Being in charge of a business is not an easy task, but there are so many aspects of your business that demand your attention, but at the same time, it's impossible to run a tight ship when there are employees that do not operate with the same moral compass as you. An employee that is either stealing or committing fraud is not something anyone wants to deal with, because we can feel that we have let ourselves down to a degree. But regardless of the situation, it's important that you deal with an employee who has been conducting fraudulent practices in the right ways. We have listed 4 things to remember when dealing with a fraudulent employee.
By Team Savant
Image: bruce mars
Ensuring the Company Policies Are in Place
Younger businesses can struggle to maintain a certain level of policy because of their lack of experience. It's vital to ensure that you have certain things in place that will make it easier if you ever have an employee steal from you. These could include business contents insurance, but you also need to have a company policy in place and speak about what points cover breaking a company policy, and also communicate the repercussions. Ensuring employees are aware of these policies is crucial because a lot of employees can view these things as box-ticking exercises rather than actually being a practice that comes with solid repercussions.
Keeping Calm in the Situation
As a business owner, it can be easy to lose your composure because they have been stealing from something you've invested so much in. If you are aggressive to an employee that’s been stealing, it's only going to hamper the situation and not resolve it in the right way. It's vital to maintain a sense of composure, especially if you are speaking with the employee. This is a solid lesson for any manager because they need to understand that flying off the handle or any emotional outbursts can come back to them.
Having Enough Evidence
If someone else has a suspicion of an employee stealing or committing fraud it has to come with fact-based evidence. Taking the time to gather all of the information is essential so you can have everything in place to cover your back. These would include the facts, behaviours, timings, and so forth. It might also be an idea to get turnstiles installed at your place of work, to ensure you can monitor who comes in and out and when. Physical evidence goes a long way to mounting the right case. Because if you have weak evidence, this is only going to alert the accused to their behaviour so they can cover their tracks better.
Understanding How You Can Prevent This From Happening Again
You need to look for the flaws in the system that led to this breach of trust. As a priority, it needs to be rectified. It could be to do with a lack of security. So in order to keep your business secure in the future, you may want to increase your practices to minimise any chance of this happening again. Dealing with a bad employee can leave a bad taste in one’s mouth, but we must ensure that, rather than viewing this as a major oversight, take this as a lesson in how to better protect your business, communicate repercussions, and also understand your reaction to such an alarming situation.