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LOSS PREVENTION NEWS
EMPLOYEE THEFT MOTIVATION
By MARK MANNEY
LOSS PREVENTION RESULTS, INC
http://www.losspreventionresults.com/
There are three things every dishonest employee must have if they are going to steal:
The Theft Triangle
1. The Need or Greed
2. The Rationalization
"I can afford it."
"I want this thrill."
"I need a lift."
"I can't help myself."
"I deserve this."
"I should be a supervisor."
"I'll get even."
"Us against them, they are the enemy."
"I don't get paid enough."
"They will know its me but they can't prove it."
"Others are doing it and no one says anything."
3. The Opportunity
"No one can see me."
"They don't track my over rings."
"They don't know I'm taking this out the back."
"They don't know I'm in this machine."
"They don't know I'm giving away meals for 'tips'."
"They won't know it's me."
"They can't prove I did it."
"They won't find out about the cash until it gets to the bank."
"Maybe they will write me up.Maybe they won't."
"Nothing will really happen even if they do."
"This will be easy."
The foundation that all theft is built on is the opportunity. A manager or
supervisor cannot control an employee's greed, need, or the endless homemade
rationalizations that allow an employee to "Bite the hand that feeds them."
Why Do Employees Steal?
49% steal out of greed
43% steal out of vindictiveness or a need to get even for perceived poor treatment
8% steal out of need
How Many Employees Steal?
*In 1999, a national study on employee theft concluded that up to 79% of employees might steal from their employer. The breakdown of this shocking statistic unfolds as follows:
21% of employees will never steal cash from an employer
13% of employees will steal cash from an employer
66% will steal if they see the 13% doing it without consequences
Narrowing and or eliminating the opportunity increases the Perception of the Chance of Detection. This will deter the 66% of employees who are not determined thieves, as well as slow the theft rate of the totally corrupt 13%.
One third of all businesses that fail in the United States have buckled for one reason -- unknown, undetected, chronic, and sometimes massive employee theft. Large companies have entire Human Resource and Loss Prevention Divisions devoted to screening, investigating, and terminating those employees whom betray the company's trust.
For vending and cafeteria managers/supervisors, the threat of employee theft is just as real, if not more so. In any business environment today, where there can be a thin line between operating in the black or in the red, a few determined, slick, bold, or unsuspected employee thieves can and will destroy a business's net profit.
The Influence the 13% Have Over the 66%
A 1998 article titled Monkey See, Monkey Do: The Influence of Work Groups on the Anti Social Behavior of Employees written by Sandra L. Robinson and Anne M. O'Leary Kelly published in the Academy of Management Journal found the following results:
"This cross level field study involving 35 employee groups in 20 organizations examined how individuals' anti social behaviors at work are shaped by the anti social behavior of their co-workers. We found a positive relationship between the levels of anti social behavior exhibited by an individual and that exhibited by his or her co-workers."
Tactics Recommended in the Research:
Use monitoring and sanctions to reduce employee deviance, workplace theft, and cheating.
Do not ignore or isolate antisocial groups, it will only encourage them.
Antisocial behavior is defined as negative behaviors that occur in organizations.
Key Concepts from the Research:
Sexual harassment, stealing from employers, engaging in insubordination, and sabotage are seen as serious forms of antisocial behavior.
Lying, spreading rumors, withholding effort, and absenteeism are seen as less serious forms.
Attraction-selection-attrition perspective, social information processing theory, and social learning theory are 3 theoretical perspectives that discuss how individual work groups influence the probability of behaving antisocially.
The amount of shared beliefs in a work group determines how much of an effect they will have on an individual's attitudes and behaviors
Employees that are unhappy at work are more likely to participate in harmful or vengeful acts.
The impact of a group on individuals is also likely to be enhanced as the member's time in the group increases.
People learn antisocial behaviors from watching others; antisocial behaviors exhibited by a work group could be used as a predictor of an individual's antisocial behavior at work, especially over prolonged periods of time.
In line with this research is further research by University of Florida Professor Ronald Akers that states: "Criminal behavior is learned, not inherited." In fact this
"social learning theory" is one of the most widely utilized theories in the discipline of criminology.
The Most Dangerous Employee
The easiest way for a dishonest employee to perpetrate a long-term pattern of theft and or white-collar embezzlement is by a show of extreme loyalty. An employee, who never takes a vacation, works when ill, or is the only person who can perform their job, is a rare find.
The easiest way for a dishonest employee to perpetrate a long-term pattern of theft and or white-collar embezzlement is by a show of extreme loyalty. An employee should be a person at which you should periodically take a long careful look. When it comes to employee theft, one rule to keep in mind is that, No one is above suspicion. Of course extreme loyalty does not mean the employee is stealing but it can set the stage for long term undetected theft. Of the one-third of businesses that declare bankruptcy due to undetected employee theft, a significant number of these are small businesses that have been destroyed by a single employee. That single employee had no criminal record, was an outstanding employee in every way and was trusted.
The problem was that this "trusted" employee was not monitored and was given wide-open opportunity to cook the books or steal at will. Their work wasn't checked and there was no structured individual accountability. Then they became infected with the Greed Growth Factor.
This has happened in the vending industry, and has too often within the Money Room.
Some independent businesses refuse to monitor long-term employees. They have developed a relationship with them as close as family. Some business owners that have actual family working for them, or partners and friends in key positions with no individual accountability have paid for their blind trust with their business or life savings.
The majority of loyal hard working employees are just that, loyal and hard working. The catch 22 is; no one can ever predict when anyone will suddenly bite the hand that feeds them. This type of unexpected betrayal has happened so often in businesses it has become a proverb.
Do not feel guilty installing controls, verification policies, and procedures within your business or investigating any employee due to suspicion or probable cause. It is un-common sense and sound business practice.
The Greed/Growth Factor
A disturbing reality of employee theft is the Greed Growth Factor. In case after case throughout American businesses were employees have stolen from hundreds of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, in cash, merchandise, product, and property all have had a common denominator;
They started small, no one noticed, and their petty thefts grew larger and bolder, often into a daily addiction.
Petty theft by employees, at any level, will not stay petty for long. Like a malignant cancer, the greed will grow within them and more often than not spread to other employees. This is a fact, not an opinion.
It is important athat Task Force members realize there is no such thing as, "petty" theft being the price of doing business. That attitude could cost the company's profit, raises, and in worse case scenario everyone's job. If the company does not practice, preach and actively pursue zero tolerance towards employee theft and violation of company policies everyone could end up paying in more ways then one.
The human Greed Growth Factor will take over, sooner rather then later.
The Greed Growth Factor also becomes a tapeworm of deceit and theft with the most dangerous dishonest employee, the trusted long-term employee. When this individual starts stealing the losses can destroy a company’s profit or worse. The trusted, often long-term employee has developed complete control over the Money Room, machine keys, register skims, preparing deposits, invoices, vendor payments, payroll, etc. This individual, the most dangerous dishonest employee, always starts borrowing, just a little, then more and more. Slowly, the ever-fluid rationalizations for their thefts creep in and numb their conscience. Theft success breeds success. Once the Greed Growth Factor genie is out of the bottle there is no stopping the most dangerous dishonest employee.
Combine the most dangerous dishonest employee with the greed growth factor and their thefts will spread like an undetected cancer until one of two things happen:
>br>
1. They are exposed
2. The business or its profit is destroyed
*Michael G Kessler & Associates, LTD an international investigative and forensic accounting firm. These statistics were taken from a published study on theft in the American workplace 1999.
Hire Honest People
Excerpt from http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/workplace-health-safety-security/3935-1.html..
Of course, this is the goal of every company, and is easier said than done. But if you have weak (or nonexistent) internal fraud controls, it's even more important to make sure your employees are honest. Dishonest employees will ignore your attempts to provide a positive work environment, and search for ways to defeat even the most comprehensive internal controls. Learn more about Ethics and People Management. Preemployment background checks are an excellent way to cut down on hiring dishonest employees. A thorough preemployment background check should include: * Criminal history for crimes involving violence, theft, and fraud; * Civil history for lawsuits involving collections, restraining orders, and fraud; * Driver's license check for numerous or serious violations; * Education verification for degrees from accredited institutions; * Employment verification of positions, length of employment, and reasons for leaving.
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