While you’re thinking of your business’s welfare, some of your employees may be ruining it. It’s so unfortunate that some people can do damaging things to your business. What’s worse is they can be the people you’re supposed to trust.
If there is one crime business owners are afraid their employees may commit, that will be theft. You’re not alone in this worrying circumstance. A study cited that 90% of significant theft losses come from employees. This figure only says that it’s tough to trust anyone these days.
But the thing is, these employee crimes can be prevented. That’s going to be your best weapon to combat employee crimes in the workplace. If you’re able to put safeguards in your business, you’re reducing the instances of employee crimes. So how are you going to do it? We’ve listed some things you can do to help you prevent employee crimes in your business.
Screen applicants
There’s no better way to know employees but to screen them first. Screening them should always constitute an extensive background check. You can do this yourself if you’re running a small business. If you have a budget for applicant screening, you can hire third-party recruitment service providers. This way, they can do all the applicant screening that is significant to your specific employment needs.
You must have information about your employees. This information includes their employment history, criminal records, and more. They better have valid character references, too, so you’d know people to ask about the employee’s trustworthiness. These are just some things you have to know if you’re screening applicants. Protecting your business starts with this.
Keep track of your assets
Having a business also means having responsibilities to your physical assets. It’s easy to monitor physical assets in your business place. However, some assets need to be moved around, like your service vehicle. If you have one of those and you’ve trusted your employee to drive it around, you may want to attach a battery-powered GPS to it. This way, you can know the whereabouts of your vehicle.
It’s needed, especially if your vehicle is used for deliveries. You would always want deliveries to be on time and not be delayed. For smaller items that are very important in your business place, you can attach trackers on them too. There are tracking devices available in the market that are cheap. Make sure that you can always keep an eye on some of your business’s most important assets.
Monitor the business place
It’s imperative nowadays for businesses to install a security system in business places. That’s one way to monitor your business and how your employees behave without you. You can have security cameras installed in the business place. You can also install motion sensors in shelves and storage doors you don’t want your employees touching. This way, you could see who may be violating your restrictions.
Security services can also monitor your business place round the clock. They can notify you if something unusual is happening in your business place. This can help make monitoring your business place one less worry off your back.
Maintain a good working relationship
Everything begins with a good relationship with anyone. Establishing a good relationship should be done right after hiring employees. There are many ways to establish a good working relationship with your employees. That should not only help you with knowing your employees but also help you with communicating your trust towards them.
This is also a way to let them know that you may be a nice employer, but you’re different if they break your trust. That needs to be communicated well to your employees. This way, they’d know that you may have a good relationship with them, but that won’t excuse you from holding them accountable for the crimes they commit.
Have a zero-tolerance policy
Trust can’t be mended when it’s already broken. Having a zero-tolerance policy would protect your business from crimes being done over and over. This can also warn other employees and stay away from committing crimes in the business place. They must know they should always be doing the right thing. Or else, it’ll reflect on their records if they get caught. A zero-tolerance policy should be implemented without reservations.
Starting a business can make you spend a lot of time and money. You don’t want to lose them and your revenue because of employee crime. Protect your business by following the tips mentioned above. You can improve your business security this way.
