Are your enthusiastic weekend staff making you money....or costing you money?

They may be in a different league to the trader at the centre of an investigation into £billions worth of losses at Societe Generale, but some sneaky Saturday workers are costing UK business huge amounts of money – around £1.5 billion in 2007.

Jerome Kerviel is said to have “worked” Saturdays at Societe Generale in a near empty office – and while his bosses either believed he was a hard worker or they didn’t know he was at his desk, it has been alleged that he was actually trying to recover lost cash, or hide his actions.

“While the vast majority of staff who stay on late, start earlier or work weekends are honest and simply want to get on in their company, there are still a lot of people who are using the cover of a quiet office to steal from their employers,” said Mark Bestley of Cheshire law firm SAS Daniels.

“Some will go in on a Saturday for the sole purposes of using company phones, PCs or photocopiers, while some will go in expressly to take items of value, whether consumables or more expensive goods.

“The problem is that they don’t believe that by taking stock from the office they are committing a crime.

“With some it is no more than taking a few envelopes, bits of stationery, copier paper and so on, but others will ‘reward’ themselves with wine or spirits from the boardroom, the occasional piece of IT equipment – but sometimes much more valuable items.

“It adds up: employee theft and fraud cost British business around £1.5 billion in 2007, and is more widespread than it might appear.

“Many people who steal from work, whether fraud or theft of goods or products, are not doing so because they are regular thieves or dishonest people. They see small value items as a perk, they slip into it over time, and their acquisitions get bigger and bigger.

“Most employees who steal from work are honest in other areas, but for some there is a sense of entitlement and they don’t think they are hurting anyone. Many feel angry and entitled to steal from work because of perceived feelings of not being appreciated.

“But if managers appear to care about you, you are less likely to feel dissatisfied with work and less likely to resort to theft and fraud; building an environment of trust is more effective in reducing employee theft than improved security monitoring.

“Nevertheless, theft should not be tolerated, although the odd personal phone call should be considered reasonable.

“But at the slightest sign of dishonesty, management should act: change locks and passwords; use technology to track the comings and goings of staff, what they’re doing online out of hours; inventories should be carried out and so on although employers should always have due regard for employee’s rights of privacy and their obligations under Data Protection Legislation.”

SAS Daniels has offices in Bramhall, Chester, Congleton, Macclesfield and Stockport.

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Further information:
Iain Macauley or Megan Codling
07788 978800 / 07795 848586
im@pressrelations.co.uk / mc@pressrelations.co.uk / www.sasdaniels.co.uk

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Further information: Iain Macauley or Megan Codling 07788 978800 / 07795 848586 im@pressrelations.co.uk / mc@pressrelations.co.uk / www.sasdaniels.co.uk