Employee theft is one of the worst problems a small business faces. In order to achieve success and make profits, small retail businesses have to stay theft-free. Statistics show that almost two-thirds of loss in a store is caused by theft perpetrated by dishonest employees. The losses cause harm to people who are not involved in thisthe customers, by driving prices up. Eventually customers will refuse to do their shopping in the store affected. Therefore, businesses will enjoy less profit. Undoubtedly, every business must strive to prevent theft.

Each small business has the goal to make profits and must do its best to prevent theft. The percentage of employee theft varies for each business. It depends on the type of the store, the type of the products and so on. A store that sells expensive products such as computers, stereos, and televisions will have bigger losses than a store that sells food for example. In such stores, steps must be taken in order to prevent theft.

Because of all these troubles, executives have to find effective ways to prevent theft. The only way to avoid problems with employees is by developing a method to prevent theft. The first thing one can do to prevent theft is to make sure that he or she has hired honest employees. An honest employee is the best treasure you can discover. An honest employee is worth his or her weight in gold. Anyway, no matter how confident you are that you have hired honest employees, effective methods to prevent theft are necessary as well. In order to be successful, employees have to be assured that you are taking all the necessary actions to prevent theft.

Before you hire an employee, make a brief search of the employee's labor background. Do a credit check. Look into personality and psychological testing. These will be the first steps you must take to prevent theft and these will be the most effective steps you will.

When you are hiring someone, you have to make sure you can rely on him or her. No matter how skillful, a dishonest employee is able to ruin your business. You need to be demanding when you are searching for employees and employees should not be offended by your strict selection. Strict selection is necessary if you wish to prevent theft.

Here are some tricks that may help you:

? Supply employees with uniforms that have no pockets;
? Share the combination to the safe only with those that must have it;
? Install security cameras over the cash-drawers;

You may think that implementing these things will be expensive, but just think of the losses that you will prevent if you fail to prevent theft.

Let me suggest to you one more important thing. First of all, you have to be honest as well. Would you expect your employees to be honest when you are not honest? Be honest in all your contact with employees, customers and vendors. If employees see you are honest, they will try to return you the favor. Do not make any unclear points in your everyday dealings. Develop clear rules and reasonable expectations for your employees. Prevent theft by imposing a fine on employees who do not follow the rules. Encourage those whose job performance is excellent. No employee will have the desire to work hard without appreciation for his or her efforts. It won't be easy but you simply have to prevent theft.