Commercial break-ins are quite common in the US, despite the robust protection given by its well-funded law enforcement. In most situations, it’s up to the business owners themselves to protect their business against theft. However, there are various ways you can protect your business that won’t cost you that much money. We will discuss those ways in this article.
Protection Against Employees
It’s important that we first talk about a kind of theft that isn’t widely discussed but happens quite often in the business world, and that is employee theft.
Employee theft is more common than you think. It’s estimated that many businesses worldwide lose 5% of their annual revenue due to employee theft and other fraudulent-related activities. This is a decent chunk of a company’s revenue, especially if it’s earning millions yearly. However, the most common kind of theft is material theft, such as office supplies and products, among many other things. In addition, 75% of employees have confessed that they have stolen these things at least once. Is there any way you can stop this from happening?
Inventory
A monthly or quarterly inventory has been known to catch stolen office supplies, equipment, and products. Although you can’t catch the thief red-handed, you can determine how much it costs your business every month or every quarter. It can also deter employees from stealing, knowing that such items are now part of office inventory.
Accounting and Audit
When it comes to employees stealing cash or revenue from your business, an audit should take place. An independent contractor can do your audits for you and determine whether people are stealing your business revenue. They can determine where it’s being stolen and develop a theory of how they are doing it. You can find the source of how your revenue is being stolen in this way.
Incident Reports
Last on this list are incident reports. Incident reports can be filed by employees who know or have witnessed their colleagues stealing from the company. You can then investigate these incident reports. In addition, you can give rewards to those who proactively do this in your office, so you have an extra pair of eyes.
Burglary and Break-ins
Burglary and break-ins happen in many residential and commercial areas, especially offices and warehouses. An average of 3.7 million burglaries happen in the US, and a decent chunk of those happen in commercial areas. Your office can be the next target of these criminals, especially if they know that you don’t have any protection. This is why you have to have some security measures on hand, enough to deter these burglars from targeting your office.
Robust Locks
Believe it or not, a robust lock can stop most burglars on their tracks. Most burglars actually choose to give up, knowing that your doors are tightly locked in. This means that a high-quality cylinder lock in your doors can quickly stop any burglaries from happening. It’s a simple enough deterrent and a cheap one at that. But your doors must be locked at all times, so develop a routine where you check door locks before you close your office.
Safes
Safes are the best way you can protect items from being stolen. If you have some money to spend on the security of your office, you should spend it on a safe. You can place cash into the safe, maybe some deeds or crucial files. This option is even great if you know employee theft runs rampant in your office.
Security Fences
Security fences are a great option alongside good looks. Both amateur and coordinated burglars wouldn’t dare break into an office with secure locks and security fences. This is great if you have a warehouse you want to protect against burglars or if your office is in the rural part of town. They are also pretty cheap too, so you don’t have to worry about the price as much.
Cameras
This is a pretty expensive investment for the security of your office, and in most instances, you might not even need it. But it is the best deterrent out there. Any burglar who sees that you have cameras installed both outside and inside your office will never think of your office as a target ever again. Only experienced burglars will go for your office, but that’s a big risk from them, knowing that you’ll have surveillance of the break-in. So if you have some money to spend, invest in security cameras.
Here are ways you can protect your office from all sorts of thefts. By doing these things, you can prepare your office for both employee and criminal theft. You should be able to regain lost revenue by having these deterrents in your office.
