Theft in the workplace can take many forms and every department is vulnerable.
Like many company owners, Ed felt the crunch of the economy. He tried not to get to the point of lay-offs. But eventually, that choice was inevitable. Some guys in production lost their jobs, others lost hours. In fact, within a few months, Ed had to reduce employees and hours in every single department.
The morale of those left behind went from low to downright vicious. Ed was doing the best he could do. Then he started to notice that inventory was low, tools were suddenly missing and machinery in the production lines was suddenly out of commission.
Ed suspected that his employees were purposefully causing problems; they were sabotaging the machines; he even began to entertain thoughts theft by employees. But he had no proof and he felt powerless. And Ed was angry that, right under his nose, employees were playing him.
At first, Ed considered buying and installing his own surveillance equipment. But he realized that he was an amateur trying to “play detective” and he might actually make it worse by finding proof of theft by employees or employee embezzlement and then have it not be admissible as evidence.
Instead, he contacted . He learned that professional investigators know how to place the right kind of cameras that can rarely be detected. Also, the staff at knew how to secure the video so it is admissible in court.
Ed reluctantly agreed to surveillance equipment in his administrative offices, too. But from that, he learned his bookkeepers were dishonest when their conversation about stealing and forging checks was recorded on one of the audio enabled cameras. He had no idea employee embezzlement was ever part of the equation at his company.
Ed continues to be proud of the fact that instead of taking matters into his own very uneducated hands, he gave the job to the professionals at . The outcome wasn’t really what he wanted, but he was able to replace the problems with theft in the workplace with new workers glad to be employed and eager to move up. He figured that the ROI was tremendous, not only in dollars, but peace of mind, too.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations
