Ed and Georgia were extremely conservative business owners. Last year, they realized a long time dream. They expanded the square footage of their business, took on a couple of new projects and hired four new employees.
But for some unknown reason, employee morale noticeably began to dwindle. Employees more frequently called in sick. Some actually left the company without providing clear reasons for why they were suddenly unhappy.
On their own, Ed and Georgia tried to interview workers about the shift in attitude. But they were unsuccessful in getting to the root of the problem.
Then in the community, Georgia heard a couple of negative rumors about their business. By that point, Ed and Georgia were more than concerned about the problem. They were panicked. Their employees were leaving and their reputation seemed tarnished. They had no idea why these potentially serious problems were occurring.
Concern about the future of their business led Ed and Georgia to contact . They were now suspicious that someone within the company was toxic and causing so much harm that that was the reason employees were leaving. They knew the expertise of was perhaps their only option for resolving the problem before it got even more out of hand.
As is often the case, surveillance equipment was installed onsite. The electronic surveillance didn’t reveal any covert employee theft, but the behavior of two employees seemed suspicious. They were continually conducting “gossip sessions” in different areas with other employees. Not illegal activity, but disturbing to the owners.
Using social media engineering strategies, investigated every employee’s Facebook page and other social media involvement. To be certain that their evidence pointed only at two particular employees, a staff person from posed as a new employee at Ed and Georgia’s business.
During that two-week period, the two suspected employees shared with the investigator that the company would soon be closing; that the owners were in financial trouble. Since the expansion was the first huge improvement the couple had made in the 10-year history of their business, many employees believed the rumors.
With this information, the owners were able to confront the caustic employees. They accepted resignations and created a plan to let the remaining employees the true facts of the state of the company.
No business owner wants to unknowingly pay toxic employees every week to harm their business. Suspicion about employee misconduct such as corporate espionage and leaks, slander, theft in the workplace and employee embezzlement should be handled swiftly. Contact to find the bad apple in your business.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations
