A staggering 82 per cent of employees have taken property from work or exaggerated expense claims.
This is according to a new study by insurer Royal & SunAlliance (R&SA), which shows that 24 million workers are guilty of removing and keeping company laptops, whilst as many as one in seven exaggerate expense and overtime claims.
Worryingly, of those who have taken something from work, nearly 1 million did so because they considered it to be their property, and a further 963,200 workers did so to spite their company.
Jon Woodman, trading director of Broker, R&SA, said: “Per worker, thefts are mostly of small items, but given that 82 per cent of people who work have admitted to pilfering from the workplace, the overall impact on a business could be significant.
“As an insurer, we take theft very seriously and advise businesses to be aware of the actions of their employees. Policies can be enforced which encourage employers to respect company property or sign in and out materials such as laptops.”
One Response
Employees are the greatest risk
A staggering 69% of fraudsters concern companies who were damaged by their own employees (source: KPMG).
GREED and OPPORTUNITY together represent 73% of fraudsters and we often hear of RATIONALIZATION, where fraudsters convince themselves that their employers “owe” them additional remuneration.
91% of perpetrators do it more than once. In fact, the majority analyzed by KPMG in 2007 embezzled, stole, deceived, bribed or misappropriated more than 10 times! And three quarters weren’t detected by existing internal controls.
The CIPD and CIFAS (the UK’s fraud prevention service) advise that employee recruitment checks and controls are “the first line of defence”.
I wonder if that’s why, like insurance, background checking’s keenest advocates are employers who have already suffered avoidable financial loss and damage to their reputations inflicted by dishonest employees.
David Chernick
Reed Screening