when you know your staff are stealing..

bathladybird

what do you do when your SURE a staff member is stealing?
i have no proof,but there is a trail,pattern whatever..i'm so bloody angry but i'm not prepared to walk myself into a situation where i can get into trouble for accusing this person...
the gardai were helpful but can't do anything without proof...lots of personal items,money from wallets,stock and this person is always the one to bring it to my attention.
my head is in a mess..need to sort this pronto..
any advice greatly appreciated..
:mad:

smiler26

Can you not set up a means of proving this? i.e. CCTV camera etc?

Hellm0

Difficult to say, however in all the places I have worked where stock management and security were a concern there was a clause in the contract which allowed for employee spot checks by members of security(or in your case yourself as owner and propieter). The employee should be allowed to have another member of staff in the same room when the search is executed and is allowed to refuse to be searched, which would constitute breach of contract and therefore a viable reason for dismissal.

Basically corner the interested party one night, offer them to have another person present and take them into a private space. Ask them to remove the contents of their bag/pockets/coat and review contents. Do this to a few members so it does not appear to be biased and also make sure to do it on a regular basis.

The employee should get tired of the hassle and either quit or will be caught.

Again though may I say I am no expert on the subject and you should probably speak with a specialist on the topic before changing company policy or doing something you may regret.

bathladybird

have a camera in one stockroom,but the staff leave their bags in another one..
v.small company,all staff get on great so the thief is stealing from a friend..
so annoyed.:mad:

AckwelFoley

ask the other staff to mark the money in their wallet.


Wait for end of day.

Empty pockets.

Remove hand of thief.

bathladybird

we do have random bag checks..but you would need eyes on the back of your head to keep up with everything..what about the money stolen from wallets?its so terrible that the staff have to keep their money on their person..
i'm gonna have a meeting with this person tomorrow,with a manager and just see their reaction to the news..facial ticks,meeting the eyes ect..
i have gone down every avenue available without accusing this person outright.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

snyper wrote: »

ask the other staff to mark the money in their wallet.


Wait for end of day.

Empty pockets.

Remove hand of thief.

cop on, the OP has made a serious request for help.

AckwelFoley

Roundtower2 wrote: »

cop on, the OP has made a serious request for help.

It was a serious answer, apart from the last satirical line

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

snyper wrote: »

It was a serious answer, apart from the last satirical line

okay then, but you do have 'a reputation'.

best of luck with today bathladybird

Saint_Mel

snyper wrote: »

ask the other staff to mark the money in their wallet.
Wait for end of day.
Empty pockets.
Remove hand of thief.

But then if the culprit is not the person you think you'll end up alerting
the real thief that your trying to catch them out.

Plus if the person you think is stealing, in not the actual thief, then making
the other staff suspicious of them isnt a route you should go down.

Only thing I can suggest i sCCTV in the stock room and lockers with locks in
the staff room

watna

Hmm, it is a difficult situation. As I said in another thread. i hired someone who stole before but luckily at the time I was hiring temps to work on-site in retail stores. The store rang to say they thought she was stealing and not to send her back. They didn't want to press charges or take it any further. I had an easy way to get out of it by saying there was no work available for her anymore at the moment. It was just after Christmas too so it didn't look too bad.

My advice would be to announce to the staff that there has been a spate of petty thefts and all bags have to checked when leaving the building. As long as you don't put your hand in your staffs bag and ask them to move aside things it's fine.

I'd also install CCTV in the other rooms and again, make an announcement to staff that there is now CCTv everywhere. The person stealing will soon realise that you are on to them and they are less likely to get away with it.

seamus

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Plus if the person you think is stealing, in not the actual thief, then making the other staff suspicious of them isnt a route you should go down.

Legally, you risk a whole pile of problems in that regard.

As said, the best recommendation is CCTV. Sit all your staff down, tell them that you know there's been problems with theft in recent times, hence you're installing CCTV.

Also as said, maybe provide padlocked lockers for staff bags & money.

You could also bait the person to a certain extent. Put something valuable that would normally go missing, into a bag (such as an iPod or whatever) and mark it (discreetly - put a scratch or something on it). Make sure another senior member of staff witnesses you placing the item into an open bag, in fairly obvious view.

Anytime anyone goes into the staff locker room and leaves again, go in (with the other senior staff member) and check if it's still there. If it's missing, you have them pretty much snared. As soon as possible afterwards, call the person in to a private room with just you and the senior staff member and confront them with the evidence.

Be very careful of accusing the person of anything without any kind of evidence or witnesses. You leave yourself open to some dodgy legal territory otherwise.

When you fire them, document your decision, but be very careful of how you document it. Don't make accusations or conclusions, be factual. Your main concern here is defamation. I would recommend that when you document the employee's record, you put down that they were let go for "gross misconduct". Don't put down "stealing" or "theft" or anything else. Such things are accusations of criminal activity and as such would have to be proven in court, so in the event that someone else read the file you're in trouble.

"Gross misconduct" does what it says on the tin, but without accusing the empoyee of a crime.

Mr. Incognito

Ask a trusted employee to leave some money in their wallet in a bag- note the serial numbers.

Do it over a few day's. The day the money is taken have all the staff put into a room and ring the guards to search them.

seamus

SetantaL wrote: »

Ask a trusted employee to leave some money in their wallet in a bag- note the serial numbers.

Do it over a few day's. The day the money is taken have all the staff put into a room and ring the guards to search them.

Yeah, because that'll be good for morale...

A) You can't prevent your staff from leaving
The Gardai cannot search someone without reasonable suspicion. And you can't suspect everybody.

Run_to_da_hills

snyper wrote: »

ask the other staff to mark the money in their wallet.Wait for end of day.Empty pockets.
Remove hand of thief.

This method was used in the ESB back in the 70ies when a bloke was suspected of swiping cash from the locker room. My old man cut a nick in a few coins and had them in a jacket pocket. That evening they were missing, your man was told to empty his pockets, he denied everything but was caught red handed with the nicked coins.

Another good method is to get some engineers blue (Persian blue), its a very messy substance and can be got for a few euros in Mc Quillans tools, Its used for marking out metal. Get an old jacket and have coins coverd in this stuff in a old wallet the pockets. As soon as your man puts his hands in the pockets and fumbles about with the wallet his hands will then be covered all over in the stuff.

bathladybird

thanks for all the replies-it certainly helped!
went in today and had a meeting with my managers,and we have decided to speak to all the staff individually.We'll ask them all the same Q's and note what they have to say,and hope that they may feel like sharing any information about the situation at hand.
I'm in 2 minds about asking the staff to chip in for the stolen wages,to incite them to dob the thief in,but could incite mutiny instead.
I'm so suprised at the pure cheek of this person,i feel like she thinks we're all thick...spent half the night last night on this persons myspace to see if they were wearing my missing garment!
i'm demented...totally.

AckwelFoley

Roundtower2 wrote: »

okay then, but you do have 'a reputation'.