Old management problems die hard

It never fails to amaze me that in age where management gurus go on and on about what managers should be doing in response to globalisation and ever-intense market competition, and where management have any number of ways in which to monitor the activity of their employees, that things like employee theft (referred to those in the retail trade as 'shrinkage' or 'leakage') continues as if the world never changes.

The issue of employee theft was addressed somewhat with a timely article called Retail's shrinking feeling by Jeremy Scott-Joynt (BBC News: Business).

Take the following quote form the article in question, for example:

...the biggest problem is leakage from within.

At the most basic level, there is the cashier with a hand in the till: relatively easy to spot, and to root out.

Then there are the more advanced cases, which happen when front-line staff either find ways of gaming the store's systems and processes - or managers do the same, often making significant amounts of money in the process.

Certainly worth a look if you have an interest in employee theft.