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Technology set to tackle retail's rising employee theft
New technology to help tackle rising employee theft within the retail trade is going on sale in the UK this Summer.
Latest figures from the Global Retail Theft Barometer, shows that employee theft in the UK increased by 7% last year, accounting for an alarming £2.08 billion in lost revenue.
On average employees steal eight times more than a ‘typical shoplifter’ and figures from the British Retail Crime Survey last year showed there were four incidents per 1,000 employees and the value per incident trebled last year to £872, well ahead of the five year rolling average.
The Barometer also shows that UK retailers may, like their US counterparts, now be gearing up to take a tougher line on dishonest employees by stepping up their crime prevention hardware or software.
To support existing UK retail crime prevention measures, Tellermate has recently launched its latest cash counter, the T-iX R4500, a networked cash office management system for the retail trade. It enables head offices to remotely monitor cash processes at multiple sites, with single and multi-till options. Designed to save staff time and to help combat employee fraud, the system will be on sale in the UK shortly.
Dave Lunn, Group Sales Director at Tellermate, said: “Cash handling and counting is a major part of any retailers' job and is a daily chore that takes up much-needed staff time and is open to abuse by dishonest employees.
We have found that UK retailers are more focused on technology solutions than HR policies and if this trend continues it will start to mirror the picture in the US where retailers are taking a much tougher line.
“Opportunity remains the leading driver for employee theft and businesses need clear policies on staff theft its consequences. If technology is introduced employees need to be clearly informed as to how and where the monitoring is taking place and a standard set for using any surveillance and tracking systems to ensure their effective use – without affecting employee morale.”
Tagged as: technology | global | theft | employee |
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