Stealing employees, we’re better off without them! Did you know that Belgium is in the top 3 European countries for employees stealing from their employer? It is important for you to know what you can do about it.
Some hard facts
In 2010 and again in 2015, Belgium was in the top 3 European countries where employee theft is most prominent. Only Russia and Finland rank higher when it comes to stealing employees.
For the Belgian retail sector, a loss of no less than 1.19% of total turnover is due to theft, which comes down to 927 million Euros. 29% of this is due to theft by companies’ own staff members (0.35% of total turnover).
And it’s not just your own staff, suppliers too can be corrupt. In Belgium, 10% of thievery from companies is attributed to suppliers. So there’s a good reason for you to call upon the services of a private investigator agency to avoid these numbers in your own company.
Help, my staff is stealing
If a customer steals from your business, it is increasingly easy to investigate the theft. You can fit shop detectors, attach security tags to your items, install cameras in the shop etc.
But it’s harder to check if your employees are stealing from you. They often have access to the tills and know how to bypass any security measures. Due to the privacy act, we can’t just go ahead and film them.
So when can you install a camera? There are valid 4 purposes:
• To guarantee your personnel’s safety and health
• To check the production process
• The protect a company’s goods (e.g. in a clothes shop or supermarket)
• To check the work of a member of staff (Note: decisions made based on camera footage alone won’t always be valid).
Note: a camera is not always the solution, there are many other ways to make money or items disappear. Rely upon private detective Bayo: we suggest how to prevent theft and offer a bespoke solution!
When can we speak of theft?
Someone could steal a pen or some printing paper. We doubt the company will really suffer from this, but you could still file a complaint. What companies do notice in their figures however, are larger thefts, such as:
• Stealing money from the tills on a regular basis
• Copying and transferring customer databases
• Sharing annual reports
• Offering outrageous discounts
• Distributing confidential business information
• …
Of course, you also lose money if during their hours your employees fail to do what they were hired to do. For that too, you can depend on us: go to Time use Personnel.
How does Bayo work?
You suspect your staff is stealing from your company. It is best to seek professional help to find out together who is stealing and what the most interesting legal options are.
1. Together, we find out who is stealing from your company.
2. We try to collect evidence about the employee’s behaviour.
3. Together, we negotiate with the employee, to find an appropriate solution.
4. If necessary, we put together a report that is strong enough to take legal actions.
5. We also offer tips on how to prevent future company thefts.
Contact us today or read more about our work methods concerning company theft on our website.