The High Cost of Office Theft
Taking a pencil or a few sheets of copy paper is hardly a major offense, indeed for many workers and their employers; this is simply incidental use and engenders no real harm and happier employees. At what point does this “incidental use” progress to “petty theft”?
Employers are losing billions of dollars each year due to “incidental use” or “petty theft”, and while slipping an eraser into a briefcase to take home for personal use is small potatoes, how can a dozen reams of paper being taken be anything other than theft? It is a fine line which employers must tread, with many companies accepting that stationery items will be taken by staff for home use, especially when many bosses expect or accept staff working out-of-hours or encourage home-based working. Running counter to this is the surge in stationery items being removed and which typically coincides with the start of the school year.
It may be small potatoes, but over the course of a year and depending on the value of the items taken plus the number of staff, the cost can very easily run into thousands of dollars.
The issue is how to manage this problem and several solutions have been developed.
Sign for Everything
Every pen, pencil, eraser, piece of paper and even paper clips are kept under lock and key with a strict signed for policy.
Losses drop dramatically but at the same time, there is an opportunity cost to the business because of lost productivity, increased paperwork and let’s be frank, nobody likes the idea of justifying why we need a replacement pencil – it is a morale sapping policy which treats staff like children who cannot be trusted.
This is the type of policy which can be implemented where the problem is rampant but which should be closely monitored with a view to relaxing control as discipline is restored.
Establish Company Policy on Acceptable Use
Companies should inform their staff of what is acceptable use – taking a pen home may be fine, but using the office printer to create four-color prints of holiday snaps is out of the question.
Setting out the standards of conduct you expect from your staff, together with a structured disciplinary process, makes it clear what is and is not tolerable behavior. At the very least, it should inculcate in staff that you are not a candy store to be raided at will – if an employee wants something, the least they should do is to ask their manager.
Tagging High Value Items
Some items are valuable, and the cost may not be readily appreciated by staff or managers. There is also the problem that stationery and office sundries tend to be dispersed widely around an office, and no-one has any overt responsibility for them or how they are used once in circulation. Asset tags are cheap and it makes sense to fix a 10 cent, official-looking tag to a $30 case of copy paper. If high-value sundries, such as printer ink, are being labeled and tagged, it is reinforcing your ownership of the item in the minds of staff who at least will think before they take them, or even take something from a box so marked.
Need a more visual clue to office theft. Check out this Employee Theft Statistics Infographics from Infographics Showcase.
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