Blog Series: Defend Your Turf – Five Plays to Preventing Crime – Play #4 – Screen or Verify Your Employees and Contractors
AMAROK is proud to announce the fourth blog in our series of educational articles on keeping your commercial property safe from thieves. Learn more about protecting your business by downloading our Perimeter Security Playbook Here.
When you hire employees or work with contractors, you hope you can trust them to be honest and dependable. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
In fact, according to a study by Willis North America, 90% of all significant theft losses come from the people who work for you. Believe it or not, inside jobs can pose a serious threat to the profits of your company. Research shows that internal theft is costing U.S. businesses a staggering $50 billion dollars every year.
 | 80% of all employee theft occurs at businesses with fewer than 100 people. |
When we think of employee theft, we often think of famous embezzlement cases that rocked the news or stole pens from the office supply closet. But the real threat is the in-between, where employees steal equipment, time, and money that ends up devastating businesses long-term (Source: Association of Certified Fraud Examiners).
According to a corporate theft study conducted in the US, approximately 80% of all organizations that fell victim to embezzlement had fewer than 100 employees; just under 50% had up to 25 people on their payroll (Source Association of Certified Fraud Examiners).
Employee theft isn’t just an annoyance. It’s a serious issue – 33% of all business bankruptcies are caused by it. The sad thing is, that it happens more often to small businesses than large corporations, who may be able to better absorb the loss.
So, What’s Being Stolen?
Your business includes a variety of different valuable assets that are ripe for employee/contractor theft, including:
- Time – Falsifying time logs or not working while on the clock costs American businesses 20% of every dollar earned.
- Supplies – Office supplies, tools, paint, lumber, cleaning supplies – anything of value that can be carried is at risk of being stolen by dishonest employees.
- Money – Monetary theft can come from dipping into the register, using a company credit card for personal purchases, falsifying quotes and pocketing the extra cash, and more.
- Inventory – This can include products you sell, as well as services offered “on the side” (a.k.a., stealing your customers and doing work for them at a lower cost outside your business).
- Information – There’s a huge underground market for stolen customer data, proprietary designs, and trade secrets.
Mitigate Your Risk With These 6 Strategies:
No employer can foresee the future and know who is honest and who isn’t! But there are proactive measures you can take to mitigate the risk of employee theft from taking a bite out of your business. Here are a few we’ve put together:
- Background checks – A small investment in background checks can keep criminals from gaining insider access to your business and costing you thousands later!
- Ask references the right questions – Don’t just ask if a potential new hire worked there. Ask open-ended questions that force the reference to elaborate. You’ll find valuable details in their longer responses.
- Limit access – The more difficult it is to get to valuable items, the less likely they are to be stolen. That’s what commercial security is all about. Keep cash, checks, financial records, inventory, and vehicle keys under lock and key, with login sheets to track who has access to what, and when.
- Group work – Any time a task involves cash, finances, or expensive equipment, assign two employees to do it together. Everyone is more honest when someone else is watching.
- Watch for changing behavior – If an employee suddenly wants to work after hours, keeps making excuses to be near cash or inventory alone, and those things are out of character -BEWARE. That may mean they are planning to steal. Also, be on the lookout for a suddenly lavish lifestyle that seems out of the norm for that employee, like new vehicles, electronics, or vacations.
- Install ‘monitored’ security cameras – A watchful eye doesn’t just catch crime, it prevents it. All criminals are less likely to steal when they know they’re being watched and that there’s a good chance they’ll get caught.
Any time a task involves cash, finances, or expensive equipment, assign two employees to do it together.
Whether you have an internal theft problem or an external one, as a business owner, you can’t have your eye on everything – But AMAROK’s FORTIFEYE™ Solution can!
Our FORTIFEYE integrated video monitoring system works with our Electric Guard Dog™ Fence to provide powerful perimeter security and surveillance. Nothing gets by FORTIFEYE.
Protect Your Business – Contact AMAROK for a FREE Threat Assessment today.
For all the plays to defending your commercial property or site – DOWNLOAD THE PLAYBOOK
The Ultimate Perimeter Solution
AMAROK™ is the ultimate perimeter security solution because it deters thieves, so there is no need to deal with the aftermath of a crime. AMAROK deters criminals in three ways; a shock deterrent, a physical deterrent, and an alarm deterrent. Installing the Electric Guard Dog system is an effective way to prevent cargo theft at your business.
About AMAROK™
AMAROK™ is a full-perimeter security company based in Columbia, South Carolina, that provides commercial security services throughout the United States and Canada. Specializing in electric fencing and perimeter security systems for commercial properties, AMAROK also provides supplemental surveillance solutions, including cameras, lights, and alarms. Together, these business security services form the ultimate crime prevention solution for any business.
Why FORTIFEYE™?
Even though professional monitoring speeds up police response time, criminals may still be able to breach your perimeter and enter your property. That’s why AMAROK developed FORTIFEYE™ – the world‘s first integrated electric security fence, video surveillance, and video monitoring solution to create the ultimate crime prevention solution for your commercial business or industrial site.
For more information, or to get a quote contact us.
