Secrets to Unmask Employees who Cheat and Steal.

There are many perspectives on causes and reasons behind cheating and stealing in the workplace. Some experts explain it as personality characteristics; others say it is fostered by workplace circumstances; others blame it on management role-modeling; and the sociologists assert we live in a winner-take-all society. Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" theory governs one's behavior from the cradle to the grave. David Callahan is his book 'A Nation of Cheaters' mentions "We've become a society divided between a Winning Class that is richer than ever and often cheats because it can get away with it. And an Anxious Class that cheats to move up in the world - or just stay afloat. "

Stealing and cheating occurs in every workplace. And, though we may not visibly see it, the reality is most employees are guilty. An overwhelming 79 percent of workers admit they have or would consider stealing from their employers, according to a survey by forensic accounting firm Michael G. Kessler & Associates. One out of three companies that go bankrupt each year do so as a result of employee theft, costing businesses between $60 billion and $120 billion a year, according to prior studies. Many employers write off these losses as the cost of doing business, but what they might not realize is that workplace pilfering can cost them their livelihood. According to a 2002 survey by Ernst & Young LLP and Ipsos-Reid, businesses can lose 20 percent of every dollar earned.

First, let's clarify the difference between cheating and stealing. Cheating is often defined as dishonesty of any kind with respect to work quality, assignments, or alteration of records. It is law-abiding people who break or bend the rules to get ahead financially or in their careers. Common examples of dishonesty in the workplace are:

• Misreporting actual time and days worked
• Fictitious and overstated amounts on Expense Reports
• Inflating accomplishments or performing sloppy substandard work
• Spreading harmful rumors with little knowledge of the actual circumstances

While integrity implies honesty, an individual with a high level of integrity might engage in dishonest behavior in an attempt to reach what they might consider to be a more noble purpose. Stealing is generally perpetrated with a conscious intent. Dictionaries define stealing as the wrongful taking of someone else's property without that person's willful consent. In law, it is usually the broadest term for a crime against property. It is a general term that encompasses offences such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, trespassing, shoplifting, intrusion, fraud (theft by deception), and sometimes criminal conversion. "Most people who steal from work - whether time theft, fraud, embezzlement or theft of goods or products - are not doing so because they are professional thieves or dishonest people," says Terry Shulman, author of Biting the Hand That Feeds: The Employee Theft Epidemic. "They slip into it a little at a time, mostly out of a combination of disgruntlement and compulsion."

Shulman says most employees who steal from work are honest in other areas. "But for most there is a sense of entitlement and they don't think they are hurting anyone. Many feel angry and entitled to steal from work because of perceived feelings of being victimized or not being appreciated." Common examples of stealing in the workplace are:

• Using company office supplies and equipment for personal use
• Placing privileged and proprietary information on the internet
• Using company time for personal endeavors such as eBay or stock investments
• Industrial espionage or selling client information to competitors

The first secret to unmask cheating and stealing begins with establishing a visible company culture of no-tolerance. Most transportation and logistics companies delegate company culture and role-modeling to their HR department. This is not recommended as these important aspects have a serious bottom line consequence. A solution would be to create a VP of People Development and Culture position reporting directly to the President. Senior Management must act as the ethical role-models for subordinates to follow. There is no substitute for this. If we think having employees sign-off on Human Resource manuals and policies will prevent theft and ethical problems we are fooling ourselves.

The second secret is having a high quality pre-employment screening process. SHRM's Ethics Resource Center 2005 National Business Ethics Survey released October 12th; reported fifty-two of the more than 3,000 U.S. workers surveyed said they observed some kind of ethical misconduct in the workplace in the past year. Of this survey group, 27 percent observed stealing or theft, 36 percent observed lying on reports or falsifying records, and 45 percent observed lying to supervisors. These statistics are distressing evidence that supports why many employers are now making use of pre-employment honesty testing. As I have mentioned before, the nucleus of most business problems is found in the hiring process. People are the most valuable asset and the most critical liability a company has. With that being said, still most companies treat hiring in a lackadaisical way. The Kessler Survey by forensic accounting firm Michael G. Kessler & Associates found that only 5 percent of those who stole had a criminal record for a theft-related offense. We tend to think of cheating and stealing as 'big' crimes. When, in fact, it is the everyday minor 'blue collar' crimes that cause businesses the most problems and financial loss. Often these go unreported and undisciplined.

An excellent method of pre-employment screening is to conduct multiple interviews by a neutral entity of different interviewers, and then assessments are compared and evaluated. However, most companies do their pre-screening entirely in-house and not in a very thorough way. If you desire to get the best candidate for the job which fits your qualifications and ethical standards, in-house interviewing is generally biased and political. Most executives and human resources departments are not well-trained in body language, linguistics and lie detection techniques to identify duplicity. A qualified independent consultant should perform the initial pre-screenings of job candidates regardless of position. Employment screening is not a one-time event. Screenings should be an on-going process linked with the employee annual review. These ethical screenings are not evaluating job performance; they are appraising employee conduct, attitude, ethics, and compliance to company culture. The reality is: When it comes to cheating and stealing, the office clerk who walks thorough the halls unrestricted chatting with everyone can do as much financial and morale harm as the corrupt senior manager.

The third secret is educating supervisors and employees about the negative impact theft and rumors can have on their company. By soliciting staff support, subsequent loss prevention efforts will be met with acceptance, rather than alienation and resistance. Anonymous tip programs may compel honest employees to volunteer information about office theft without being marked as a snitch. These are useful in major crimes; however, they are ineffective in the day to day pilfering of staplers, coffee and proprietary data. The bottom line is employees steal to the extent management permits it. There are no shortcuts to eliminating it, you have to remove the opportunity, create awareness and rally employees support.

The reason these are 'secrets' is simply: the thief know most companies are not organized enough to enact nor enforce internal measures to protect themselves. The question senior executives should be asking is: What's Happening Within My Company?

How Bad Is Your Theft Problem? Check out this link: http://www.blacktable.com/burzynski050323.htm "How to steal from a Temp Job"

~ Coach Nick Matyas ©2005

Email your comments to Coach Nick Matyas at: nick@C2A1.com.
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Nick Matyas has over 25 years experience in the transportation industry. His firm provides expertise in pre-employment screenings, workforce and workplace assessments, training seminars, and performance coaching.