of the deposit is the bank’s receipt.  
    • Make random inspections.  Once a month check your office supplies and
        stock.  Does it seem like a lot of printer toner is being used?  You don’t
        need to check everything, but your employees need to know you’re lurking.
    • Interact with your employees.  Get to know your employees.  It is harder
        for people to justify stealing from the company if they know you care 
        about them.
    • Define “stealing.”  Your definition of stealing might be different than that 
        of your employees.  Do you consider surfing the internet or making 
        personal calls “stealing work-time?”  Do you consider taking home office 
        supplies for an employee’s children to use in school stealing?  If so, you 
        need to let your employees know your definition of stealing.

     Your employees don’t make the same amount of money that you do.  Some rationalize their theft because of the fact that you, as the business owner, make so much money that you should share your wealth with them.  When an employee thinks that pocketing $20 from the company is no big deal this employee fails to realize that $20 a week multiplied by 52 weeks over a 3 year period amounts to almost $3,000.

     Implementing these ideas can help prevent theft and just might keep a good employee honest.