Most Valued Employee

You prefer to believe your hand-picked employees are squeaky clean and never steal from you. Oh, how we wish it were true. To learn where the shrinkage happens in a business, go to this link and download the report. https://nrf.com/research/national-retail-security-survey-2018

Here is another source. Employee Theft Statistics

News Story: Jamie Petrone estimated that 90% of all computer equipment orders she made for Yale’s medical school over eight years were bogus. (40 million dollars worth) I don’t about you, but this makes me sick.

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The Risk of Losing Your Job

Why would employees jeopardize their job for a few bucks? My brain doesn’t work that way and so I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of taking such a risk.

Was always taught that taking something that didn’t belong to you was wrong. I recall on one occasion my oldest brother had been sitting in the living room chair. Later on I spotted a fifty-cent piece laying there. My thoughts were finder’s keepers, but in this case my mother soon straightened out my line of thinking. She stated, “you know it’s not yours and it belongs to your brother.” She put it on the china cabinet and gave it to him in my presence when he returned home. The lesson stayed with me over the years.

Finder’s keepers, valid when you find it on the street with no identifying marks of who the owner might be. Anything substantial and you know it will be missed. Then  your moral obligation is to contact authorities to find the owner.

Once in a while, you might just come across the most bizarre situation that you wonder if the person has any ethics at all.

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The Deceit in the Open

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I worked for a company that sold home decor. In the warehouse, there was a section that housed the stuff that was used for the showroom. They brought it out for different seasons and then returned to the warehouse.

One employee brought a bunch of pallets of display items from the racks and lined them up on the back end of the warehouse. The shrink-wrap removed and boxes opened.

He told everyone, including managers, that the stuff was for sale. They could make the check out to the company or get a 10% discount if they paid cash. Most of the employees looked over the products and purchased items throughout the next week.

We knew this employee was going to Hawaii for a vacation the following week. I jokingly asked him if he was funding his trip? He just laughed.

He took his 2 week vacation and when he returned, they fired him. Apparently, he was funding his trip right under everyone’s nose. No one questioned if he had authority to sell or the right to sell it at a 10% discount.

My guess is he may have had the right to sell, but I doubt that there ever was a 10% discount for cash. In fact, the company didn’t want cash sales. There was no advantage for them to give a discount for cash. I’m sure he put cash in his pocket, maybe not all, but a good portion. After he was gone, they must have figured the numbers didn’t add up or they may have even thought something was going on, but had to prove it first. They may have marked a few bills and when he didn’t return them, it would prove his guilt.

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Excuses of Not Being Paid Enough

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Does an employee feel he is getting paid too little for the work? Even if that were so, it never is a reason to steal. Some of the best paid employees steal, so it has nothing to do with the pay. It is just the low moral values of people.

As an employer, you have to evaluate the circumstances. Do you terminate an employee for swiping a pen? The answer is not for me to say. Plenty of other things to consider. Does the employee ever work off the clock? Do they take work home with them, and never get paid? Are they worth more than you pay them? Do they ever help you away from work? Do they go the extra mile to make your business a success? Value of an employee is summed up in: “Can you easily replace them?”