Can tough times create more dishonest employees? A recent survey of 329 HR managers answers the question — and offers hope if you’re a smaller employer.

The survey was conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity, which asked companies whether they’d seen an increase in employee theft and dishonesty in the last year.

About one in four companies said that when they monitored the situation, they saw an increase in theft of office supplies, company products, electronic equipment and other items. Another 18% said bogus expense reports were on the rise, as was outright theft of cash. And 13% said they were increasingly being victimized by “time theft” — employees’ claiming time worked that they didn’t or using company time for nonwork activites, such as Web surfing for jobs.

Better news for smaller companies
If you’re a small employer, there’s a glimmer of light amid the gloom. Across the board, for all types of theft, smaller companies reported fewer increases in theft than did larger companies. The data suggest that employees who are part of a cozy group tend to think twice before stealing.

What are employers in general doing to combat the problem?

• 28% said they’re communicating more with employees about the problem — letting workers know that the company is aware of the problem and also just touching base with them to build loyalty.
• 20% stepped up their internal audits to control theft.
• 19% of companies overall are toughening up their reference adn background checks prior to offering jobs to applicants.

Tags: audits, HR, reference, theft