Is Your Business Growing or Shrinking?

If you are a business owner or manager, be assured of one thing: employees are stealing from you.

According to the US Chamber of Commerce, 75% employees steal from their workplace at least once – and half steal repeatedly. Why? Because no one catches them!

Many business owners and managers ignore the signs because they want to believe all their employees are honest.  But the longer you let dishonest employees get away with it, the more widespread employee theft will become, eventually leading to thinner profits in your pockets. According to the University of Florida 2005 National Retail Security Survey, employee theft was estimated to be responsible for 47% of inventory shrinkage.

Dishonest employees come in all shapes, sizes, ages, sexes, ethic backgrounds, religions, levels of education, and economic status. Your employees have a constant opportunity to steal cash or inventory and all they need is the desire and motivation to steal.

And now with websites like Craigs List and Facebook it is easier than ever to pawn off stolen goods without a change of ever getting caught.

After basic physical security (lighting, locks, alarms, and landscaping) a good video surveillance system is the next step in protecting your business.  Why?  It reduces employee theft.

In a perfect world you shouldn’t need to monitor your employees – you would simply trust them.  The fact remains, employees DO steal. Theft no matter how small will eventually lead to reduced profits.  And in this economy of lower sales and slimmer profit margins, theft will reduce your cash even further.

As a good client of mine likes to say, “Trust but Verify.”  That is where his intrusion alarm married with a surveillance system works for him and his business. His alarm system tells him when his store is opened and by whom. His cameras verify that fact in addition to day to day interactions between employees and customers – all in DVD quality clarity.  He is no longer in the dark about his employees and his customers – even when he is out of the office.

Employee theft is here to stay!  Reducing the impact it has small business will keep more money in your pocket.  Surveillance Cameras do eliminate shrinkage and prevent losses from many different areas. Why?

Cameras work because people will not steal when they know they are being watched.

When is the best time to eliminate losses and increase profits?  All business owners agree – IMMEDIATELY.

There are many things to look at when running your small business, especially when it comes to protecting both your assets and your employees.

At the end of the day when all is said and done, not only is the financial well-being of your small business at stake, but your business’ reputation could be at stake.

If you are experiencing these three signs then you may be the victim of employee theft:

• Is your business not growing as you planned?
• Are your profits lower but cannot find the reason?
• Is customer traffic or sales down but you don’t know why?

Keystone Security Systems offers a variety of solutions to help small business owners protect their company from loss. From Surveillance Systems (CCTV) to access control systems we can help! Give us a call today at (585) 730-8324.