Crime committed by internal personnel is a growing issue for business in Australia and it is vital that firms have effective and thorough processes in place to protect against it. These crimes are most commonly of a financial nature but the incidence of data theft and cyber crime is on the increase.

Australian Workplace Strategies Managing Director Jim Parke says internal crime has serious consequences for business. “It can damage a firm’s reputation driving away existing customers and deterring potential clients, can impact on the organisational culture, can reduce productivity and morale, and can have implications on the firm’s all-important bottom line.

“Most firms recognise that this is an important issue to address but many do not have any checks and balances in place and are, therefore, leaving themselves open to exploitation.”

Financial crimes include theft, fraud and misappropriation of funds and non-financial crimes include data and IP theft, identity theft, misuse of company property and cyber crimes such as cyber attack perpetrated by employees.

Mr Parke says unfortunately, it is no longer sufficient to implicitly trust the word of a prospective candidate and is quite common to come across situations where candidates have been dishonest about their background during the recruitment process.

This includes falsified qualifications, incomplete or inaccurate employment history, not being truthful about reasons for leaving previous employment and not disclosing criminal convictions.

“This makes thorough pre-employment screening vital to minimise the risk of employing the wrong person,” Mr Parke says.

“Firms need to know who they are employing and understand their background by digging a little deeper. This includes reference checks, qualifications checks, identity verification and police checks.”

This is also a risk with some existing employees at all levels, he says, and ethics and compliance programs can provide effective internal security on an ongoing basis.

“Australian Workplace Strategies can advise firms on implementation of effective strategies to minimise the risk of internal crime and provides a safe and confidential police check service for new staff employment.”

For more information visit contact us  or call Australian Workplace Strategies on 1300 011 111.