In the workplaces of today, employee theft is quite common ("Employee theft still"). Internal theft can occur in just about any business where an employee base is maintained. In fact, almost every industry is affected by employee theft on various levels. Surprisingly, companies in the United States suffer a greater loss due to employee theft than they do because of shoplifting. One of the major reasons behind business failure is employee theft. Employees can walk away with cash, merchandise, and even trade secrets regardless of whether their employers are around or not, and ultimately, employee theft only affects the business.
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There are different levels of theft that an employee can commit (Walsh, 2000), all of which are punishable by a court of law as a civil tort and a crime.
Theft of merchandise by an employee: Theft of merchandise in most cases is committed by employees working at retail stores. Employees can easily steal merchandise since they are the ones who stock and sell it. Since managers cannot be around at all times, there have also been incidents where employees stole large items, such as gaming systems and televisions. In fact, often managers of electronic stores are the ones committing the theft (Slavin, 2011).
Theft of cash by employees: Money often goes missing in workplaces, whether from petty cash or the cash register, and many times, employers rarely take notice of it. This makes it convenient for employers to steal money from their employers. Employees have greater opportunities to steal from their employers when the same register is used by different employees or when cash in a business place is accessible to various employees. When company bank accounts or credit cards are accessible to employees, employees are more likely to steal money from their employers.
Theft of expenses and hours by employees: Without realizing it, employers often make it easier for their employees to commit the theft of expenses and hours. Employee theft on his level can cost a business the money it could have made and cause a business to lose money. When committing this level of employee theft, employees can add miles to mileage reports, claim work from home when they did not do any work, fail to punch out during breaks, and spend more time performing work than necessary.
Theft of office supplies by employees: This issue might not seem like a big one, but when businesses have a large number of employees and even if those employees each steal merely a piece of paper, it can cost the business significantly. A business can gradually and slow lose a lot of money because of employees who continuously steal office supplies, such as file folders, paper, pens, and staplers. Employers rarely investigate employee theft at this level.
Theft of intellectual property by employees: This is the most serious level of employee theft and is also known as trade theft. It can occur at almost any business. Employers and business owners own the designs for manuscripts, products, reports, and other intellectual property, and employees have no right to steal them. However, employers still steal intellectual property of their employers and sell it to potential buyers in order to make profit for themselves.
A reason that employee theft is more prevalent than shoplifting is because employers do not pay enough attention to reduce it. Internal theft by employees can cause employees to lose a considerable amount of money and this is another reason employers should implement a loss management plan. With each passing year, the problem of employee theft is growing. The only way the business community can ensure their growth is if they started taking steps to prevent their employees from stealing from them.
References
Employee theft still costing business. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/articles/1999/05/13731.html
Friedrichs, D. O. (2010). Trusted criminals, white collar crime in contemporary society. (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub Co.
Slavin, K. (2011, Apr 14). Former manager sentenced for stealing $150,000 from uvic computer store. Retrieved from http://www.saanichnews.com/news/119857939.html
Walsh, J. A. (2000, Aug). Employee theft. Retrieved from http://www.ifpo.org/articlebank/employee_theft.html
