Retailers should keep close tabs on the recruitment agencies they work with and increase support for temporary workers to avoid employee theft in the run up to Christmas.
According to recruitment consultancy de Poel, whose clients include Sainsbury’s and the Co-op, the way to reduce theft by staff is by offering good rates of pay and proper inductions irrespective of transient employment arrangements.
Matthew Sanders, chief executive of de Poel, said: “The solution to this problem is not necessarily expensive CCTV, numerous security staff or high-tech electronic tagging devices.
“What companies need to do is effectively manage their agency suppliers to ensure that quality staff are provided, and keep close tabs on agencies to ensure they carry out all the necessary checks on workers.”
He added: “They also need to make sure workers are paid the optimum amount for the job they’re doing and that they receive proper company inductions.
“As one of the largest unregulated industries in the UK, agencies can get away with paying the candidate less and taking more for themselves, which means temps are sometimes undercut where pay rates and margins aren’t transparent to the employer.
“Inductions can often be forgotten about where workers are only in a position for a matter of weeks.”
Emplpoyee theft increasing
The concern from the company follows a report by the Centre for Retail Research which not only suggests that employee theft is increasing in the retail sector, but that workers are the most prolific of shoplifters in the UK.
The figures, which suggested that employee theft accounted for a loss of almost £1,600 per incident compared with £80 for thieves from outside the business, were put down to people trying to maintain a high-standard of living during the recession.
According to the recent study on shoplifting, the UK was the second worst for employee theft in Europe, 36.4% of total theft being attributed to staff.
