Answer these questions for yourself. Then, use them to motivate discussion in management meetings and employee briefings.
1. Who inventories company property? How often? What happens when items are missing? What records are kept from year to year?
2. What are your policies about employee theft and fraud? Where can these policies be located? Are they enforced? Do employees know them well? Do these policies contain clear examples of theft and fraud to prevent any misunderstanding?
3. To what degree do you consider and/or test integrity as part of hiring and promotion procedures in your company? Have you investigated integrity testing as part of your selection process?
4. What part does reinforcement of integrity policies and procedures play in your company’s training programs? Its employee publications? In presentations by management to employees?
5. How much did losses due to employee theft and fraud cost you in recent years? How much did you spend trying to investigate or prosecute? What legal expenses did you incur in your efforts to deal with employee theft and fraud?
6. What channels of communication now exist in your company through which employees or clients can anonymously or confidentially report dishonest acts by one of your workers?
7. Are you getting full-service treatment from your present security agent, including presentations on security topics to employees and periodic review of security requirements? Or have you settled simply for someone to make sure the doors are locked and the alarms are on?
8. Do your employees give high or low priority to matters of theft and fraud? Are such acts tolerated by workers who hear about them? Do workers know what to do when they find out about such acts?
9. As part of your purchasing program, do you have a reliable system for marking and keeping track of every piece of equipment, software, furniture, boxes of supplies, computer hardware, and so forth?
10. What is your own level of commitment to preventing theft and fraud in your workplace? Are you passionate about this cause or is it one more item you want to get to when you have more time?