In the News
Listening to Bill O’Reilly’s back-up commentators today I was shocked! Although after the last number of years I don’t know why I should be.
The big news this week is the allegation that Illinois Governor [tag]Rod Blagojevich[/tag] tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder.
Also in the news today, former Nasdaq stock market chairman, [tag]Bernard L. Madoff[/tag], was arrested on a securities [tag]fraud[/tag] charge yesterday, accused of running a fraudulent investment business that lost at least $50 billion before he confessed to senior employees it was a “giant Ponzi scheme.” What was it then that shocked me on the O’Reilly broadcast? It wasn’t either of these news items.
What About Your Workforce?
One of the callers on the show commented that [tag]character[/tag] should be important in our leaders, and that we should hold them to the highest standards of character. The co-commentator then made a remark something like, “But I wonder if we hold ourselves and those we work with to that standard?” It almost sounded like the question was meant to say that no one has such a standard.
And that is what shocked me!
If your [tag]business[/tag] allowed any person to come in, and behave [tag]unethically[/tag] how successful would you be? If you allowed any person with the work behaviors and ethics that are being demonstrated by these two situations (allegations of fraud and corruption) to come into your [tag]workforce[/tag], how long would you stay [tag]profitable[/tag]?
The problem is — that is exactly what most companies do!
Kessler International, a leader in international corporate investigations, forensic accounting, brand protection and computer forensics, reports from one study that 79% of employees steal from their employers.
“Employees Outsteal Shoplifters
“Our studies showed that not only do employees steal, but also they outsteal shoplifters. In fact, [tag]employee theft[/tag] is the cause for one out of every three business failures in this country today. Our study disclosed that employees readily admitted to stealing office supplies, falsifying expense reports, taking inventory and almost 87% of those surveyed admitted to falsifying time sheets because they regularly stole time from their employers and was paid for hours they did not work. Those surveyed also indicated that these practices are increasing at an alarming rate. Previous studies have revealed that the price tag on employee theft in this country today is over $120 billion a year.” — Kessler International
With 79% of employees stealing, that tells me that employers are not using good methods to do the best at screening potential employees. Oh, by the way — this is the latest data available and it’s from 1999. Can you imagine what may be happening in today’s new economy?
Kessler identified that of those who steal:
- 49% Steal due to Greed
- 43% Steal due to Vindictiveness or need to get even for poor treatment
- 8% Steal due to Need
What Can You Do:
I see two challenges here:
- Ensuring you don’t hire the wrong person to begin with (someone who is more likely to steal, or look the other way when others do and then do it themselves), and
- Creating the right [tag]management communication[/tag] and culture so people don’t feel poorly treated and don’t feel a need to “get even.”
How do you do this?
In my years of working with managers and people, I’ve dealt with the problems of improving management and hiring. While we didn’t always have the best methods available to us then, now leaders and managers have validated tools and [tag]assessments[/tag] that give good information on whether someone will have a tendency to good work behavior and good ethics — or poor ones.
Also, you now have tools that you can use to quickly, and economically, diagnose where your management practices, communication, and leadership difficulties are and address them. The choice is yours as a business owner, leader, or manager:
- Spend money you didn’t plan through employee theft and loss prevention, or
- Invest in quality tools that minimize the risk of loss to begin with.
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