Firms use private eyes to catch staff stealing

Are you sure that new temp really is a temp – or could she be a private eye sent by your boss to keep an eye on what you are up to?

According to experts, covert operations by Leicestershire companies are "becoming commonplace" as the downturn in the economy continues to bite.

Businesses struggling in the recession were willing to spend a few thousand pounds on surveillance in the hope it could save them thousands more if they caught staff stealing.

Some companies are making examples of employees caught taking as little as a few cans of soft drinks, because they cannot afford to risk more valuable thefts.

An experienced private investigator from Blue Moon Investigations, in Market Harborough, said it received about 15 to 20 inquiries a month.

He said: "Firms want to find out who the petty criminals are and make an example of them.

"I have gone in posing as a part-time driver before because the client suspected stock was going out through the back door."

The investigator, who did not want to be named, said a recent successful weekend stake-out using three people cost a transport firm £3,500 – off-setting the £10,000 of fuel stolen by staff in the previous three years.

Businesses can also employ IT specialists to track down employees they think might be up to no good.

A member of the Leicester Federation of Small Businesses, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "We were recently asked to carry out IT forensics to pass on to the police on behalf of a client.

"We carried out the basics, which pointed the finger in the right direction.

"However, a complete resolution of the matter required an investment the organisation was not willing to make, so this crime went unsolved and remains so."

Scott Halborg, senior solicitor at Halborg & Co, in King Street, Leicester, said: "Lots of clients are rightly surprised by how much covert surveillance is lawful anyway under English law.

"Without going into the detail, on the whole employers with the correct employment documents and procedures in place can record their employees' telephone conversations and computer use.

"Covert CCTV recording of employee wrongdoing is becoming commonplace."

Lesley Emery, 50, of Croft, sits as a judge in employment tribunals.

She said: "I would say that it is possible for employers to use underhand methods of getting information to be used against the employee.

"If it is within a work environment and on work time, then the law is in the employer's favour."

David Nicholls is chairman of the Leicester Federation of Small Businesses.

He said: "With 20% of all reported crime being against businesses, it is perhaps understandable that businesses are turning to private organisations to solve crime, although in many cases the cost of doing so is high."