Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 11:43AMHow To Deal With Restaurant Employee Theft
Here's a restaurant employee theft article from Greg McGuire at The Backburner:
As anyone in the food service industry knows, staff turnover is a constant problem. Hiring and training employees is important but often tedious work, and keeping your team motivated and happy can also be a challenge. Yet these “human resources” tasks are not nearly as tough to deal with as employee theft. An employee who is caught stealing presents two problems for your restaurant: first, someone is stealing from you, and second, something in the process of hiring, training, and retaining quality staff has broken down and led to theft.
The problem of losing money to theft should be dealt with first, obviously. However, dealing with the employee in question must be handled properly in order to minimize the impact of the problem and ensure other employees understand the consequences of stealing without feeling alienated in the process.
Some tips on how to confront an employee who is stealing:
Make sure you have adequate proof. Account sheets, video surveillance, eyewitness testimony, or a combination of damning evidence is key to leveling accusations at an employee. You should be able to prove internal theft beyond a reasonable doubt before you ever confront the employee. If that requires you to wait a while in order to catch him or her red-handed, then so be it. When you do have that confrontation, you want to be ready with substantial evidence so the rest of your staff immediately sees your case.
Whatever disciplinary action you take, do it discreetly. There’s no reason to “make an example” out of somebody by staging a big confrontation in front of other employees. Bring the employee who has been stealing into a private area, confront them with the evidence, and present the consequences. If that involves termination, allow the employee to gather their things and leave of their own accord. There’s no reason to be forceful or aggressive, as this will only allow the employee to gain sympathy by looking persecuted.
Hold a staff meeting. After you have taken disciplinary action, call your staff together and explain exactly what happened, present the evidence you have, and explain the action you have taken. This will prevent rumors and gossip from driving employee perceptions of what happened and presents you with an opportunity to show the rest of the staff how serious you are about employee theft.
Dealing with the second part of the workplace theft equation isn’t nearly as easy. Finding the root causes behind the theft and improving prevention is a much more involved process. And a good prevention program is never going to be 100% effective. However, that doesn’t diminish the importance taking steps to prevent theft in your restaurant.
Tips for preventing employee theft:
Vet candidates when hiring, train new employees well, and create a positive work environment. Taking the time to find and train the right candidate will screen most potential problems. Many operators get into trouble with problem employees because they need to fill positions fast and the hiring process becomes compressed. When it comes to existing staff, maintain a close but professional relationship that emphasizes teamwork and community. Employees that have a good relationship with the management and feel like their contribution to the team is appreciated and that they are well compensated for that contribution are much less likely to steal.
Communicate clear guidelines for employee behavior. This also helps with other staff issues like poor performance, disputes, tardiness/absence, etc. Make sure your staff receives a clear set of rules that outline exactly how problems will be handled, including theft. When administering discipline, stick to the rules and reemphasize the standards you have already set. Consistency will go a long way towards maintaining your employee’s respect and help you manage problem employees more effectively.
Trust but verify. No matter how good your hiring, training, and employee expectation policies are, you will probably encounter a bad apple sooner or later. Have systems in place to monitor cash, comps, and inventory. You should always know exactly how much of each is coming in and going out of your restaurant. And try to limit the number of people who control or handle all three. That will make the job of tracking what went where much easier.
Hopefully employee theft is something you rarely have to deal with. Following the tips above will help make sure it is indeed a rare occurrence.
Greg McGuire blogs about the foodservice industry at The Back Burner, which is written by the employees of Tundra Specialties, a company specializing in restaurant equipment and other food service supplies.
Read more Restaurant Industry Trends here.
Reader Comments (7)
Just a couple of comments.
1. Try to obtain a written statement from the employee confirming what they did to steal from you. Don't try to dictate what is being written but do remind them about issues they "forgot" to include. Remember: it's voluntary.
2. As for the subsequent employee meeting: Do not handle this in a manner that could be seen as defamatory. If a meeting is to be held, stay away from parading your evidence to all employees. The investigation and termination should be treated as confidential (regardless of your personal feelings). Resist holding an immediate meeting but rather take the time to investigate potential similar practices by other employees. Your next employee meeting should INCLUDE discussions about policy and procedure and not be for the sole purpose of the why the person was fired.
Protect yourself from losing a law suit brought by the terminated employee for broadcasting that you just caught Janie stealing! You could lose exponentially more than all the loss to theft for a year.
Pat Murphy
President
LPT Security Consulting
Yes But...
If you have been around long enough you have been stung by employee theft. Creating a culture of accountability is very important. It is more than possible to have a fun productive atmosphere and still run a tight and accountable operation. When ever I had a problem with theft I used the iceberg theory in solving an operational challenge. Remember the largest part of the iceburg is under the surface. If theft is happening it is a good bet other problems lay below the surface. Have your managers identify the problems before your weekly meeting. During your meeting do a walkthrough of your building and identify your weak security points. Also discuss applicable systems that are not being followed. Write up KRA's (Key result areas) that you need to see immediate improvement in. Keep your eyes on the prize and your problem will be dealt with and your managers shall be further developed. One more point...Do not be afraid to prune, prune prune....
Although having a fun working environment is crucial, people can be having a great time and still be robbing you blind.
You need to make sure that everyone knows the consequences of stealing!
Finally, never have people working in the kitchen have control the inventory of the kitchen.
in a place where theft is not discouraged. We have one full time kitchen staffer who regularly fills his bag with raw, prepped food, or alcohol and takes it home. This happens on camera and is simple to verify. We recently re-hired an employee who was fired after being caught stealing cash from the safe (3 times).
This is a part time job for me, and I just can't understand why the owner would make these decisions, but it seems to be a fairly substantial case of preferring the "devil you know" to hiring and training an unknown quantity.
This is real, I couldn't make something like this up. Has anyone else had this type of surreal experience, where ownership/management explicitly tolerates this kind of behaviour? Has it EVER turned out well?
Jeff,
No....It never turns out well. When looking at this issue look at it as an iceburg. We only see the tip of an iceburg, the rest of it is underwater. In other words there are several other issues in the restaurant that lead to a permissive culture. As a consultant I have walked into clients restaurants and have fixed the issues and let go numerous employees and changed the culture. One of two things will happen..massive culture change or closure..Good luck I feel your pain..
John
Thank you for the informative article. There are many things to pay attention to when operating a business. Internal theft is rampant. I use Staffing Tracker to monitor any events and the people in attendance.
Thomas Anthony
Facility Support Services
Yes, I do work for a POS system software development company, but I have many years in the restaurant industry as well. One simple way to prevent theft is to have a great POS system with inventory controls and alerts to managers and owners when comps, voids, deletions, and splitting of items off checks are done. From seeing it happen in restaurants I have worked in, if the POS system allows you to split drinks and add them to other peoples tickets, that is an easy $4/check you can make during the night. Small things like that add up for the restaurant so the alerts really help you keep an eye on what is going on at all times.
http://rmpos.com/mobility_alerts.html