Employee theft is no small matter: The Human Resources Journal reports that businesses lose between $20 and $40 billion per year to employee theft. This results from incidents that include shoplifting, taking office supplies home for non-work use, and embezzlement on a large-scale basis. The U.S. Department of Justice says that nearly one-third of all employees commit some degree of theft, while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce puts that number at closer to 75 percent.
The silver lining on these dismal statistics is that at least 25 percent, perhaps 66 percent, of employees are honest and do not steal from their employers. For hiring managers, the quest then is to find that segment of the labor pool that is law abiding.
Retailers have devised one solution in the National Retail Mutual Association (NRMA) Retail Theft Database. Established only a decade ago (in 2004), it has 125 member retail companies that share theft data – including names and the nature of fully verified incidents – with each other. The intent is to use this information for employment screening purposes.
For companies not in the NRMA there are othermethods by which job candidates can be identified for having a criminal background. Criminal history checks can be run on individuals by the following means:
• Identify verifications – Search through a combination of social security numbers and addresses of residences over the preceding ten years.
• Alias searches of criminal and sex offender databases – Offenders often try to hide their background by assuming a different identity.
• Criminal histories – All past convictions of violence, theft, driving under the influence or sex offensesare a matter of public record. Professional investigators consult a mix of local, state and national databases to find this information.
With the NRMA list, membership in the alliance is required to access its information. Some of the other databases also require fees or are open to credentialed investigators only. But given the high degree of loss, many employers are applying increasing scrutiny to the process by whatever means possible.