Sharing the keys to the kingdom: responding to employee theft by empowering employees to be guardians, place managers, and handlers
Employee theft is one of the most common crimes committed against small businesses; however, the role that employees of the business can play in actively controlling opportunities for employee theft has not yet been fully explored. This article presents an employee theft prevention strategy reliant upon the active efforts of employees, not business owners or managers. This adaptation reclassifies the roles of employees, owners, and managers by incorporating employees directly into the theft prevention process as crime controllers, while owners and managers are given the role of super controllers. Transitioning owners and managers into the role of a super controller elevates them to a position of high level guardianship and oversight, thereby allowing them to more effectively manage the business's overall theft prevention strategy. Giving employees responsibility for employee theft prevention efforts places responsibility for controlling the factors that lead to crime into the hands of employees who will serve as handlers of potential offenders, guardians of suitable targets, and place managers controlling locations where targets and offenders meet.