Employee Theft in the Workplace is on the Increase

Employee Theft in the Workplace is on the Increase

The UK recession has had a real bearing on the increase in negative occurences in consumer, private and commercial matters. It is with sadness that this economic climate seems to be getting deeper and there is no real genuine light at the end of the tunnel yet, one major result of the financial crisis is that employee theft in the workplace has increased.

It has been reported over the past 2 years in printed and broadcasting media that the retail sector is one of the worst affected industries suffering from a rise in employee theft in the workplace. Obviously with customer sales decreasing, any instances of internal theft will further damage any business no matter what their trading size.

Only this week the Global Retail Theft Barometer figures revealed that employee theft accounted for over 2 Billion Pounds of lost revenue in the UK alone. This figure is staggering and also shows that it is not just a lack of money being spent to blame for the decline of retail turnover and profits, but also internal theft.

Interestingly the percentage that retail employee theft rose by is approximately 7%, whilst on the flipside retail sector spend on security is down by 5%, this reported decrease in security spend could be a factor in some employees deciding to help themselves to goods or money from their employer. It seems that companies, certainly in the retail market, need to get tougher on security and look at ways to reduce internal theft for long term survival in difficult times.

Private detective agencies can offer fantastic solutions to employers of all sizes in any industry or sector, from employee surveillance and background checks through to CCTV and even placing undercover personnel in the affected workplace to prove a case of employee theft.

Employee theft investigations are extremely sensitive matters and can take time to uncover evidence, after all any member of staff stealing resources may well know the current security systems and be able to avoid immediate detection. Placing trained private investigators in the workplace to monitor and interact with a suspect is one very good method of detection.

An experienced private investigator on this type of investigation will have the personal skills to make friends, build rapport and look to uncover evidence of employee theft in the workplace as swiftly and discreelty as possible so as not to cause alram or make the infiltrator suspicious of the investigation.

Obviously stepping up monitoring surveillance such as CCTV will also assist any employee theft investigation and employee checks by in house security staff is another way to reduce any items for leavin gthe workplace that have not been paid for, thus reducing the internal theft rate and loss of turnover and profits.

Insight Investigations have carried out many employee theft investigations over the past 30 years and have been able to assist in the process of evidence gathering against an employee, prove employee theft and also assist in the employee theft recovery of assets.

If you suspect a member of your team or an employee may be commiting theft in the workplace please do not hesitate to contact us and visit http://www.investigate.co.uk/commercial-investigations/employee-theft-investigations.