Report: Workers aren’t just stealing pens and paper clips anymore
Filed under: Employee computer use, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security and law
It’s a fact of the working world: Employees like to grab things out of the company’s supply closet for personal use. But they may be taking a lot more than most employers realize.
Almost one fifth of all employees admit to taking supplies, according to a survey by Spherion. Mostly, it’s pens, paper, folders, etc. No surprise there, but here’s the kicker: 8% said they’ve taken higher priced items like laptops, PDAs and cell phones. That’s up from 3% last year.
Why do people steal? Of the people who admitted to grabbing items:
- 33% said their boss said it was OK
- 18% said the company will never miss them, and
- 42% said simply that they needed the items.
Nevertheless, 76% of the survey’s respondents said they thought it was wrong to take supplies. The study doesn’t mention how many thought it was wrong but did it anyway.
Comments
2 Comments on Report: Workers aren’t just stealing pens and paper clips anymore
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C Hess on
Tue, 15th Jul 2008 1:57 pm
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Deb on
Wed, 16th Jul 2008 7:46 am
76% thought it wrong to take supplies.
Over 80% did not take (or admit to taking) supplies.
That means 4% thought it was OK to take supplies but did not do so. Now that is really surprising.
My response is primarily to C Hess’s response – your response took a very interesting perspective! I love it! It sure does make one wonder about the 4% who thought it would be ok to take some supplies but didn’t take any… or maybe they just didn’t admit to taking any?
