• Text Size
• Print
• Email

  From:
  

  To:
  

  Hey! Check out this news page: https://www.thebackgroundinvestigator.com/Articles/Employee-Theft-on-the-Rise-and-Expected-to-Get-Worse/1267/index.php.

  SendCancel

National News

Employee Theft on the Rise and Expected to Get Worse

June 26, 2013 posted by Steve Brownstein

A new study of 23 large retail companies conducted by the loss-prevention consultancy Jack L. Hayes International found that 71,095 employees were caught stealing from their employers last year, an increase of 5.5 percent over 2011.

The study noted that more than $50 million was recovered in last year's cases of employee theft.

Jack L. Hayes International President Mark Doyle noted that more recent hires with less than a year on the job and part-time employees tend to be the ones most frequently caught stealing from their employers.

The firm attributes the rise employee theft to a number of factors, including ineffective pre-employment screening, less employee supervision, the ease in selling stolen goods, and a decline in honesty.

The research also found that the number of shoplifters caught in 2012 reached around 1.1 million, up 7.4 percent from 2011. More than $138 million worth of stolen goods was recovered in those cases.

Several reasons for the increasing number of shoplifting cases were offered, including an increase in organized retail crime, reduced customer service, an increase in fraudulent returns/refunds, and the belief among shoplifters that shoplifting is a low risk/non-offensive crime.

Doyle said that the problem of shoplifting will only get worse in the years ahead, as thieves are constantly working to find ways around the security measures that retailers put in place.