Been Caught Stealing…Workplace Theft Growing

Earlier this week, I read an article on Inc.com that had some surprising statistics about workplace theft. It discusses Careerbuilder.com’s survey which indicates that nearly 40% of managers say they have actually fired an employee for theft. I was really surprised. I know that office theft is certainly a big problem — bigger than most people think, but didn’t realize it would be *that* high. Another article stated that employers are losing up to $50 billion in stolen office supplies each year. That’s another shocking number. What’s even more concerning is that many U.S. workers (especially younger workers) don’t believe taking office supplies is wrong. Our recent survey shows that 25% of 18-24 year olds have taken office supplies and 20% don’t feel it’s wrong to do so. And remember, this number reflects those that actually admitted to taking supplies. Older workers were less likely to have taken supplies and to believe it is okay to do so, but this certainly is a growing problem for employers. Maybe workers feel that taking a few office supplies from time to time isn’t a big deal or maybe some feel a sense of entitlement to do so. In isolated cases, a pad of paper or a few pens don’t make a big difference, but when a large portion of the workforce is doing it, those pens and pads add up to serious losses and could wind up costing you your job or even lead to jail time. It makes one think, is it really worth it?