How honest is your workforce? Back in 2008, a survey by financial services company Royal and Sun Alliance found:
- Over one million employees in the UK steal stationery from work at least once a week.
- Almost 1 in 7 employees have lied about overtime worked.
- Over half a million workers a day exaggerate their expenses claims (note this was before the MPs expenses scandal broke).
- Over a quarter of a million workers in the UK have taken a laptop home for personal use and not returned it.
- Of those that did steal from their employers, around a million believed the items removed were ‘their property’ and a further 923,200 stole ‘to spite their company.’
In the retail sector, the Global Retail Theft Barometer[1]notes that UK ‘shrinkage’ of $6.612bn had dropped to 1.29% of retail sales in 2010 from 1.35% in 2009 and that in the US, Canada, and Australia employee theft was estimated to be greater than shoplifting losses. In the U.S., shoplifting counted for 'only' 34.9% ($13.7bn) of ‘shrink’ and employee fraud 43.7% ($17.2bn).
Terry Shulman, author of the book Biting the Hand that Feeds: The Employee Theft Epidemic, told the Guardian back in 2005[2] that: “Most people who steal from work – whether time theft, fraud, embezzlement or theft of goods or products – are not doing so because they are professional thieves or dishonest people…they slip into it a little at a time, mostly out of a combination of disgruntlement and compulsion.”[3]
We spoke to Jonathan Buck, a senior solicitor at law firm IBB Solicitors who advises companies and charities on employment law issues. He confirmed that allegations of theft at work need to be handled with care. He said:
"Theft in the workplace would ordinarily be considered a disciplinary matter and, depending on the facts, could amount to gross misconduct. Employers who suspect that an employee has committed an act of theft at work would be well advised to deal with the matter promptly via their disciplinary policy. The ACAS website also provides helpful guidance on how to handle the process.
“Disciplinary sanctions for workplace theft, if proven, could include summary dismissal. However, the sanction largely depends on the facts, including the seriousness of the offence and any mitigating circumstances. In any event, it is essential that a full and thorough disciplinary process is followed before any final decision is taken. Any failure to follow a proper process could result in the employee bringing a successful claim for unfair dismissal at the Employment Tribunal.
“Employers can also take practical steps to assist during the process and stamp out the problem in the long term. These could include increasing the frequency of stock checks (to ensure early detection); training managers on how best to detect and then deal with suspicions of theft; and ensuring that staff policies (including the disciplinary policy) and training properly addresses the issue".
It remains to be seen whether the £60,000 worth of Marmite stolen from a West Yorkshire warehouse was an inside job or not…[4]
See also ‘Is your accounts department at risk of being infiltrated by fraud “temps”?’ in The People Bulletin, May 2010
[1] www.retailresearch.org/grtb_globaltrends.php
[2] Saturday, 8 October 2005. www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/oct/08/careers.work1
[3] www.bitingthehandthatfeeds.com/preface.htm
[4] http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20101123/tod-marmite-thieves-snatch-60k-worth-of-045b8e8.html