Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/925085
Dealing With Employee Theft …continued By PSAI Executive Director Karleen Kos • D at a c o u n t s t o o . Employee theft isn't just about physical assets or money. Nowadays, your data – including customer lists, history, and contact information – is one of your most valuable assets. Losing it can result in loss of business for many reasons, and can jeopardize your operations. Considering the consequences of a data breach, it is wise to make sure your company has policies and procedures in place for preventing data theft. S o Y o u 'r e S u s pi c i ou s ? It's important to handle your concerns carefully. What you do and t he words you choose can be mean the difference between a simple episode and a complex legal situation in which you are on the spot for how you treated your employee in the process. If you suspect someone of stealing, it's important that you handle it caref ully so you don't expose your company to litigation. A good head start is making sure your company has a clearly stated policy related to theft in all its forms and the consequences that are likely to follow. It's wise to also ensure every employee knows the policy – or should know it. Placing the policy in an employee handbook the employees need to sign upon receipt is a basic first step. It's also important to have an internal investigation protocol that you follow carefully. If possible, have your attor ney review that protocol in advance so you can head off any possible procedural problems before they happen. D e te c t i n g De ce pt i on i n E m pl o ye e C o n v e rs a ti o n s . When you begin the process of getting to the bottom of theft, you will most likely have to talk wit h one or more employees. A Canadian company called i - Sight specializes in software for investigations of this sort, and they publish a free resource on how to detect deception when talking with employees. Here is what i - Sight says: "An interviewer's abili ty to detect deception can lead to the success or failure of an investigation and there are many theories about how it's done. Among the more reliable methods, language indicators can provide valuable clues when you know what to look for. Analyzing languag e can help investigators spot the grey areas in investigation interviews. "According to expert investigator Don Rabon, certain words and phrases can be "linguistic indicators of the possibility of deception." A good interviewer should treat them as cues t o probe further in the places where they occur. The presence of one or two of these indicators is not necessarily a sign of deception, warns Rabon. Investigators should look for clusters of these language cues and treat them as markers for where to insert more probing questions. W EEKLY EDITION JAN 10, 2018 PAGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4