How to reduce employee theft

How to reduce employee theft

Moving Companies have an extensive amount of supplies. If you do the math with how much each pad, dolly, four wheeler and strap costs and then mulitply it by the number of trucks that you have in your fleet, chances are its a chunk of change. If you are a small moving company, than you run an even higher risk of being stolen from by your employees. But dont fret, there are ways to minimize the chance.

Do a thorough job screening

We know this can be difficult with the turn over rate in moving companies, so think about background checks as an investment. A background check can determine if you are about to hire a criminal or an honest worker.

Have a strict policy in place

This policy should state what constitutes stealing in your company. This can include everything from petty theft of equipment to doing side work for a booked customer. State what you feel is necessary and needs to be said. Strictly inforce your policy by educating all of your employees, both resident and new.

Educate your Movers

On some occasions, movers may steal from your company because they believe that it is doing well and that it wont impact anything if they dip into your resources. Explain how it impacts your business, but also explain that it impacts their paychecks.

Make it difficult

Many times, theft occurs because of the oppurtunity, not necessarily because of any financial hardship or malice towards an employeer. If there are ways to lock up your trucks, supplies or tools on a daily basis than this will eliminate some of the stealing on impulse.

Keep Track of Supplies

Pre and Post- Trips are important in keeping track of supplies and equipment. If you enter the quantity of equipmemt into a data base on a weekly basis, you will know exactly which truck and crew the equipment or supplies went missing on.

What do you do when it happens?

Address the problem with haste. Don’t be embarassed if you suspect that an employee is stealing from you. Tell this employee that you have methods in place to track if any supplies are stolen and that they are on watch. If you are unable to get a confession out of the employee, at least it may straighten them up into never doing it again.