I have been fighting to lose a lot of weight over the last two years and some odd months. I was looking at pictures of myself at our eldest son’s graduation and I had enough of it. I didn’t like the way I looked and made a decision I was going to lose weight and it wasn’t going to be one of those fad diets. I would use common sense eating approaches and exercise more. I didn’t totally cut out all of the foods I like but I did drastically cut back on sweets and regular sodas/pop/coke, whatever you want to call them. At this point I have lost about 40 pounds. I have almost reached my goal but here is the catch, I can’t fall back into old habits. I can’t go back to second helpings of dinners that I truly enjoy. I can’t go back to regular soft drinks and it takes discipline to stay out of our library breakroom when co-workers bring in donuts or treats for everyone. Now before you ask what this has to do with employee theft reduction training, hear me out. Disciplining myself to reduce weight is not much different than the discipline an employer requires to educate themselves and enforce policies to stop employee theft.
It is terribly difficult to identify employee theft by Loss Prevention Professions. It can be nearly an impossible task for a retail store owner or manager to identify it let alone have the knowledge to put a stop to it. I have seen cases where dishonest employees have gotten away with thousands of dollars in merchandise and even more in cash theft. If they are good at doing it an employee can steal from an employer for years without the employer having a clue it is happening. The problem often facing store management is that they don’t have the ability to keep a Loss Prevention staff of any size on the payroll. So, if there is no Loss Prevention and I have pointed out the difficulty for a novice to tell when an employee is stealing from them, what are the alternatives? The alternative is employee theft reduction training for store owners and managers. With the proper instruction it is possible for management teams to learn the steps they can take to minimize the chance of hiring thieves in the first place. They may also learn to identify the signs that may indicate employee theft is taking place. It is also possible to take steps to reduce the opportunities for theft to happen.
While employee theft reduction training will give employers the tools they need to impact employee theft in the store it takes discipline to stay on track. Just like starting a weight loss program it is energizing at first. You go through the seminar and learn new things to set you on the road to your goal and you begin to implement changes. You start to use employee background checks in your hiring process. You teach your managers to look for the signs that an employee may be unintentionally transmitting that could indicate they are in a position where they may start stealing. The dieter changes what he/she eats and starts to monitor calories and fat grams. Things start to improve for the retailer and cash shortages seem to disappear or shortage percentages go down. The dieter loses a couple of pounds. Then before you know it the old habits creep in and excuses are made. It is the holiday season and you HAVE to get staffed so there isn’t time for employee background checks. Yes, you decided to hire your employee’s best friend on her word that she would be a great worker. It is the holiday season and your Uncle Joe would be hurt if you didn’t eat two helpings of his famous fried turkey. It is only a couple of cookies and you can lose the weight after the first of the year. Do you see where I’m going? Training and knowledge and making changes are fantastic. Being disciplined to resist returning to old habits is hard.
Running a vibrant, profitable store requires managers to understand the damage dishonest workers can do to a business. Those without Loss Prevention must also learn how to identify and prevent it by taking employee theft reduction training for the management teams. They must also start using employee background checks to help avoid hiring the thieves in the first place. Finally, once positive changes are made there must be a commitment that managers will not fall back into old routines. Make a change today and watch profits grow tomorrow.
Get more information on employee theft reduction training, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
