What would you do? New hire may be a thief
December 11, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Background checks, In This Week's E-Newsletter, Latest News & Views
Imagine this situation: A few employees have reported personal items missing from their workspaces — and it all began shortly after a new employee started.
Obviously, most people are blaming the new guy — but there’s no proof.
Furthermore, his background and references were thoroughly checked and came up clean. But that’s not enough for his new manager and co-workers, who want some action to be taken right away.
We asked three HR managers how they’d handle the problem:
Response #1: We’d address the issue in our employee newsletter — without pointing fingers at any specific employee. We’d just remind people not to leave valuables unattended. Raising awareness might be enough to stop future thefts.
Response #2: It sounds like we need to conduct a thorough investigation before deciding the new guy was to blame. I’d ask the victims where and when the items were taken and find out who would’ve had access to those areas at those times. Then I’d interview all the suspects to see what I could find out.
Response #3: First, I’d make sure a thorough background check was completed before the new employee was hired. Then I’d ask the manager to keep a close watch on him — without making accusations. It certainly sounds like the new guy is to blame, but we can’t take any action just yet.
If you were in the situation, what would you do? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Tags: background check, new hire, theft
December 11th, 2008 at 10:17 am
thats one heck of a tough situation. I try to look for the best in everyone and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty in my book.
December 11th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I would do a combination of the three HR Manager’s responses:
1) Find out who was working during the times of the thefts. There could be another employee responsible. I wouldn’t do interviews at this time since these are personal losses and not a company loss.
2) Review the background check to make sure it was thorough and nothing was missed. Were criminal record searches done for all counties where the new employee lived, worked and went to school in the last 7 years? Were independent references checked? Refer to http://fyiscreening.com/the-reality-of-reference-checking/
Have the manager monitor this new employee.
3) Put something in the company newsletter to raise awareness of securing personal belongings.
If losses continue and the new employee is still a suspect then the next step would be an interview of the new employee, preferably by an experienced loss prevention person.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I would not be interested in playing CSI and investigating personal losses. I would ask all employees to be sure that their personal possessions were kept in a safe place because things coming up missing. I would keep my eyes open and ask all supervisors to do the same. If any employee is observed or “caught” taking something that does not belong to them, I would walk them out the front door myself…with pleasure.
You can never assume it is the new guy and I bet he perceives that people are giving him the fish eye. I agree with Chris.
December 12th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I have seen this exact scenario previously. When I was considering what to do, a VP told me that this had happened many times before prior to my coming with the company, i.e. there would always be thefts when there were new hires. The VP also stated that she was beginning to suspect that perhaps a senior employee was really responsible and that they would commit thefts when there were new hires to deflect blame. We decided to do a sting operation and guess what ……. the senior employee was caught.
December 12th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
To JBird, I ask – Exactly what is the fish eye? Is that like the hook eye or the stink eye?
December 21st, 2008 at 9:25 pm
The conservative and less aggressive approach would be the same responses as the HR Managers gave, however, a pro-active approach would be to set up a sting just as KMiller mentioned. More times than not when we are investigating these type situations it is more to it than meets the eye, and the obvious culprit is not necessary the guilty party. Also JBird needs to rethink his/her response because while today it may be personal property a thief is not likely to distinquish between personal and company property. Lastly, you want to identify and remove the thief from your premises sooner than later so get on with solving it.
January 16th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
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