Did you know that 75% of the employees working for you are stealing?

Retailers spend a lot of time and money to prevent shoplifting, but a bigger threat to the bottom line is the person behind the counter and the employee taking the order.

No one knows exactly how much employees steal each year, but one national survey late last year showed that companies lost $18.7 billion in the 12 months ending in June because of worker theft — the largest single cause of retail “shrinkage.”

Another survey for 2008 found that employees stole far more than shoplifters and that among 22 large retailers, one in 30 employees was caught stealing. Sad isn't it?

“It happens from the top down to the bottom up,” said Terrence Shulman, an author and a counselor on the subject who is a lawyer with a master’s degree in social work.

Some recent local cases illustrate how large the problem can be. A former employee is suspected of stealing more than $300,000 in goods from a store in Kansas City. In Johnson County, a salesman and shipping clerk together stole an estimated $30,000 worth of suits from an Overland Park men’s store.

Employees are also stealing from you the customer. On Twitter, a patron of a Kansas City business noticed that an extra $100 was added to the receipt after she had signed it. A Lenexa restaurant patron noticed that an employee had added a very large tip when he received his credit card statement.

Experts say that with hard times, more employees are stealing, but many have always done it anyway. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has long said that 75 percent of employees steal at least once. Seventy five percent? How can Kansas City businesses stay in business with all of that theft? Guess who is paying for all of that stealing?

Let us know what you think or add to our blog by writing a comment.

Blog post written by the Dowell Taggart Team of RE/MAX Best Associates

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