BAJAN SUN MAGAZINE
DEC 2014
DISHONESTY IN THE OFFICE
S
uspicious, unexplainable behavior could be a sign
that you can't trust certain office workers.
As a part of company’s operations your personnel
may have unrestricted access to files, records and
employee data. Although you wish to trust your
employees to safeguard your organization's property,
there are times when some distrust will arise. These
indicators must be dealt with at the earliest to prevent
theft, embezzlement or inappropriate workplace
behavior before it destroys your business.
Time Records
Officers who are responsible for tracking their own
work hours and submitting their time sheets without
any oversight from a supervisor or manager may be
tempted to pad their time records so they can be paid
for work not actually performed. If business demands
remain constant with any spikes in clients’ demands
for additional products or services and an office
worker’s paycheck always reflects overtime pay,
there’s a possibility that an office worker is being
dishonest about his reported time.
Financial Reporting
An office worker who doesn’t follow protocol for
checks and balances related to finance matters or
refuses to provide other employees with access to
financial records or passwords for accounting
software applications might be hiding something.
Suspicious activity such as failure to disclose the
company’s financial standing may warrant further
investigation.
Job Hunting
Employees who devote more time to polishing their
resumes, submitting online applications and
scheduling telephone interviews during work hours
are essentially stealing time from their employers.
They are hired to perform a job and using work time
to look for another job is dishonest behavior.
Accountability
Employees with the requisite skills and qualifications
who don’t produce work may be misusing company
time or intentionally refusing to perform the job they
were hired to do. Employers have performance
expectations and employees whose work doesn’t meet
those expectations without a good reason, such as lack
of training or resources, may be dishonest. Another
example of lack of accountability involves employees
whose interaction with clients seems to rarely result in
customer satisfaction or sales; the employee could be
receiving some personal benefit from the client
contact, again investigation is warranted.
Policy Violations
Of fice workers who constantly and willfully violate
policies may be dishonest. When an office worker has
complete knowledge of workplace policies, yet
continues to adhere to work rules without a reasonable
excuse for the violations, it could be a sign that he has
a philosophy that runs contrary to the organization’s
business principles.
www.bajansunonline.com/MAGAZINE/ | [email protected] | @BajanSunOnline