CategoryEmployee Theft

Every Australian small business owner understands the sting of retail theft. Whether it’s customer shoplifting or employee pilfering, missing inventory and unexplained shrinkage eat away at your profits. But what if there was a way to identify potential theft early, before it significantly impacts your bottom line?

Our Tower Systems POS software that’s make for small business retail offers a proven and powerful weapon in the fight against theft: we offer a free theft check service. This complimentary service leverages the robust data captured by their POS system to provide invaluable insights into your store’s operations.

Here’s how it works: Tower’s POS software acts as your silent guardian, meticulously recording every sale, transaction,and inventory movement. This data becomes a treasure trove of information for Tower’s team of security specialists. They have the expertise to analyse this data and uncover hidden patterns that might indicate suspicious activity.

For instance, a sudden spike in voids or returns for a particular staff member, unusual discounts applied to specific items,or discrepancies between cash register takings and recorded sales could all be red flags. By identifying these patterns early, you can take preventive measures before the theft escalates.

The beauty of Tower’s free theft check is its proactive nature. It doesn’t rely on catching someone red-handed; it focuses on identifying anomalies that warrant further investigation. This allows you to address potential theft before significant losses occur.

Here are some key benefits of utilising Tower Systems’ free theft check service:

• Reduced Shrinkage: Early detection of theft means less lost inventory and increased profitability.
• Improved Security: The knowledge that your system is actively monitoring for suspicious activity can act as a deterrent to would-be thieves.
• Peace of Mind: Knowing your business is protected allows you to focus on what matters most – running your store and delivering exceptional customer service.

Tower Systems understands the unique challenges faced by Australian small businesses. Our free theft check service is a testament to our commitment to helping retailers not only survive but thrive. By utilising this valuable tool, you gain a powerful ally in the fight against retail theft, allowing you to keep your profits where they belong – in your pocket.

Accessing the free theft check service starts with a call or email to a member of the Tower leadership team. We treat your communications with confidentiality. We ask for access to your data and we analyse this for you. If it gets to the point of law enforcement, we will provide evidence they require.

I DON’T BELIEVE YOU.

That’s what a retail business owner told us years ago when we told them that employee theft had cost their business more than $100,000 in the previous 12 months.

When we asked who worked four specific shifts each week and who had two weeks off a month prior, they knew we might be on to something, but since th person in question was family, they trusted them more than they trusted us.

The thing is, data are facts, they don’t lie.

PROVE IT.

They told us to prove it.

We asked for more data, dug deeper, and proved it, expect that the amount that had been stolen went up the further back we looked. We showed them that $350,000 had been stolen from the business through systematic actions and because they had given the employee full security access and because they id not use the theft tracking tools in the software – and the employee knew this.

This all started because of what they thought was a bug in our software. There was no bug.

It ended with the police laying charges.

Our POS software collects data that can be analysed to look for patterns of use that could indicate theft behaviour.

In a typical independent retail business, theft costs between 3% and 5% of turnover. Our software backed by our Theft Check service seek to reduce the financial imp[act on the businesses owned and run by our 3,000+ customers.

We are grateful to help independent retailers reduce the cost of theft in their shops.

Helping local small business retailers discover and manage theft situations is just one way we help our retailer community.

Our Australian sales number is 1300 662 957.

Our NZ sales number is 0800 444 367.

WE’RE NOT YOUR AVERAGE POS SOFTWARE COMPANY AND HERE ARE 3 EXAMPLES WHY:

• Dead stock often represents between 5% and 12% of stock on hand in local indie retail businesses. Our software proactively helps retailers identify dead stock and stop making decisions that lead to dead stock.
• We provide a free theft check service where we look at data patterns that can indicate theft. Our evidence has been used by police, prosecutors and accepted ax expert evidence in court.
• Copying big retailers is not smart. Our software offers genuinely unique, and successful, ways you can differentiate to nurture deeper baskets per purchase and more frequent return of shoppers.

Sure, we do the usual of scanning products, tracking sales, supplier electronic invoice import, linking to Xero for accounting and linking to Shopify (and more) for online sales. It’s what we do outside the usual where our retailers can leverage real value, like our insights dashboard.

From the data captured from Point-of-Sale software from my software company being used in their business, I was able to show Harry and June that their business was being stolen from to the tune of at least two thousand dollars a week, that it had been going on for two years and that it was only happening four days a week.

We were sitting in a coffee shop near their business. They brought the shop employee roster with me as I asked. There was only one person who worked the days and specific hours indicated by the Point-of-Sale software.

‘It can’t be, they’re family,’ June said looking across at Harry. ‘She’s my niece,’ said Harry, ‘she’s amazing in the shop. Customers love her’. ‘We couldn’t run the business without her,’ June chipped in. ‘Yeah, it’s got to be a mistake,’ Harry said looking at the roster.

Harry had reached out to me a couple of weeks earlier as their accountant had advised him that the business was not making the type of money that it should. The accountant had said to him ‘something’s not right’.

Harry thought there was something wrong with the software. That’s why he called me.

I asked for a copy of their data and did a deep dive into a hidden set of encrypted sales records stored by the software to enable this type of investigation of possible employee fraud.

Having done this type of research many times in the past and having worked with police and prosecutors as an expert witness, I knew for certain that Harry and June were being stolen from by their niece.

They left the coffee shop meeting certain that the problem was with the software. It was another year before Harry and June followed my advice, installed hidden cameras and got the evidence to implicate their niece.

The day they confronted their niece she walked out. They never recovered the money. They feared a split in the family and didn’t pursue criminal charges.

In all, Harry and June lost over three hundred thousand dollars. They sold the business soon after.

Employee theft can be a high cost to indie small business retailers. Different studies in Australia and elsewhere coupled with our own knowledge of theft in indie small business retail indicates that employee theft costs a business around 75% of the total cost of theft.

The quantum of  employee theft is often under considered by small business retailers. We think  this is because of denial. However, given that the amount that can be taken in one hit or in micro amounts over a long period of time can be considerable once toted up.

Employee theft can be traced and as a result of this stopped. Our small business POS software helps retailers do this. We back the theft mitigation facilities in our software with training, advice and even data analysis to uncover possible instances of theft that may have hitherto gone undetected.

Here is some of the small business retail theft mitigation advice from our POS software retail experienced team:

1. Track your stock. Receive all stock into your business through your computer system so you know exactly what sock you have.
2. Scan everything you sell.  Do not use department keys as this makes it easier for employees to steal since they know there is no trackback to stock on hand. Using department keys is an invitation to steal.
3. Track every sale by employees. Give your employees a card with a unique barcode or have them enter a code – to track every sale they make back to them. Change the code every six months or so.
4. Do your end of shift through your software and have a zero-tolerance policy on being over or under. Reconcile banking to your computer software end of shift. One business where this was not done was being skimmed regularly for $200 a day.
5. Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One retailer needing to do a banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to discovery of systematic theft.
6. Change your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
7. Setup a theft policy.Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it. See the last page of this advice.
8. Keep the counter clean. An organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft. It makes detection easier.
9. Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
10. Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
11. Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check. From the outset this indicates that you take your business seriously. In many situations applicants who have been asked for permission to do a police check advise they have found a job elsewhere.
12. Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees. If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.

At the start of a new year is a good time to take a close look at whether employee theft is an issue in your retail business. We’d love to help you with that.

Take 2 minutes and read this advice for local small business retailers. It’s about employee theft. Most retailers do not consider or engage with employee theft as a topic until they have seen or felt the cost of employee theft, until after the event.

We know that employee theft in retail usually costs more than customer theft and that it is less likely to be detected

If the cash draw is open from the previous sale, the staff member can scan the items for the next sale, let the customer know the amount, receive payment (and give change if needed) and cancel the sale. They then keep a note of how much of their money is in the register.

Now while growth EFTPOS means less cash passes through a business. For someone wanting lunch money on the business each day they can achieve that. 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year and it could be close to $5,000 a year.

We have seen this often in retail businesses we have helped.

In our POS software there is a secret audit log that only the owner can access. This tracks a bunch of stuff, like cancelled sales. Spotting a questionable pattern is easy. This could be the thread that leads to discovery of theft.

Already in 2023 we have helped retailers detect theft. We have provided evidence to police to assist in prosecution. We have provided retailers irrefutable evidence so they can deal with recovery and / or an insurance claim. It’s the POs software, the business data and our retail data analysis skills that combine to help local small business retailers confront employee theft.

We have helped police and prosecutors deal with employee theft and ensured our software can help small business retailers in this area.

It’s not glamorous and not the key reason to consider Tower Systems. But it is a valuable reason. What you might save in a year could easily pay for the right POS software.

Find out more:
www.towersystems.com.au
1300 662 957
sales@towersystems.com.au

Too often small business retailers will not want to know about employee theft. Data don’t lie.

Tower Systems will work with you confidentially, quietly, providing the evidence., The steps you take are 100% up to you. It all starts with knowing.

There is no good time to write to local retailers about theft.

It’s a topic many of us in business don’t want to hear about, we don’t want to contemplate it.

But this happened.

We were checking the data for a local retail business that uses our specialty retail POS software. We noticed some anomalies in their data, in transaction sequences actually.

After digging a bit deeper we had evidence of employee theft.

From data covering three months we had enough evidence to put a value of $25,000 on the theft.

On our advice, the business asked for a meeting with the employee to discuss their concerns. The employee resigned immediately. They never returned to the business.

The business has the evidence police can use for a criminal investigation and, we expect, charges being laid. As we have done previously, we are prepared to be called as an expert witness.

Tower Systems is not your usual POS software company. Our help desk does the usual help desk stuff, and they go the extra mile – to help you maximise the value of the power of our Aussie made and supported POS software.

Our software has theft tracking tools, hidden away from everyday users, tools that can provide the evidence needed by police, and prosecutors to make their case in court.

Here is best practice advice which, if followed, will reduce the cost of theft in any retail business.

1. Establish a theft policy and stick to it.
2. Check references of prospective employees.
3. Ask candidates if they would agree to a background check.
4. Only sell what you arrive, bring into the store, through Point of Sale software. If you track it you can know if it has been stolen or not. If you do not track it who knows if it is stolen.
5. Track ALL sales – by scanning, touch screen button or PLU (product look up code), a hot key on your computer screen.
6. Stop all department sales, sales where the employee gets to enter the amount of the item.
7. Scan out ALL products are returned to suppliers.
8. Undertake regular spot stock take throughout the business. The discrepancy between what you have and what the system has reflects theft.
9. Reorder stock using your software. This stops poor buying decisions. It also identified stock theft and employee fraud around stock.
10. Use employee codes against each sale. Yes, this adds time to each sale. The benefits far outweigh the time cost.
11. Set an end of shift balance target of $5.00. Many retailers achieve this – it takes discipline.
12. Change your system passwords regularly. Make it a condition of employment that these passwords are never shared.
13. Do random, during the day, register balance checks. Check that the cash your computer system thinks should be in the cash drawer is what is actually in the cash drawer.
14. Use your software to check and report on behaviour which could indicate employee theft.

Retailers tend to worry more about shopper theft than employee theft yet, in our experience, employee theft has the higher cost to the business.

Theft is a financial and emotional problem in retail, especially in local small business retail. Too often, it is not discovered until after the event, primarily because of a lack of belief that theft is a problem, particularly theft by employees.

One of the best ways to detect employee theft is to look at your business transactional data.

In our experience at Tower Systems, serving thousands of local small business retailers with our specialty retail POS software, we often find evidence of questionable behaviour indicating theft – behaviour that could have been observed in the business much sooner.

Our professional and based on experience advice to local small business retailers is to use the theft detection and mitigation tools in your POS software. learn about them. Use them. But don’t tell others what you are doing.

Cases of employee theft in local small business retail in which we have been involved have ranged in theft cost from $5,000 to $245,000. In every single instance, using the secret tools we have mentioned here could have detected the theft sooner and reduced the financial an emotional impact on the business and others.

If you have read this far, thank you and well done. Most will not, because theft is not an interesting topic – until they are personally impacted.

Recommended steps any retailer can take to reduce employee theft in retail:

Theft is something to be managed in any retail business. Retailers are  stolen from by employees. Good management is about reducing the opportunity for and instances of theft.

1. Value employees. Experts say this is the top step to take.
2. Share information. Often, theft can be driven by a misconception about the profitability of the business. Sharing accurate business performance data can educate against theft.
3. Do your end of shift through your software and have a zero-tolerance policy on being over or under. Reconcile banking to your computer software end of shift. One business where this was not done was being skimmed regularly for $200 a day.
4. Change your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
5. Check GP by department. If GP is falling outside what you expect, research it further.
6. Demand the cash drawer be closed after every sale. A drawer left open is an opportunity.
7. Keep the counter clean. A better organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft as it makes detection easier.
8. Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
9. Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
10. Beware of calculators with memories at the counter. One retail business employee used the memory function to track how much cash had to be stolen prior to balancing for the day – cash from sales not rung up.
11.  Enter new stock as it comes in, scan all sales and only reorder based on what you software says. Every month do a stock take. Popular daily items such as tobacco stock discrepancies are an indicator of theft. Had one retailer we work with been doing this they would have caught their $250 a day employee theft months earlier.
12. Scan everything you sell. Do not use department keys as this makes it easier for employees to steal since they know there is no trackback to stock on hand. Using department keys is an invitation to steal.
13. Do spot cash balancing using your PO)S software. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One retailer needing to do a banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to discovery of systematic theft.
14. Check your Audit Log in your POS software.
15. Setup a theft policy. Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it.
16. Do not let employees sell to themselves. If they want to purchase something make them purchase it from the other side of the counter.
17. Be professional in your management of the business. The more professional your approach they less likely your employees will steal as they will see the risk of being caught as high.
18. Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check. From the outset this indicates that you take your business seriously. In many situations applicants who have been asked for permission to do a police check advise they have found a job elsewhere.
19. Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees. If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.

These steps work – based on decades of helping small business retailers to reduce and manage employee theft.

Employee theft in retail tends to cost more than customer theft. It is also the type of theft in retail that is less likely to be uncovered and accurately costed.

Here are 12 steps to cut employee theft in any retail business:

1. Scan everything you sell.
2. Spot stock take items in high demand.
3. Use your POS software to balance at the end of shift every day.
4. Have a security camera over each register.
5. Check GP by department. If GP is falling outside what you expect, research it further.
6. Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
7. Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
8. Beware of calculators with memories at the counter. One retail business employee used the memory function to track how much cash had to be stolen prior to balancing for the day – cash from sales not rung up.
9. Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One retailer needing to do a banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to discovery of systematic theft.
10. Setup a theft policy. Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it.
11. Do not let employees sell to themselves. If they want to purchase something make them purchase it from the other side of the counter.
12. Be professional in your management of the business. The more professional your approach they less likely your employees will steal as they will see the risk of being caught as high.

Of course, there are more than 12 steps you can take. These are, in our opinion, the best. We say this based on years of experience helping local indie retailers, especially helping to reduce employee theft.

The harm to a retail business from employee theft can be far reaching, debilitating for the business and those who work in it. The keys for moving on from the crime starts with confronting the situation.

Through our POS  software company we have been engaged in helping retailers deal with employee theft for many years.

In this post, we offer straightforward steps to help you get through as it is on the other side of this where you can find the opportunity to move on from the feeling of violation that often accompanies employee theft in small business.

1. Be sure of the facts, gather the evidence. Evidence could include, video footage of cash being take from the business, business records being modified to cover tracks, stock being stolen and more. Evidence does not include gossip, feelings and opinions. Without evidence you have nothing to proceed with.
2. Once you have all available evidence and if this clearly implicates one or more employee, work out what you want.
   1. If you involve the police, they and, subsequently, the courts, will control the process including getting your money or goods back, an apology and more.
   2. If you don’t involve them, think about if you want the money or goods back, an apology, the person to stop working for you without negative impact on you – or a mixture of these.
   3. Check your insurance policy. Be sure you understand what you might be able to claim and in what circumstances. For example, your policy may require a police report. This could determine your next steps. If you are not sure what your insurance policy says, call the insurance company for advice. Knowing your insurance situation early is vital.
3. If the person committing the crime is a minor:
   1. Once you are sure, advise their parents or guardian by phone. Invite them to the shop or an independent location to see what you have. Have someone else there with you, as an observer. This meeting needs to happen quickly.
   2. Present the evidence.
   3. Listen to their response.
   4. If they (their parents) ask what you want, be clear.
   5. If agreement is reached, put it in writing at the meeting and have all involved sign it.
   6. If agreement is not reached you need to decide your next steps and engage them.
   7. A return of the money, likely by the parents, should be in a lump sum, immediately. We have seen a parent pay $22,000 where a uni student studying psychology stole and out their career at risk by being caught. We have seen another situation where a 75-year-old mum repaid the $12,000 stolen by her adult daughter so the daughter did not have to tell her husband about her gambling problem.
4. If the person committing the crime is not a minor:
   1. Speak with them face to face, privately, with another person there as a witness.
   2. Tell them you have evidence of them stealing from the business.
   3. Ask if they would like to see it. If they say no, ask what they propose.
   4. If they do want to see the evidence, show it and ask what they propose.
   5. If there is an offer of a full refund, an immediate resignation and never entering the business again it could be a good practical outcome. The challenge is you may not know the value of what has been stolen. Experience indicates that someone stealing cash will understate the amount considerably. I was involved in one case where they said they stole $10,000. The irrefutable evidence showed it was $75,000.
   6. Get any agreement in writing. If there is an offer to repay, our advice is to only accept an immediate lump sum. If the proposal is payment of, say, more than $10,000 over time, involve the police.
   7. If the person denies any wrongdoing, go to the police immediately.
5. If you have suspicions and do not have the evidence, put in place opportunities to gather the evidence without entrapping the target, without setting them up. I have seen situations where local police have provided advice and support for this. It could be worth asking them if you are in a regional or rural situation.

If you are nervous about meeting the person or their family, write down what you plan to say. Keep it short. To the facts. No emotion. Having a script prepared can be useful even if you do not read it.

If there is any risk of violence, do not have a meeting. Go straight to the police.

Time is of the essence here. The longer you know about the situation and the longer you do not act the less useful the outcome is likely to be.

If you are not sure what to do, we can share our experiences.

Tower Systems has been helping local retailers reduce the impact of theft, including employee theft, for many years. Through its POS software to working with police and to being expert witnesses at trial, the Tower team is skilled and capable of helping local retailers in a variety of situations to reduce employee theft in retail.

The actual financial cost of  employee theft is often under considered by small business retailers. We think  this is because of denial. However, given that the amount that can be taken in one hit or in micro amounts over a long period of time can be considerable once toted up.

Here are steps we have found to be useful in many different retail settings to cut the cost of retail employee theft:

1. Track all stock. From what comes in to what is sold to what is returned. Track everything. Have clear processes for everyone to follow.
2. Track each sale by employee. This makes each accountable for their sales.
3. Use your software. Use it for managing the end of shift balancing. Use it for tracking petty cash out. Feed all your data automatically to Xero or other accounting software. Eliminate all manual processes that relate to cash.
4. Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises.
5. Change your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal.
6. Setup a theft policy. Ensure staff read it and sign up to it.
7. Keep the counter clean. An organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft.
8. Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
9. Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
10. Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check. From the outset this indicates that you take your business seriously. In many situations applicants who have been asked for permission to do a police check advise they have found a job elsewhere.
11. Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees. If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.

All it takes is one organised employee to spot a gap in your processes through which they can get the cash they want for lunch each day or for some other purpose. Your processes determine if this gap exists and the extent of it. Structure and consistency are key to reducing the cost of employee theft in any local retail setting in our experience.

We are grateful to have been of service in the last week helping another small business retailer address an employee theft situation.

Our POS software provides accurate evidence that police and prosecutors have found helpful in pursuing criminal charges. We have experts in our business who have presented to courts dealing with such matters.

Offering strong theft mitigation tools is something we have done for many years. Seeing them used again recently and in a way that saved a business a considerable sum is a reminder of the value of good back room software serving local small business retailers.

Employee theft in retail can be expensive. Our POS software offers robust tools that help track possible theft and reduce the impact of this theft.

The goal is a safe and profitable business that respects people and makes it easy to transact accurately. Dealing with the theft challenges of customer theft and employee theft is a key part of this.

Thanks to secret tools and secret in our POS software and secure data, we can provide evidence police and prosecutors trust to prove a theft situation. This data can be key to understanding what has happened, when and thew quantum.

This is the beginning, the truth, the evidence of possible employee theft. So, this is where we start, with the data, uncovering evidence and then offering this evidence to the business owner for engagement.

By providing small business retailers with these tools, we are giving them at their fingertips tools vital to cutting the cost of employee theft in a retail business. Using our POS software, a retailer can cut the cost of employee theft.

Let’s be clear though: not all employees steal, not even half, not even a quarter. However, you needs tools for tracking data and engagement with the software to reveal behavioural patterns that can indicate theft. This is key to early detection.

Our hope is that the audit tools in our POS software do not find misbehaviour and that simply having the tools in a business is the most value achieved. However, should they be needed and should they uncover misbehaviour, the audit tools stand strong and tall for the business and those who own it.

Employee theft can be a challenge to deal with for business owners, work colleagues and those who have perpetrated the theft.

Key to successful resolution is evidence. This is where our POS software plays a vital role. Using our POS software we are able to, often, provide the necessary evidence of an employee theft situation.

Thanks to secret tools and secret and secure data, we can provide evidence police and prosecutors trust to prove a theft situation. This data can be key to understanding what has happened, when and thew quantum.

This is the beginning, the truth, the evidence of em ploy theft. So, this is where we start, with the data, uncovering evidence and then offering this evidence to the business owner for engagement.

By providing small business retailers with these tools, we are giving them at their fingertips tools vital to cutting the cost of employee theft in a retail business. Using our POS software, a retailer can cut the cost of employee theft.

Let’s be clear though: not all employees steal, not even half, not even a quarter. However, you needs tools for tracking data and engagement with the software to reveal behavioural patterns that can indicate theft. This is key to early detection.

We train retailers using our POS software on how to do this, how to leverage the data and information collected and curated by our software to understand if there has been behaviour that could indicate employee theft.

From working with police and prosecutors to working with individual employers, our work on the issue of employee theft is comprehensive and consistent for many years. We have worked in a preventative way as well as after the event, gathering evidence. Our work is in service of our customers, retail business owners.

Using our POS software and following our advice, we think small business retailers can reduce the opportunity for employee theft and thereby cut the cost of employee theft on their businesses. Our engagement with retailers on this is as and when they want, in as much or as little detail as they want. Since we own and run retail businesses, we also share operational suggestions with those interested.

Reducing employee theft can have a significant bottom line benefit in any retail business.

Employee theft can be a high cost to indie small business retailers. Different studies in Australia and elsewhere coupled with our own knowledge of theft in indie small business retail indicates that employee theft costs a business around 75% of the total cost of theft.

The quantum of  employee theft is often under considered by small business retailers. We think  this is because of denial. However, given that the amount that can be taken in one hit or in micro amounts over a long period of time can be considerable once toted up.

Employee theft can be traced and as a result of this stopped. Our small business PO software helps retailers do this. We back the theft mitigation facilities in our software with training, advice and even data analysis to uncover possible instances of theft that may have hitherto gone undetected.

We also support our work on employee and customer theft in retail with support and advice to help deal with theft situations once they are uncovered. We do this because we are retailers ourselves and have personal experience dealing with this, experience through which we hope our customers can benefit.

Here is some of the small business retail theft mitigation advice from our POS software retail experienced team:

1. Track your stock. Receive all stock into your business through your computer system so you know exactly what sock you have.
2. Scan everything you sell.  Do not use department keys as this makes it easier for employees to steal since they know there is no trackback to stock on hand. Using department keys is an invitation to steal.
3. Track every sale by employees. Give your employees a card with a unique barcode or have them enter a code – to track every sale they make back to them. Change the code every six months or so.
4. Do your end of shift through your software and have a zero-tolerance policy on being over or under. Reconcile banking to your computer software end of shift. One business where this was not done was being skimmed regularly for $200 a day.
5. Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One retailer needing to do a banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to discovery of systematic theft.
6. Change your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
7. Setup a theft policy.Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it. See the last page of this advice.
8. Keep the counter clean. An organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft. It makes detection easier.
9. Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
10. Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
11. Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check. From the outset this indicates that you take your business seriously. In many situations applicants who have been asked for permission to do a police check advise they have found a job elsewhere.
12. Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees. If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.