My ‘Top List’ of how things most often actually go missing:
“WIlly Wonka Syndrome”: From what I have witnessed over the years the greatest losses are the result of owners taking ‘liberties’ - they often treat the operation like a personal candy factory / ATM. You could fill an oil tanker industry wide with this poor habit. Good employees like Lisa won’t go to jail for you. Scared to hire her?
Answer: No one gets anything at all unless there is a real business need. You can go and purchase the product from a retail location or pay in full at the counter. You are not going to teach the employees any method or justification. That is only one reason.
“Wonka’s Evil Twin”: Isn’t constantly triple checking [being suspect] a poor environment provided? I knew a guy that made employees count toilet paper squares - would you work for that? I think people might be likely to take extra toilet paper the first chance. Often times, people eventually give in, and prove you right. Don’t make Lisa sad.
Answer: Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. If I ask this owner or person to stop as it has implications in disgruntled employees, and they refuse, I will seek new employment.
“Friends of Management”: Managers specifically, if the wrong person is hired, are the people most likely to sell product ‘out the back’, hook up friends, offer ‘gifts’ to employees to ‘keep them happy’ [or silent], take ‘homework’, find a ways to rob you, and have the ability to cover tracks. I have never seen anything come close to the damage of toxic managers.
Answer: Never centralize power and never allow less than three people to oversee a financial transaction [big or tiny]. Far starters two of these people should be confirming the right price is being paid [does your Master Grower, unknowingly to you, own the company supplying the nutrients at double the price? Lisa might know. Have an honest employee review every form].
“The Little Guy”: Under normal professional circumstances the last person that ever took anything from me [or I felt suspect of at any point] were lower level employees in the garden. However, in a large enough processing facility where hiring practices are less intimate it is more likely to occur [and finalized product is in their hands].
Answer: Most people are honest and do not want to throw opportunity away. Just make sure you are actually providing opportunity. Hire based on character and teach them what they need to know. Make an actual investment in people. You can use a million devices to catch people in the act but it sure feels better not to. Employees don’t need bags, backpacks, or any other camping equipment in the facility. Is this moving day? Nothing, in general, should come in or out of the facility. “Is there anything we are not providing you?”
“The Other Guy”: There are employees that take product and worse [like spraying illicit pesticides before they quit on Friday]. I have heard of people doing all kinds of things in this industry. I usually blame ‘bad culture’ if it goes beyond a rare instance. It seems to happen when people feel mistreated or that they are ‘owed something’ or it is just their natural state to suck at life.
Answer: Always file charges, always file a civil case, and always do so visibly. There is no way to prevent bad behavior in the world. If you have enough employees odds are, at some point, someone will take something. Never set your DVR to erase in less than one year. Never let employees see your security monitor or know anything about its details. Learn from what happened and adjust.
“Another New Face”: People with a high turnover rate [and unhappy employees] often coupled with low pay for the job duties requested is where I have seen this occur the most. Management is usually the ring leader at this point [sometimes just trying to retain people because they can’t take it anymore]. Retention is important to security.
Answer: Figure out what is wrong with your culture / self / management / opportunity and fix it.
“Little Buddies”: Once the ‘little guy’ becomes ‘a group of little guys’ it only takes one of them to cause a chain reaction.
Answer: Hire based on the diversity of thought. There is no moral excuse to monoculture a company. Constantly rotate who is working together. Just like a teacher - constantly change the assigned seating [they will have a hard time detecting who will and who will not tell on them. I know Lisa’s assistant will].
“Friendly Friends”: Any kind of friendly ‘volunteer’ is also more likely than regular employees to take product.
Answer: Stop asking your friends to come and help out and to bring three of their friends. Pay people and take your time [with good advanced planning] in hiring. You might want to hire them later permanently [and they would probably like that]. Your ‘buddy’ isn’t likely to drop their career at ‘the firm’ to come and work for you.
“Family Discount”: There is no such thing. I just met Lisa and she was really nice. I am not going to sell her financial future, not one red cent, to your cousin.
Answer: No family discounts. Treat everyone the same. If they need charity offer the same charity you would offer a stranger - no more and no less. So apply your rules and morals to them as though you have never met them.
“Third Party Hustlers”: I consider it, at the least, an attempt to blackmail me or ‘take from me’, not exactly theft but close, if a retail partner or third party continually asks me for a ‘sample’ or ‘product’ I know they do not need for any other reason [at this later point in time] than their personal enjoyment. Especially if it is more than enough to shake a stick at.
Answer: Tell their boss the reason why you will no longer be supplying their location now or in the future.
“Intellectual Property”
Be like government contractors tasked to build a nuclear bomb. Only let people see and answer the specific questions necessary from their position. No one person should be able to see the plans or final product as a whole [or be able to piece it together from what they see]. Lisa will know if information is being shared [and will act to request permissions, she is the proper channel, by form submission, for an executives approval]. No verbal discussions should be allowed in the development process through the end of the release. No one needs to ‘know’ anything. The few that do should be signing life altering contracts if they violate.
Hmmm…
“What does Lisa even do here?”: I hear that from time to time in an office. No one can figure out what Lisa does but she seems involved in everyone’s business and has magical powers [“it’s like they just made up a title for her”]. There is usually a rumor around Lisa that she went to high school with the owners, etc, usually something that prevents Lisa from being confronted. She spends most of her time at her computer monitor over in HR. She is a great people person and people really trust her. She can see everything. Including your emails as written communication is required. She reports your effectiveness at work and reports any infraction.
Her job requires that she make sure all forms submitted are filled out correctly and accurate. She annoys you with this but that’s okay. She is just doing her job. She is paid very well for what seems to be a strange set of duties. She seems to have authority when she wants it and at other times has zero. She can visit the CEO with no appointment, instantly.
