While November and December are the most profitable times of the year for retailers, they’re not as profitable as they could be. The reason: your employees are not working hard enough. While only one out of 11 people are thieves according to WDTV5 in Bridgeport, WV, theft is still a major problem.While most of your workers are honest, the Global Retail Theft Barometer reports that employee theft accounts for more than 35 percent of all retail shrinkage. Dealing with employees who steal is easy—you simply fire them, report them to the police and allow the justice system to take its course.
The problem is the other 90 percent of people who claim to be honest. That’s right, the workers who allow the theft to occur. I hear the cries now: “My people don’t allow people to get away with shoplifting!” Surprise! They do!
How many of your employees have eyes in the back of their heads? How many of them allow thieves to walk out the door while they’re serving other customers? The fact that they’re unable to multitask allows thieves to steal from you.
If you think that you’re immune from theft because you don’t have a store, think again. A survey commissioned by the Leading Lawyer Directory shows that 58 percent of workers have taken office supplies for their personal use. The most common items stolen include pens/pencils (77 percent), "sticky" notes (44 percent), paper clips (40 percent), plants (2 percent) and office furniture (2 percent).
The solution is to keep everything under lock-and-key and dole it out only when needed. When I was a young journalist living in a small country town, I remember asking the boss for some paperclips. “No problem,” he replied, and proceeded to unlock the supply cabinet. What happened next was surprising. Instead of giving me the box of paperclips he had in his hand, he opened up the packet and asked how many I needed. When I replied “six,” he carefully counted out the requested number and handed me TWO more in case I had miscounted. While I may have laughed at his frugality, he had the last laugh. A few years later he sold the company for millions of dollars and was able to retire early. Having all that money came in useful later when he got infected with a rare disease and needed to pay for the treatment out of his own pocket.
If you ask Rupert Murdoch about how his company controls employee theft, you’ll likely be left with a blank stare But if you want to see how the great man thinks, just look at this article written by one of his valued employees, Brendan Lewis.
His suggestions include installing RFID tags in your employees security passes. Instead of forcing employees to punch a time clock (and allowing other staff members to do it for them), you can passively monitor when people arrive and leave, how long they spend at lunch and when they step out for a smoke, just by looking at the information the chip obtains.
Brett goes on to suggest that employers install wireless IP cameras that enable you to monitor what your employees are doing from your yacht or anywhere you happen to be; as well as the time tested methods of monitoring your workers phone calls and emails. He even goes so far as suggesting that employers install “spyware” on their employees’ computers, but calls it “monitoring” software. This will prevent your employees from worrying about “big brother.” This software will: “record all websites visited, instant messages sent and programs run. It will even take regular screenshots and email them to you if you like”.
Other useful tools include keyloggers that capture everything typed into a keyboard, and a firewall that will monitor all Web traffic, stop instant messaging and block access to websites such as Facebook and procrastination.com. Installing GPS is another way to monitor your company vehicles and ensure that your workers are on the job doing what you’re paying them to do—instead of wasting time sitting in traffic.
To stay one step in front of the competition, check out my latest book: Dr. Young’s Guide to Demotivating Employees at www.dolyttle.com.
While I don’t really have any interest in hearing what you have to say about anything, if you have a burning desire to get something off your chest, email me: dryoung@demotivationist.com.
