Why Employee Theft Is One of the
Biggest Threats to Your Business
(and How to Stop It)

When dealing with your company’s finances, you likely work hard to not only ensure your books are balanced, but also pull in as much profit as possible every year. To save money and keep accurate records, you pay close attention to various areas in your business, like discounts on wholesale supplies, routine maintenance of expensive equipment, and the pricing of your products or services. But your biggest threat to your year-end profit and reports may actually be within your organization, as employee theft is one of the most rampant and common ways businesses lose money, assets, and even their reputations.

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For years, various outlets have reported one in three businesses will fail due to employee theft. On average, 75% of employees will steal at least once in their time of employment, and their theft is 15 times more likely than nabbing by external people.

Employee theft is so prevalent that an independent study from 2013 by forensic accounting firm Kessler International of over 500 businesses discovered 95% of employees are likely to steal from their employers. This figure is up 16% from Kessler’s previous study from 1999, a disconcerting increase considering the problem of employee theft costs businesses thousands to millions of dollars a year. Kessler attributed the rise of employee theft to factors such as employee misuse of assets and the penchant for younger employees, boasting a sense of entitlement that they’re owed more than they’re given, to have less honesty and integrity than previous generations of workers.