Pre-inventory Stealing

This article about an employees stealing millions in computer gear from work and reselling it on eBay should wake up small and medium businesses immediately. Right now may be the best time for your products and office equipment to become an extra Christmas "bonus" to thieving employees.

Why now? Four reasons. First, holidays create chaos and rushing around, and unusual activity for many businesses. Add in the atypical end of year activity, and few businesses stick to their normal routines.

Second, holidays mean vacations, which mean fewer eyes watching. Employees can do more without being noticed, because there are fewer people there to notice them.

Third, some employees will be bitter because they didn't get a holiday bonus, or the bonus they got wasn't big enough. A few of those will feel they're "entitled" to something, and that means something that belongs to the business.

Finally, many businesses don't do any physical inventory until January. Any discovered shrinkage will be attributed to the past year, not necessarily the past week. Since the last accurate inventory was a year ago, the shrinkage could have happened anytime between the two inspections.

How can you stop this? Replace employees you don't trust whenever you stop trusting them. An employee who's only honest when watched isn't worth keeping.

Improve security with technology. Linksys just introduced new video surveillance cameras using 802.11g for connections (models WVC2300 and PVC2300), making it easier to place them around the company. An earlier version I tested years ago did a good job turning on with a motion sensor and e-mailing the video clip to a predefined address. I have to believe they're even better now.

For that matter, you can go to Radio Shack or the equivalent and buy a camera housing with a battery-powered LED that looks like a security camera. Since most dishonest employees aren't too bright, that alone may reduce your loss.

Oh, yeah: Happy Holidays.