No employer likes the idea of an employee stealing from them. You expect the people that you have hired to be loyal and trustworthy, but if somebody is taking things from your business that they are not supposed to take, what are you supposed to do? Internal theft can cause losses to a business that may be insurmountable.
There are plenty of statistics out there that show that it’s more likely at least one employee of a business has stolen from their employer before, and we’re not talking a few staples or a pencil. We’re talking about theft by employees, which is a coded crime in the UK. Taking some gross misconduct advice from your HR department is the first step, but what else can you do about it? You don’t want your business to go into bankruptcy, but confronting one of your employees could result in disruptions or a lawsuit. So, here are some of the things that you can do if an employee is stealing from you.
- Look for the signs. Fortunately, or not as the case may be, there are some signs that you will be able to tell if somebody is taking from your business. You want to look for the missing office supplies on a large scale, disappearing inventory, a petty cash tin that has been depleted, a decrease in your profits, any payroll issues, travel expenses or unwarranted expenses that haven’t been accounted for. These signs are not a complete list, but once you’ve determined that this is occurring, you’ll be able to follow it to the culprit.
- Look before you leap. The worst thing that you can do as an employer is jump to conclusions. You cannot reach out to somebody and accuse them of thieving from your business without solid evidence and proof. If you falsely accused an employee of theft, you could find yourself in the hands of a defamation lawsuit. Unless you have caught them red handed, you need to investigate thoroughly before you do anything.
- Quietly investigate. If it has come to our attention that things are going missing in your business or you are losing money hand over fist, you have to be able to track it. You can’t conduct a thorough investigation if everybody is on higher alert that there is a thief in the office. Instead, you have to quietly gather as much evidence as possible so that you have a case against the perpetrator. You of course can fire them for their gross misconduct, you could also bring charges against them for theft, and you can do both. Either way, authority investigation is a necessity.
- Talk to an expert. Speaking to a forensic lawyer to help you to track your finances, and speaking to your HR department about how to handle this situation are two things that you definitely want to do when it comes to figuring out that somebody is stealing from your business. Get these meetings set up before you make any accusations.
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