adminShelter Chieza Change Management
I recently heard of a salaries administrating officer who for almost two years would steal US$1 from each of the 1 000 employees at his company. So smooth this guy that the scandal went on unnoticed for the whole period.
He would deduct the US$1 before submitting the final figures to the bank after all the approvals have been made by the salaries manager.
So month after month, he would deposit the money into a ghost account. Such incidents do not normally raise alarm because of the small figures involved and, after all, few employees actually scrutinise their payslips.
Besides its not all employees who would make a fuss over a US$1 that has gone missing in their account.
Such acts are on the rise at an alarming rate in the workplace. Just recently another salaries administrator was taken to court for inflating two salaries which were deposited into his bank account.
He would manipulate the payroll and produce inflated salary requests. The organisation would authorise the deduction of the money to meet the salary request believing the figures were genuine.
He was unrelenting as he tried to siphon huge amounts of money from his frozen accounts when he was on bail. These are some of the stories that we now read on almost a daily basis.
However, these are not the only acts that are taking place in the workplace. There are other countless incidences of theft that occur at the workplace. While it is difficult to quantify the amounts being lost by employers due to theft it is easy to identify what constitutes theft in the workplace. The mere use of company resources on personal errands is theft. We encounter these on a day-to-day basis. A manager must act appropriately when faced with such situations although they have to tread with caution as our labour laws are heavily skewed in favour of employees.
Theft in the workplace does not only involve lower level employees, but is also being perpetrated by senior management and even board members.
Theft at the workplace involves a variety of action such as misappropriating money, abusing assets, services or other property with the intent of permanently depriving the owner of the property.
Theft is perpetrated at different levels, some of it is fraud while some is embezzlement. In most instances theft occurs because of negligence on the part of managers to put in place control measures to seal leakages in the system. Employees have a habit of identifying areas where they can maximise on weaknesses.
In May this year, the Business against Crime Forum of Zimbabwe was launched with the objective of reducing crime within the local business community.
We hope this organisation will be able to conscientise the public on curbing crime in the workplace. Joseph Wells came up with an interesting research which can form the basis for solution within our companies.
The opportunity to commit fraud is typically addressed through internal controls — if the proper checks and balances exist, it is more difficult (though still not impossible) to defraud an organisation.
You will, however, realise that there are few controls that cannot be overridden or circumvented by people with sufficient motivation.
The disgruntled and unmotivated employee is a danger to the company. If you don’t watch them, you could end up with fatalities within the organisation.
I heard of this accountant who was denied a US$80 raise by his superiors in three consecutive applications.
He was so furious to the extent that he methodically stole exactly US$80 every month for the four years that he stayed with the company before he decided to move on. The crime was only discovered by his successor. Your decisions are critical – weigh them before you act.
Till next week, may God richly bless you!
Shelter Chieza is an Advisor in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected]
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