So, you're a very busy person who owns or manages a business with employees! Are these workers only pulling their salary out of the business, or have they become silent partners?

Knowing the problem:

* The U.S Chamber of Commerce estimates that theft by employees costs American companies $20 billion to $40 billion a year.

* A survey of retail security managers attributed more than 48.5 percent of their losses to employee theft, up from 46 percent the prior year. Internal theft by employees cost retailers a record $15 billion.

* The U.S. Department of Justice in a study found that 35% of store employees admitted to stealing from their employers

* Bureau of National Affairs estimates that business losses from employee theft run between $15 billion to $25 billion annually.

But surely your employees would never steal from you, right? If you believe that, I have a fellow in Brooklyn who is looking to sell you a Bridge!

To combat internal theft your company needs a comprehensive plan. The first step in your plan? Pre-Employment Screening! It is a lot easier, less expensive, and less aggravating to stop a problem before it begins. "But, not all of my employees handle money," you say. Well, consider the following types of employee theft:

1) Forging Receipts. Charge a customer one sum, ring up a receipt for less and keep the difference.

2) Hiding Receipts. Employees can keep cash and receipts if there are no bookkeeping safeguards, or little supervision.

3) Pocketing Loose Change. Stealing petty cash, or other small sums of money will add up over time.

4) Pilfering Merchandise. Internal theft will prevent your stock from ever making it to the shelves.

5) Fictitious Payroll. Hiring fictitious workers or subcontractors and cashing their checks is another way that employees with authority can steal money for themselves.

6) Expenses Account Abuse. Employees with expense accounts submit fraudulent receipts, submit real receipts twice, or inflate their actual expenses such as mileage.

7) Not all theft is cash. Some employees will steal time by taking unauthorized leave or having others punch time cards.

All businesses that have employees are vulnerable to theft. Start developing your comprehensive plan by knowing your employees before you hire them.

A through background investigation will disclose:

A) The addresses where you applicant has lived

B) Allowing for a criminal conviction search in that municipality

C) A drivers history search in the states where your applicant has lived will reveal any convictions, DWI's, unpaid summonses (scofflaw), accidents, etc.

D) Any Aliases used by the applicant

E) Additional Social Security numbers that the applicant has used

F) Discover previously undisclosed employment

G) Reveal unexplained gaps between jobs (jail?)

H) Consumer credit report (*must be authorized by applicant) can verify employment and address info, and evaluate debt ration/payment history

I) Reveal judgments, liens, bankruptcies, lawsuits

J) Avoid hiring a professional claimant by conducting a Workers Comp. claims search

K) Verify education, professional licenses, and previous employment!

To learn more about pre-employment screening, or to discuss the other parts of a comprehensive theft prevention program for you business, please contact me at (772) 466-1717, or by email at wsonne@THEFLPI.com

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Warren J.Sonne, BCPI, CLI is the President of SunState Investigative Services in Port St. Lucie, (772) 466-1717, and Pinnacle Protective Services in NY, the founder and former president of the United States Association of Professional Investigators, and the author of "Criminal Investigations for the Professional Investigator (Taylor&Francis/CRC Publications, 2006). He retired as a detective from the New York City Police Department, where he served as an investigator for 18 years in a number of elite units. He has extensive specialized training and experience in many types of investigations and investigative techniques, both as a police and as a private investigator.