Tools And Ideas To Help You Prevent Employee Theft
US workers lead the world in internal theft, and in fact, if you run a retail establishment, on average, 43% of your theft comes from your employees. As a business owner, it's critical to have security elements and practices in place to fight internal theft. There are multiple tactics that can help, but here are a few ideas you should explore:
1. Limited Access
When thinking about security, it's easy to focus on preventing people from getting inside your shop, but that should only be your first line of defense. If you are trying to prevent employee theft in particular, you need locks internally. Ideally, the doors leading to the offices where you count your cash register drawers or keep your safe should be locked, and only a handful of trusted employees should have the keys or the codes.
2. Smart Safe
Just as only select people have access to certain offices, only select people should have access to your safe. However, to keep your cash even safer, you may want to invest in a smart safe. Smart safes come with a range of features, but generally, these safes are designed to detect counterfeits, and they also have advanced security controls that make them hard to open.
In some cases, you can get smart safes that count the money for you, and your bank gives you an advance credit on the funds. So that you don't have to worry about employees stealing or losing cash, you can even have a armored truck pick up the cash from the smart safe and take it to your bank for you.
3. Changing Locks
Whether you opt for a smart safe or not, you should install locks with information that can be changed. For example, if you have locks with numerical codes, you can change them once a week or once a month. This helps to prevent employees from getting access to codes they aren't supposed to have. Additionally, if an employee quits, you can easily change the codes to prevent them from gaining access to secure areas. If you have keyed locks, changing them can be much more difficult.
4. Cameras
In most retail establishments, you have cameras throughout the sales floor. However, to safeguard against employee theft, you may also want to put security cameras in the breakrooms. If someone tries to smuggle merchandise out, the cameras will likely catch it. Even just the threat of being recorded can help to deter theft in many cases.
Additionally, you may also want cameras on the outside of your establishment. If an employee has a key, a camera can help to ensure they don't sneak back into the store in the middle of the night when noone is there.
5. Security System With Audit Trails
To further track employees coming in or out of the store, you should look for a security system that has audit trails. Ideally, each manager should use their own codes to turn the system on or off, and the system should keep a time log of which codes were entered at which times. This helps to cut down on people entering the shop during off hours, and it means you can always tell who was in your shop. For more information, contact a business such as A Tech / Easy Living Store.
6. Biometric Time Clocks
Employee theft doesn't just pertain to stealing cash or inventory. One of the most common types of theft is payroll theft. If employees have a friend punch in for them, they can wrack up a lot of extra hours. To prevent this, you may want a biometric time clock such as one that requires a fingerprint to sign in.
To learn more about security options to prevent or lessen internal theft, contact a security expert today.
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