Tony with his friend, Kale, a security expert has been at the police station where the two men that accosted Tony with a gun the night before have been brought to.
Ironically, the culprits have stated that they were sent to threaten Tony with a gun by a woman and had given her name as Anthonia Duduyemi. To Tony’s shocked surprise, the surname ‘Duduyemi’ is that of his company’s HR manager. Though Mrs Duduyemi had been involved in sharing the proceeds from the weekly unauthorised sales of company products by Tony’s former operations manager, Tony found it hard to believe she would go as far as sending men to threaten him with a gun.
Tony and Kale made enquiries and found out that the wife of Mr. Balogun, Tony’s former operations manager was called Anthonia. But not surprisingly, she had tried to pull a fast one by telling the men her surname was now Duduyemi. One of the men who had grown up in the same neighbourhood with her knew her name but did not know her new surname after she got married.
Tony has searched online on his iPad for the photographs of Mrs. Duduyemi, his company HR manager, and Mrs. Balogun, the wife of the company’s former operations manager. He was sacked for being the main suspect in the theft of N3.2million worth of goods from the company. Tony had the case charged to court and since the man’s wife had attempted to blackmail him in times past, he knows she is capable of sending gunmen after him to threaten him to drop the case.
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On Kale’s advice, Tony included the photographs of three other women. They return to the interrogation room where the two culprits are. Kale shows them the photograph of the women. One of the men, who had grown up in the same neighbourhood with Mrs. Balogun easily identified her. So, indeed it was the former operations manager’s wife.
“Are you sure she is the one?” asks the police man who has been in the room with them. The men replied in the affirmative.
Tony and Kale leave the room. Tony goes to the car park while Kale goes ahead to ensure a warrant is prepared for the arrest of the wife of Tony’s former operations manager.
Tony is weighed down by the issue, for almost five months now, he has been dealing with issues of employee’s theft or pilfering and outright robbery. Though only one of Tony’s employees- the former operations manager has been proven to commit robbery, six of his employees have been involved in sharing money received from the unauthorised sales of company products before the major robbery.
As Tony gets into his car to wait for Kale, he phones Shina, his mentor, a very successful businessman and gives him a lowdown of what had happened. “I feel saddened. All this went on apparently because my employees enjoy stealing from me, so much so that stealing from my company even became a family-affair for the former operations manager. I keep wondering how to avoid such employee thefts in future.”
In his usual kind and ever ready to teach stance, Shina starts to counsel him, “Your business is still small, in order not to continue being an employer that employees would enjoy stealing from, do try to interact as much as possible with each employee.
WikiHow, a business resource identifies three main “reasons” for employee theft: One, the employee may have some sort of drastic personal expense that requires extra money; two, the employee may feel abused or under-appreciated; and three, the employee may simply act because the opportunity presents itself.
The first of these is something you are not responsible for but you can help by inculcating sessions in technical training programmes your company organises for staff to teach about money management, living within one’s means, consequences of living above one’s means and so on or you can recommend any of such topical events holding somewhere else. If the expense requirement is for a serious issue like health problem of a family member or loved one, then ask that the staff put the person under his or her health insurance plan. That of course means the company must have a vibrant health insurance for staff. If it is something like educational needs for themselves or their children or relatives, there are various bank products that can be adopted, also encourage cooperative savings within the organisation, so that staff would have something to fall back on in times of desperate need.
If employee theft is because such opportunities easily exist, then tighten your business’s record keeping practices. But if it is largely because of the way the employee feels, then you as an employer must ensure that employees feel that their work is valuable and that they are treated with dignity even when disciplinary measures are to be taken. I have discovered that employees are less likely to steal at work if they like their employer, feel that their work is valuable and they are treated with respect.
Also, frequently talk to your employees informally about their lives, aspirations, and so on. As the company expands and staff strength increases, you may not be able to do this one on one but you can do it in groups or have a large gathering maybe at a festive period, and get your staff to talk informally over refreshment. You may organise outside-of-work social activities and can even invite a speaker to address them on life issues.
Offer extra rewards and bonuses for outstanding work. Make an effort to talk with each employee individually at least a little. Show understanding when employees experience frustrations on the job. Think deeply about how you would feel if you were in their shoes.
OLUYINKA ALAWODE
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