It’s one of those dilemmas you have as an employer when you have hired someone that has betrayed you in one way or another, it can feel pretty heartbreaking. Not least, the procedures you have to go to in order to get rid of this person, but the impact it can have on the morale in the office is something that cannot be underestimated. This can mean that everyone is a bit more on guard and the open office culture you’ve worked so hard to nurture has been set back because of someone’s selfish needs. But it’s one of those aspects of a business that we all have to deal with at some point, either if it’s letting someone go, or something worse, such as an employee being fraudulent. If you suspect an employee has committed fraud, how do you deal with this properly?
Gather Sufficient Evidence
There is no point jumping in with accusations if you have no evidence to support these claims. And this can take some time, and you may want to think about how you get this evidence, it may be through stringent observation. Or you may want to go to the other end of the spectrum and hire a private investigator, but however you go about doing this, it’s got to be very surreptitious. If your employee has been doing this for some time, they may be very good at covering up their tracks. This means that gathering evidence may take a lot longer than you think, possibly a few months, or even longer.
Confronting The Employee
This can be very difficult. But tell them that you need to speak to them in your office, in a private capacity, as opposed to addressing an issue in front of everyone else in the office. After all, they are entitled to some privacy with this issue, so jump to the issue right away and explain why you have brought them into the office. If they refuse to admit that they have committed fraud, it is your prerogative to show them the evidence. At this point, it’s vital that you enquire if anybody has helped the employee committee the act, and if they refuse to give details, this means it will only cause more damage, not just to the employee in question, but to the company.
Understanding Why
This is a very hard task to accomplish, but you need to know why so you can prevent this issue happening again in the future. If the employee is aware of impending disciplinary actions, they may refuse to speak about the matter. And if it’s a criminal act, and they are aware they are being charged, it can be part of the investigation to find out why they did it in the first place. But it’s your choice if you want to press charges, and if it’s a small financial issue, it may not be worth it, but if it concerns a vast sum of money, then it’s worth pursuing.
Terminating The Employee
By going through the official channels, such as written confirmation, this isn’t just solving the issue, but it’s sending a very strong message to people who have thought about committing fraud in the company.
Fraud isn’t a nice subject to deal with in any capacity, but if you have suspicions about an employee, these are the basic points to go through.
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