By Crystal Silvas

Is employee theft in the workplace affecting your bottom line? Are Workman’s Comp payouts killing you? Or do you feel like something shady is going on in your work place? Hopefully you’re one of the lucky few who doesn’t deal with such issues on a regular basis, but according to a recent whitepaper by Ernst & Young, fraud in the workplace is a lot more common than you might think. It happens every day and the impact of it can be a major drain on the bottom line of corporate America.

Workplace fraud costs U.S. businesses an estimated $600 billion a year according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) in their “Report to the Nation.” To prevent fraud in the workplace, a corporate culture of honesty, integrity, and conscience has to be cultivated and carefully nurtured. Prevention of corporate fraud leads to organizational success. But creating such an environment is much easier said than done.

One surefire way to combat the issue is to hire private investigators on behalf of your company. Private investigators offer a whole slew of services to help in the fight against fraud. One such company, White Feather Investigations owned and operated by Inv. Duane Minard, offers several investigative services including surveillance, background checks, civil liability investigations and fraud investigations. Corporate surveillance can help determine if you have employees who are stealing, harassing others, lying on their timecards, or engaging in other fraudulent activities. Background checks are useful in determining the reliability of new-hires when it comes to criminal history and even resume accuracy. White Feather Investigations also offers Workman’s Compensation surveillance to ensure that injured or limited employees are in fact injured or limited.

Conducting private investigations on your own employees may seem a bit harsh or perhaps even extreme, but it might be a good idea in the long run. Remember, “people do business with people they trust,” and a customer’s trust in a company starts with a company’s trust in their own employees.