If The Truth Be Told . . . What Would It Say About Your Sticky-Fingered Employees?

Whenever I meet with a client, we start with WIFLS, which stands for "What I Feel Like Sharing."

On this particular day, my client shared a concern. "At the moment, what I want to share has to do with stuff disappearing."

"What kind of stuff?" I looked outside the window of his office at the sea of cubicles, chairs, desks, computers . . .

"Supplies, mostly. Envelopes, stamps, forks--"

"Forks?" I wasn't expecting that one.

"Yeah. I just bought sixteen last month and we're down to three."

I glanced down at his desk where prongs of a fork poked out from under a pile of papers. He followed my gaze and grinned sheepishly. "Well, okay, four. But that doesn't mean the stuff around here isn't growing legs."

I asked him if he'd be willing to conduct an experiment, but laid out some ground rules, mainly addressing what to do if the culprit was discovered. "Let's do it," he said, after hearing the plan.

He called a team meeting and those employees present filed into what he called "The War Room". I made a mental note to suggest he change the name. After brief introductions, he said, "Before we start, I want to report that forks have gone missing."

One of the team members snickered, and made a slightly off-hand comment incorporating the word "Forked". The team laughed, except for two employees. One of the two became instantly angry, quipping, "Are you accusing us of stealing. Is that what this is about?" The other sat stoically, avoiding eye contact.

In our meeting before gathering the troops, I had told the business owner what to look out for.

"All I'm asking is that if you find a fork in or around your desk, please return it to the employees' lounge. " He briefly addressed the company culture listing honesty and integrity as values then turned the conversation to business at hand, and excused everyone when the meeting had ended. When we got back into his office, he said, "Well, you were right. It was easy to identify the suspects. How did you know?"

I shared four signs of deception, including:

1. Freezing up. In this scenario, everyone else is animated about the issue, but one person sits frozen.

2. Angled feet. Yep, you read right. Normally, when someone approaches us about something, we stand with our feet facing toward them, but if the person is feeling cornered, they will angle their feet away from us, giving them "room to escape".

3. The frozen stare. Tthe person has trained him or herself to "try to show no reaction," when in fact their "not showing reaction" is what pegs them as a potential liar.

4. The Flare: Opposite from the stare is the flare. This is the person who immediately spits venom, perhaps raises his or her voice and tries to make the alleged accuser look small.

If you are having trouble with things disappearing around the office, here are 5 key questions you can ask yourself as you work toward creating an environment of trust, integrity to lessen the sticky-finger syndrome.

Ask yourself:

1"Do I trust my employees? Have I set up a system where honesty is rewarded?"

2. "Do I have my company's culture and values posted in plain view, and do I highlight one each team meeting?"

3. "Do I have a petty cash box set up and an understanding with them employees that if they take a stamp, they put money in the supply box I have set up for that purpose?"

4. "Do I offer bonuses for exceptional returns, sharing a % of the profits with the team, showing that I don't only invest in the business, I invest in them?"

5. "Do I have a suggestion box in place where suggestions and ideas can be submitted anonymously?"

Putting the above ideas in place strengthens team alliance and creates the atmosphere you want for your company. By the way, the top items that businesses have reported missing are:

a. Scissors

b. Staplers

c. Paperclips or binder clips

d. Binders

e.Sticky notes

f. Notepads

g. Tape and tape dispensers

h. Pencils, pens, highlighters

i. Printer ink

Higher priced items disappearing include computers, laptops, and cameras. Employees often "borrow" them without the intent of stealing, but just "never get around to taking them back."

The key to avoiding sticky-finger syndrome is to give your employees a chance to be honest, upstanding team members. If they in fact are thieves and you can prove it, let them go, or they'll drain you. But if it's a matter of getting better systems in place to discourage walking off with company property, make that one of your priorities and take the necessary steps to curb the unwelcomed behavior.

By the way, the client reported that several more forks appeared in the employees' lounge following that meeting.

And yes, I addressed the issue of calling the meeting room "The War Room." He laughed. Next time I visited his business, he led me to "The Great Room".

What a difference a name makes. Set the example, create the environment, and incentivize honesty and integrity.


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Peter Williamson, Business Coach and Master Licensee. For advice and access to proven systems that will advance your business, visit http://www.actioncoachcalteam.com/ or http://actioncalteamblog.com