Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind

If your occupation requires you to drive in a metro area during the workday, you will notice dozens of company cars and trucks on the road. Many of these companies are doing business at the customer’s home. Obviously, no owner can watch all his or her employees at every customer location. Having procedures to protect customers from theft is vital.
In St. Louis, “A home-care nurse used the debit card from a 78-year-old man under her care to withdraw more than $16,000 to feed her gambling addiction, police said. The woman withdrew the money from area ATM’s…often taking out $500 at a time...” This individual worked for “a small independent nursing home care company”. She was one of several nurses that helped “care for the ailing man in 12-hour shifts. At some point, police said, she was able to obtain (the man’s) PIN number...”
This could be damaging to the owner for several reasons. First, the home care company may be liable for the lost funds, since the nurse was their employee (this brings up the importance of professional liability insurance). Second, the owner’s business may suffer because of the negative press coverage. Even though the company is not mentioned in the article, word may be out based on word-of-mouth.
The Lesson: No owner can watch all employees at all times. A business needs to have procedures in place to minimize the risk of employee theft at a client’s home or office. Perform a background check on all workers, particularly those who will work outside of your office. Have a system of tracking the employee’s location at all times. This might include phoning from the client’s phone when they arrive and leave- a technique used in the home care business. You can obviously communicate by pager or cell phone. Finally, have a third party contact clients who are using your services in their home. This could be a phone call or personal visit by someone other than the worker. Ideally, the owner would perform this step. If something is not right, this gives the owner and the customer a chance to follow up. If this is a stated company policy, it reduces the likelihood that an employee will attempt to steal property.
Your Homework: Have you had an instance in which you suspected a former employee of theft, but could not prove it? Did you follow up when you first suspected? How did you follow up?
(Source: “Home-care nurse is charged with stealing from patient”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, 8/3/07)