What Is Time Theft, and How Can It Be Prevented

Time theft is a common issue in many industries. Basically, staff use all sorts of methods to trick their employees without suffering any consequences. The odds of time theft increase as staff experience burnout or unfair working conditions. However, there are those who’d still be from the company, no matter what.

In this article, we’ll explain the issue and suggest a few solutions for its prevention.

Why Employees Steal Time?

In many cases, time theft occurs due to poor relationships between the company and employees. Here are a few reasons why people resort to this practice:

• Low Morale

Even if you’re working at a great company, you might experience periods of low morale. This might occur due to unreasonable deadliness, enormous workload, poor relationships with colleagues and management, or something else.

• Lack of Training

Sometimes, employees steal time inadvertently as they don’t understand the full scope of their responsibilities. An even more common issue is when staff doesn’t have proper training that would allow them to perform certain activities.

• Issues with Management

Gripes with the management could be the most common reason for time theft. If staff members believe that owners have short-changed them, they’ll do everything in their power to get compensation in some other way. Other reasons for retaliation include favoritism, lack of opportunities, lack of acknowledgment, or mobbing.

• Burnout

In some situations, staff is simply unable to perform any work. They come to a complete standstill due to mental and physical exhaustion. Burnout will force even the best employees to steal time and try to avoid work whenever possible.

• Colleague’s Influence

Some companies simply have poor values, which propagates time theft at all levels. If other colleagues are stealing from the business, there’s a good chance new employees will do the same. This is a severe issue that has to be addressed on all levels; otherwise, it threatens the future of the entire brand.

It’s worth noting that time theft isn’t considered a crime according to the US law. Nevertheless, both employees and employers consider it fraudulent behavior. The good news is that you can implement various methods to address the problem, which will be explained in the following chapter.

7 Ways to Prevent Time Theft

These are the 7 best ways to stop time theft in your company:

1.    Use Time Tracking Software

The best, most reliable way to stop time theft is by using time tracking software. Nowadays, you can install various digital solutions on worker’s phones, allowing managers to monitor their movement. Although employees might still find ways to trick the system, this would require elaborate schemes.

Besides apps, there are also wearables, which are even more precise in tracking personnel. The best thing about this modern technology is that it provides other valuable data about your team members. This includes their status, qualification, pay rate, and anything else you might require in the office or on the site.

2.    Create Reports

Using reports is vital not only for preventing time theft but also for boosting efficiency across the board. Within these documents, you can see how much time a person spends on each task, which can be used to optimize their workload and alleviate the burden from the best performers.

Certain programs allow you to track teams and individuals by their tasks, projects, billable hours, and other parameters. These tools provide breakdowns for different periods, showing you how a person’s productivity changed over time (which might indicate high morale or burnout).

3.    Create Approval Process

If you’re still using traditional timesheets, you’ll need to create a practical approval process that would address any discrepancies within the employee’s document. Besides tracking entrances and exits, you’ll have to check the breaks and general use of time.

While there might be some inconsistencies in these sheets, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the person has been stealing. Keep in mind that traditional sheets are rather clunky, and human errors are commonplace.

4.    Introduce Policies

Before anything else, you need to provide training and introduce clear policies to establish what’s acceptable in the workplace. You need to create a culture of professionalism that would apply to both yourself and your staff.

Most importantly, when introducing these policies, you need to explain what will happen if a person is caught cheating. By introducing a set of rules, you’ll acknowledge the issue and your willingness to resolve it. 

Besides leaving work early, you need to explain that overuse of computers and toilets is also perceived as time theft. That way, employees won’t have an excuse that they didn’t know what they were doing.

5.    Increase Transparency

Time theft is not only contagious, but it poses other threats to law-abiding employees. It shows your most valuable members their effort doesn’t matter as they’ll get the same paycheck as those skipping work.

Transparency puts an end to all of this. You need to publicly expose people who were stealing from the company and explain the ramifications. Bear in mind that transparency goes both ways, and you need to sanction yourself if you ever make a breach.

6.    Change Culture

Besides increasing transparency, there are other changes you can introduce to increase employee satisfaction. Make the workplace more hospitable and show that you respect their work. Monitor staff’s stress levels and provide benefits to those who want to progress within the company.

7.    Give Out Rewards

Improper compensations are one of the main reasons why people bail. If you’ve noticed that a lot of employees are stealing time and, god forbid, other resources, you might want to revise your payment policies. In the end, paying your staff a bit more will likely cost you less than having to deal with daily time theft.

Conclusion

Even with advanced tech, time theft is still an issue plaguing modern companies. In most cases, the problem is remedied by introducing well-defined practices and staff tracking software. However, managers should also look inward and create an atmosphere where their employees can thrive.

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