Employee Theft a Growing Problem in U.S. Retail Industry

February 04, 2015
Mandy Haynes

Employee Theft a Growing Problem in U.S. Retail Industry According to a report published last month by Fortune, the threat of employee theft within U.S. retail stores remains prevalent and continues to accumulate significant costs for both consumers and retailers. Ernie Deyle of Sysrepublic, a data analytics firm, states that the four months between October and January not only produce the “biggest sales volume of the year” for retailers, but also produce “about half of all annual shrinkage,” or missing goods that result from shoplifting and other factors.

According to the most recent study published by the Global Retail Theft Barometer, this shrinkage costs U.S. retailers about $42 billion a year and costs shoppers an average of $403 annually per household. The study compared the causes of this shrinkage between U.S. markets and global markets and found that the portion of missing goods that is caused by employee theft is significantly higher in the U.S. than it is globally. While “dishonest employees” account for 28% of missing goods globally, employee theft in the U.S. accounts for 43% of lost revenue.

The study states that one of the key reasons why retailers continue to experience high employee theft is “ineffective pre-employment screening,” in addition to “less employee supervision, and easy sale of stolen merchandise.” Thus, as this report shows, the costs of ineffective and inadequate pre-employment screening and supervision practices are remarkably high for both consumers and retailers.

You can read the entire report by Fortune here: http://fortune.com/2015/01/26/us-retail-worker-theft/