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Employee background checks-4, Background check company-3, Pre-employment screening-4
Future Employee of the Month, or Sneaky Crook – Employee Background Checks
Hiring a new employee to join your team can be a stressful process, especially if you run a small business. Some larger companies may have a revolving door of employees coming and going, but with a smaller company, you likely won’t have that many employees working for you. That’s why it’s so important to make good, informed decisions when hiring. Employee background checks are necessary to ensure that you are making the best possible hiring decision for your company. The people you hire will be a direct reflection of your company, so you want to be sure you find trustworthy employees to be a part of your team. Most jobs today have a great number of candidates applying for the same position, so to keep costs down, you will definitely want to narrow down the candidates before a background check company runs the pre-employment screening for your potential new hires.
After you interview all of the candidates for the position and make your decision on the best person for the job, the next step is pre-employment screening, or having a background check company conduct a search to see if your potential hire has a criminal history. Whether this information will disqualify the candidate or not, it is good to know who you are really hiring to work in your business, and you can’t just take someone’s word for if they are a good person or not. Businesses that run background checks as a condition for employment usually notify the applicant and the applicant signs off, knowing that a check is going to be conducted. You would think at this point if you had a bad history, you might not continue and consent to the check. That’s not usually how it works. You would be surprised at some of the information that can be learned about applicants that you thought for sure were going to be your next employee of the month.
Do your research and find a reputable background check company that will run a thorough search on the potential employee’s past. There are reviews online for everything, including companies that conduct pre-employment screening, so do your homework and choose a company that has good reviews and won’t just take your money and run, while providing you with an inaccurate history on your potential employee. If you have any doubts that you need employee background checks for your business, just watch or read the news. It won’t take long for you to see the horror stories that exist about business owners losing thousands of dollars at the hands of their own employees.
Not every employee you hire will cause you a loss, and not every employee will take a ton of merchandise or money, but pre-employment screening will help you reduce the chances of hiring someone that has already been arrested or fired for these kinds of dishonest activities. I remember seeing one particular story about a young woman that had worked for a business for several years, and she was taking a little bit at a time, which added up to a whole lot in the end. In fact, the employee was able to steal around $45,000 worth of cash in the seven years that she worked for the business. Can you imagine what kind of damage that kind of loss would cause your business? It’s best not to take chances when looking to bring someone new on your team, because if you don’t run employee background checks, this person could wind up working for you next.
For more information about employee background checks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Hiring a new employee to join your team can be a stressful process, especially if you run a small business. Some larger companies may have a revolving door of employees coming and going, but with a smaller company, you likely won’t have that many employees working for you. That’s why it’s so important to make good, informed decisions when hiring. Employee background checks are necessary to ensure that you are making the best possible hiring decision for your company. The people you hire will be a direct reflection of your company, so you want to be sure you find trustworthy employees to be a part of your team. Most jobs today have a great number of candidates applying for the same position, so to keep costs down, you will definitely want to narrow down the candidates before a background check company runs the pre-employment screening for your potential new hires.
After you interview all of the candidates for the position and make your decision on the best person for the job, the next step is pre-employment screening, or having a background check company conduct a search to see if your potential hire has a criminal history. Whether this information will disqualify the candidate or not, it is good to know who you are really hiring to work in your business, and you can’t just take someone’s word for if they are a good person or not. Businesses that run background checks as a condition for employment usually notify the applicant and the applicant signs off, knowing that a check is going to be conducted. You would think at this point if you had a bad history, you might not continue and consent to the check. That’s not usually how it works. You would be surprised at some of the information that can be learned about applicants that you thought for sure were going to be your next employee of the month.
Do your research and find a reputable background check company that will run a thorough search on the potential employee’s past. There are reviews online for everything, including companies that conduct pre-employment screening, so do your homework and choose a company that has good reviews and won’t just take your money and run, while providing you with an inaccurate history on your potential employee. If you have any doubts that you need employee background checks for your business, just watch or read the news. It won’t take long for you to see the horror stories that exist about business owners losing thousands of dollars at the hands of their own employees.
Not every employee you hire will cause you a loss, and not every employee will take a ton of merchandise or money, but pre-employment screening will help you reduce the chances of hiring someone that has already been arrested or fired for these kinds of dishonest activities. I remember seeing one particular story about a young woman that had worked for a business for several years, and she was taking a little bit at a time, which added up to a whole lot in the end. In fact, the employee was able to steal around $45,000 worth of cash in the seven years that she worked for the business. Can you imagine what kind of damage that kind of loss would cause your business? It’s best not to take chances when looking to bring someone new on your team, because if you don’t run employee background checks, this person could wind up working for you next.
For more information about employee background checks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
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“Pants Steaks” to Cattle Rustling: Think Outside the Box on Retail Theft Prevention
I was reading with interest today about the return of the great “pant steak” capers. No, a pant steak is not a special cut of meat like a flatiron. It is the old shoplifter scheme where someone stuffs a pack of T-bones down their pants and heads for the door. Grocers have suffered from this brazen technique for years and often retailers would forgive and allow the person to take the steaks, thinking that they were trying to feed a hungry family (Steaks? Really? What about some cold cuts?). The interesting part of this article was that shoplifters in Austin, Texas would then sell the meet to local unsuspecting bar-b-que restaurants where it would end up on your plate. The local authorities didn’t appreciate that as much as I wouldn’t. This also started me thinking. Why couldn’t some good old retail theft prevention strategy help alleviate some of this problem?
Others have already thought of the solution but it is important to revisit it since meat prices are increasing, even causing cattle rustling to make a reappearance as a favorite criminal pastime. Many grocery stores already have electronic article surveillance such as the Checkpoint security system to stop shoplifting. The EAS could be incorporated into Checkpoint labels that are visible to the consumer as well as hidden Checkpoint tags inserted inside the meat package. The shoplifter might tear off the label but think nothing of the Checkpoint tag being inside the package. When he or she goes to leave your store, bells and whistles announce his or her crime to the world.
This will not only thwart the shoplifter who tries to make a “pants steak” but also the shoplifter who stuffs it into her purse or grabs it and puts it into a paid bag of groceries. Equally as important, it will also act as strong retail theft prevention for your employees taking your meat packages home without paying for them. The key is to keep the number of people who know on a “need to know, right to know” basis as you do all your retail theft prevention strategies that are covert in nature.
I have not worked retail grocery loss prevention; however, I have worked as a police officer who used to respond to these shoplifting incidents when they were very common. Stores that had these issues did not leverage their retail theft prevention strategies to the fullest, such as the utilization of Checkpoint security system and Checkpoint tags. They were fortunate to catch the shoplifting by observations of other customers or their own floor staff. The shoplifter would often sing the tale of woe, trying to get the empathy of the manager, saying that he or she was stealing to feed his or her family. Almost without fail, we would find that they had the money in their pocket to pay for it or were going to sell it or had also shoplifted beer or cigarettes as well (everyone knows they go with steak). It took some education of the managers before they figured out that most people who were fighting to feed their families would not steal to do it and would find other ways.
I give that little short primer on motivation just so we understand and agree that shoplifting meat and food is still shoplifting and is also subject to organized retail crime. Just ask those Austin bar-b-que restaurants who were cited for improperly sourcing their meat. In writing this, I also wanted to just remind retailers as well as myself that the Checkpoint security system can be used in a variety of applications outside of what comes to mind immediately and we must think wide and far to determine new ways to use Checkpoint tags to protect our merchandise of all kinds. Hmm…cattle rustling…are you thinking what I am thinking?
For more information about the Checkpoint security system contact us at www.antishoplifting.net or call 1-770-426-0547.
I was reading with interest today about the return of the great “pant steak” capers. No, a pant steak is not a special cut of meat like a flatiron. It is the old shoplifter scheme where someone stuffs a pack of T-bones down their pants and heads for the door. Grocers have suffered from this brazen technique for years and often retailers would forgive and allow the person to take the steaks, thinking that they were trying to feed a hungry family (Steaks? Really? What about some cold cuts?). The interesting part of this article was that shoplifters in Austin, Texas would then sell the meet to local unsuspecting bar-b-que restaurants where it would end up on your plate. The local authorities didn’t appreciate that as much as I wouldn’t. This also started me thinking. Why couldn’t some good old retail theft prevention strategy help alleviate some of this problem?
Others have already thought of the solution but it is important to revisit it since meat prices are increasing, even causing cattle rustling to make a reappearance as a favorite criminal pastime. Many grocery stores already have electronic article surveillance such as the Checkpoint security system to stop shoplifting. The EAS could be incorporated into Checkpoint labels that are visible to the consumer as well as hidden Checkpoint tags inserted inside the meat package. The shoplifter might tear off the label but think nothing of the Checkpoint tag being inside the package. When he or she goes to leave your store, bells and whistles announce his or her crime to the world.
This will not only thwart the shoplifter who tries to make a “pants steak” but also the shoplifter who stuffs it into her purse or grabs it and puts it into a paid bag of groceries. Equally as important, it will also act as strong retail theft prevention for your employees taking your meat packages home without paying for them. The key is to keep the number of people who know on a “need to know, right to know” basis as you do all your retail theft prevention strategies that are covert in nature.
I have not worked retail grocery loss prevention; however, I have worked as a police officer who used to respond to these shoplifting incidents when they were very common. Stores that had these issues did not leverage their retail theft prevention strategies to the fullest, such as the utilization of Checkpoint security system and Checkpoint tags. They were fortunate to catch the shoplifting by observations of other customers or their own floor staff. The shoplifter would often sing the tale of woe, trying to get the empathy of the manager, saying that he or she was stealing to feed his or her family. Almost without fail, we would find that they had the money in their pocket to pay for it or were going to sell it or had also shoplifted beer or cigarettes as well (everyone knows they go with steak). It took some education of the managers before they figured out that most people who were fighting to feed their families would not steal to do it and would find other ways.
I give that little short primer on motivation just so we understand and agree that shoplifting meat and food is still shoplifting and is also subject to organized retail crime. Just ask those Austin bar-b-que restaurants who were cited for improperly sourcing their meat. In writing this, I also wanted to just remind retailers as well as myself that the Checkpoint security system can be used in a variety of applications outside of what comes to mind immediately. We must think wide and far to determine new ways to use Checkpoint tags to protect our merchandise of all kinds. Hmm…cattle rustling…are you thinking what I am thinking?
For more information about the Checkpoint security system, contact us or call 1-770-426-0547 or www.antishoplifting.net
This past week, I held a regional LP conference at work. Investigators and market associates from across the country all came together to discuss fraud trends and ways to combat the prevalence of organized retail theft. The one thing that everyone said, no matter what part of the country they were from, was that return fraud was the biggest fraud scheme affecting their stores. That’s why we use Alpha Shark Tags.
Chances are, this scheme is affecting your store as well. It’s an easy way for a criminal to make an easy buck. This scheme has two different, yet distinct methods of operation. First, a dishonest customer can buy tons of designer clothing at full price. Wear the product once, then return it. This allows them to keep up with all the latest fashion designs and trends, all while not really spending a single penny.
The second form of return fraud, and the form most devastating to a retail store is fraudulent returns. Here a booster will steal product from one store, then drive across town to the second location. Here, the merchandise is return for (normally) a store credit. In the past, if you were a thief, you couldn’t do much with a store credit. Now, every time I turn the corner I see another pawnshop or website advertising that they buy gift cards. I hate pawnshops… but we’ll talk about that some other time.
So, how do Alpha Shark Tags prevent return fraud? The tag alone will not stop the fraud. You have to take a multi-step approach to do so. First, tighten up your return policy. I know, I know, an easy return policy keeps your customer’s coming back. It also keeps your thieves coming back as well. At the very least, require a phone number during purchases (think major hardware stores). This way, any returns without receipt for your legitimate customers can easily be located with their phone number.
Once you get a solid return policy in place, you can use the Alpha Shark Tags to secure your products. Remember to tag them in a very visible location of the garment, but in a location that does not obstruct wear of the item. In your return policy, you also need to clearly state that garments need to still have the tags attached in order to receive a refund. This prevents those dishonest customers who want to rent your merchandise.
The Alpha Shark Tag will also be a very visible deterrent to shoplifting. A thief will more than likely break these tags off the clothes once their stolen as they will fear that they will set off the door alarms. Now you have the thief in a catch-22. Breaking off the tag means they can’t’ return the product. Not breaking the tag (in their mind) poses a threat of the door alarm going off (even though it won’t). In my experience, the thief will not take that chance and will more than likely move on to an easier target. With one very simple tagging method, coupled with a strong return policy, you can practically shut down the most prevalent fraud scheme impacting retail stores today.
For more information about Shark Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
