No business owner wants to believe that his or her employees would be anything other than honest and trustworthy. After all, you’ve hired your team with care, trusting them to help your business thrive. The truth is that sometimes, people are not what they appear to be on the outside. Employee theft is a risk that businesses of all sizes face. From small pilferages to larger-scale theft, these actions can harm your business financially and erode trust within your team. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect your business. Discover more about employee theft and how proactive measures, high-quality locks, and security systems can help safeguard your assets and provide peace of mind.

Employers Can Experience Serious Losses

According to research firm Statistic Brain, employees stole $50 billion in goods or cash from U.S. businesses in 2015. This theft, on average, caused businesses to lose 7 percent of their annual revenues to employee theft or fraud. Furthermore, 75 percent of employees surveyed admitted to stealing from their employers at least once, while 37.5 percent said they had done it at least twice. Finally, 33 percent of business bankruptcies were due to employee theft, a frightening statistic for many business owners. Chances are good that you may have to deal with a dishonest employee who steals from your bottom line at some point during your business ownership.

Implementing Viable Solutions

Clearly, employee theft is a much larger problem than most people anticipate. Thankfully, you have solutions at your disposal to protect your business. Investing in additional measures represents the main prevention method for your business. Tools like high-quality locks, surveillance cameras, and access control systems can make it harder for someone to act dishonestly and help you monitor your workplace. 

In order to understand why this is necessary, think about why employees might engage in theft in the first place. Understanding these motivations is the first step in addressing the issue. You might be surprised to discover it isn’t always about greed or bad intentions.

Why Workplace Theft Happens

Generally, there are a few main reasons employees steal from their employers. These reasons include financial need, such as when they are struggling with their personal finances, and personal problems, including mental illness, as well as disagreements with their company. However, the main reason employees steal revolves around opportunity, simply because it is easy for them to do so, and many employees decide that this is too good of a chance to pass up. Therefore, it is crucial to prevent them from having that opportunity in the first place, which is where security comes into play.

Investing to Protect Business Property

Many business owners invest in locks and security systems that can help reduce employee theft because they recognize that it is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential losses due to untrustworthy employees. Business owners have a few options when it comes to added security. 

Locking Up Secure Areas

This may sound like an obvious solution, but that’s precisely why most business owners don’t think of it and why so many employees get away with stealing from their companies. Many business owners assume their employees can be trusted. They also don’t realize how easy it is for someone to access valuable items or sensitive information, leaving businesses open to theft.

Protecting areas like stockrooms, offices, or places where cash is stored is essential. Use solid locks or keycard systems to control who can enter. Only give access to trusted employees and keep track of who goes in and out.

You can add extra security for high-value spaces, like time-lock safes or motion alarms. Regularly checking these areas can help prevent problems before they happen. These simple steps protect your business and indicate that security is a top priority.

Added Layer of Security

In many cases, preventing theft is as simple as adding extra locks on doors to keep employees away from sensitive areas such as offices that contain financial documents, storage rooms with valuable products, or other areas you want to keep secure. Adding a door with a lock can, in most cases, provide enough of a barrier that most employees who consider stealing from you will just give up. As stated earlier, the main reason people steal is the opportunity, so if you take away that opportunity then the chances of theft lower because employees won’t pursue the matter further.

Perform Background Checks

In many cases, employees who steal from one company have a history of criminal activity. Therefore, you can often prevent theft in your own business by performing background checks on your employees and using this information when making hiring decisions. Many companies will perform a secure background check on anyone for a small fee, with the person’s consent, so you can simply sit back and wait for the results while conducting your hiring interviews.

Consider the Past

Then, if the background checks catch any previous run-ins with the law, especially when it comes to theft, you can decide whether this is someone you want to hire. With that said many people do deserve a second chance. 

Consider the context of the situation and discuss it with the candidate during the interview. Their honesty, accountability, and willingness to explain what they’ve learned can tell you a lot about their character. Ultimately, this information should be one piece of the puzzle. Use this information in combination with the interviews that you conduct and your own personal judgment. Hiring the right person means balancing caution with fairness to build a trustworthy and capable team.

Use Security Cameras and Other Monitoring Devices

One of the most foolproof methods to ensure that your employees stay honest is by keeping an eye on what they do and having an actual video record if anything goes missing. Installing security cameras in stockrooms, around cash registers, and at entry points is a powerful deterrent. Employees who know they’re being monitored are less likely to consider dishonest actions.

Video surveillance doesn’t just help deter theft. It also provides valuable evidence if something does go wrong. This can save time and money when investigating incidents and help identify weaknesses in your current security setup. Make sure your employees are aware of the cameras. Place them respectfully to avoid invading privacy. Regularly review footage to spot unusual activity and combine your monitoring system with clear policies about acceptable workplace behavior. These steps can help create a safer, more secure environment for everyone.

Easy and Effective

Security cameras are one of the easiest ways to do this, and many business owners have them to monitor what customers do in a physical store. Why not extend this to your employees? Furthermore, security cameras are non-invasive and help keep employees accountable in other ways as well, such as making sure that they are working on their assigned tasks during their on-the-clock hours.

Ultimately, you want to know that you can trust your employees. Cameras, locks and background checks can help you to know that you hired the right people or to find out who is stealing from you. These preventive measures help stop thieves in their tracks. Consult an experienced locksmith today to find out how to protect your business and keep it secure.

Thank you for reading our blog! 

How can we help you protect your business? At Sevan Locks and Doors, we specialize in locks, security systems, and solutions to keep your workplace safe and secure. Whether you want to upgrade your locks, install surveillance cameras, or create a complete security system, our team is here to help. Serving the Seattle, WA, area, we’re here to provide expert advice and cutomized security solutions tailored to your unique needs.

Contact us today to learn more or schedule a consultation. Let us help you safeguard what matters most. Your security is our top priority!