Actions To Take When Confronting Employee Theft

Employee theft is something you want to take very seriously. It’s not something that’s common, but when it comes to discovering the theft, it can sometimes have gone on for a while. Here are some actions to take when confronting employee theft.

Make Sure You Have Evidence

It’s important that whenever you’re confronting a member of staff about potential theft, you have the evidence to back it up. You cannot just have suspicious or hearsay because that’s not solid evidence. You need to have caught them in the act of the theft or have proof that something has been stolen. CCTV can be useful if it’s a physical item and if it’s money, then there’s always going to be a paper trial of some description. Getting evidence is the first step in being able to take further action, and without that, you could end up saying or doing something that is going to backfire in the company’s direction. You may also face legal action from that employee if they feel like their own rights as an employee have been violated as a result.

Confront The Employee With HR Included

Confronting the employee is usually the next stage when dealing with the situation. It’s important that you’re doing it in the right way because again, it’s something that might end up causing a lot of distress and in some cases, a scene within the office. It’s always worth having a representative from the HR manager, and this may also include the employee’s manager or supervisor. Make sure you’ve had a meeting beforehand without the employee to discuss where this conversation will go and who should lead. That way, you’re doing everything in a professional manner. 

Consider Further Action

There are times where theft might result in a warning or simply firing the employee. However, for the more serious thefts, it might be something that you want to involve the local authorities with and to get some of the most trusted lawyers for criminal law involved. This is if you wish to pursue legal action against the employee and in some cases, this would be a viable option. It’s worth considering all the options, and deciding between those relevant, what the best decision would be to make for the sake of the company.

Enforce Employee Behavior

Employee behavior within the workplace is definitely something you want to reinforce when it comes to thefts within the workplace. Sometimes, you can allow this situation to get handled in a quiet manner so other staff members don’t know what’s gone on or you can wish to make it public. Either way, you might want to update your employees about how you deal with those who threaten the business or what is deemed as taking things that don’t belong to them.

When it comes to confronting employee theft, it’s definitely something you want to be hot on. However, you want to make sure that you’re dealing with it in the right way and pursuing further action if needed.

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