Legislation relating to codes of conduct and constructive discharge aims to protect workers and companies alike from those with bad intentions. However, when any individual—on either side of the equation—finds themselves in hot water relating to these nuanced aspects of business operation, the path forwards can be difficult to identify.
With that in mind, today we’re going to touch on questions such as obligations in relation to codes of conduct and answer the question, what is constructive discharge? We’ll also explore why a corporate investigations form can serve as a white night for those in need of guidance in these areas.
Codes of Conduct Obligations
Certain kinds of businesses and certainly all public companies are legally mandated to have codes of conduct in place. However, even those that are not obliged should consider this a powerful tool of self-protection with many associated rewards. The job of codes of conduct is to lay out the values, mission, and principles that the organization aspires to and relates them to the contractual commitments that each employee makes when entering the company.
Well-written codes of conduct not only define desired behavior, but also serve as a powerful marketing tool—a public statement of intent. Finally, their mere presence is a form of risk mitigation, demonstrating a “good faith effort” to prevent illegal activity on the company’s watch and setting clear boundaries that those with nefarious intentions must actively decide to cross.
What Is Constructive Discharge?
Constructive discharge is the term used to describe when an employee resigns because their employee created a hostile work environment. Because the decision was forced rather than voluntary, it is seen in the eyes of the law as a termination, and as such, a wrongful termination claim can be brought after the fact.
Whether navigating action following an alleged breach of codes of conduct or a constructive dismissal, it can be important for each party to demonstrate their prior intentions. For example, an employer countering a claim of constructive dismissal may be able to demonstrate that the employee didn’t raise the alarm or provide the opportunity for the company to rectify the problem. Equally, an employee may be able to demonstrate that they asked for support but weren’t given any. Only in demonstrating that their employer acted on an illegal impulse or with discriminatory motives will their claim be successful.
Do you need assistance in navigating a matter relating to codes of conduct or constructive dismissal? If so, the corporate investigations team here at Lauth Investigations International is ready to provide critical support. If you require expert guidance and access to a seasoned investigator who can help you build a clear-cut case, we are only a phone call away. Get in touch today for a no-obligation consultation.
No matter how much money you throw at the latest security hardware, CCTV software, or highly-trained security guards, your company may still experience employee theft. For the vast majority of businesses, sadly, the greatest threats when it comes to losing assets are individuals working under the very same roof. So much so that 90% of thefts from workplaces come at the hands of the employees themselves. This makes preventing corporate theft a priority, so how can a corporate private investigator assist?
To prevent corporate theft effectively, it helps to keep in mind that it comes in many forms. A bad actor or two among your seemingly dedicated team may make off with money or inventory, certainly. But the thing they steal could just as equally be sensitive customer data, intellectual property, or even time itself. Whichever risk looms largest at your place of business, a corporate private investigator can assist with both prevention and damage mitigation. Read on to discover how.
Proactively Preventing Corporate Theft
The price tags that come with various tactics to prevent corporate theft may seem prohibitive but studies suggest that they are well worth the investment. To look at the example of employee fraud, researchers found that companies that invest in fraud prevention tend to spend 42% less on fraud responses such as litigation, fines, and penalties. A private corporate investigator is an ideal ally to minimize the possibility of future thefts.
Preventing those bad actors from entering your place of employment in the first place is inevitably rewarding when it comes to reducing employee theft risk. A private corporate investigator is uniquely poised to perform comprehensive background checks because their licensure grants them access to many of the same databases used by law enforcement.
Another excellent strategy for preventing corporate theft is ensuring that corporate culture is strong and thriving. Unhappy employees soon become disgruntled ones who may justify to themselves decisions such as bolstering their pay through embezzlement or simply turning a blind eye to a colleague engaged in inventory theft. To get a clear sense of your current corporate culture standing, speak to a Lauth private corporate investigator about the investigatory and remedial elements within a Corporate Culture Audit.
Damage Control From a Corporate Private Investigator
When a theft has already occurred—or even a pattern of employee theft emerged—a corporate private investigator will make quick work of illuminating the facts and nipping ongoing thievery in the bud. They alone can conduct an expert investigation that is entirely free from the legal risk of bias that comes with colleagues investigating each other.
Not only can showcasing zero-tolerance by enacting a swift assisted corporate theft investigation address the issue at hand, but it can also help to shift culture and safety in the workplace for the better. Nearly 60% of companies that conduct a diligent investigation end up in a better place in the long run, and those that combine all of the tactics above will be able to enjoy not only reduced threat risk and a more secure working environment but also an associated boost to productivity, team cohesion, and bottom line. Are you ready to learn more about how a corporate private investigator can assist in preventing corporate theft? Reach out to the specialist team here at Lauth Investigations International for a no-obligation consultation on the tailored solutions that we can place at your disposal.
More and more businesses these days are cottoning onto the idea that healthy corporate culture drives performance and profits. But what if leadership doesn’t know good culture indicators from their elbows? You might imagine that the red flags indicating that something is off would be blatant, but the cues telling you that your corporate culture has hit the skids can actually be pretty nuanced.
Yes, when a workplace is ingrained with habitual practices, it’s easy to miss the warning signals. So let’s examine the signs of a toxic work environment a little more closely. These are pointers that you can look for from the leadership perspective, or simply as a concerned member of the team. Check out our toxic workplace checklist so that you can claim a greater understanding of your organization’s current cultural state:
Red Flag #1: Runaway Employee Turnover
One of the first signs that your workplace is veering into toxicity is an escalation in employee turnover. You might not see clear signs on the office floor that things are going wrong, but if you’re getting a lot of notice letters or employees are getting laid off or fired at a faster rate than usual, don’t assume that this issue will correct automatically. There is a reason why your team is jumping ship, and those earning the ultimate discipline are likely not doing so in a vacuum.
Red Flag #2: Running Burnout Due to Poor Work-Life Balance
Next on our toxic workplace checklist, we find the gremlin of poor work-life-balance. If you notice that employees are exhibiting signs of burnout, it is likely that a lack of healthy work boundaries, unrealistic expectations, lack of recognition, and always-on-the-clock stress is to blame. Long gone is the era when leaders imagined that griding employees toward their targets would yield long-term results. Balance is essential if performance is to be optimized and sustainable.
Red Flag #3: Poor Communication and Mismanagement
Poor communication can have your teams running around in circles, looking productive but not getting much done. This might mean a lack of clarity around projects, inefficient siphons leading to duplicated efforts, frustrated employees who feel unheard, and micromanagement from leaders who overcompensate because they don’t know how to direct their teams effectively.
Red Flag #4: Cliques and Bullying Run Rife
Among sure signs of a toxic work environment is when things start to get passive aggressive, hostile, harassing, bullying, gossipy, cliquey, preferential, or selectively withholding. At best, these kinds of behaviors can trigger your greatest talent heading for the door. At worst, you can expect to see discrimination, sexual harassment, or bullying complaints landing on your desk, and potentially a downward slide towards litigation laid out before you. Clique-ish behavior should always be taken seriously, before it gets the chance to escalate.
Red Flag #5: Forward Movement Has Stalled
A lack of opportunity for progression, poor team morale, staff that feel underchallenged or overchallenged, an a lack of alignment between company values and the truth on the ground will all contribute to employees switching off in a big way. This can stifle growth, slam on the breaks, and even trigger a high-rev reverse away from your brand’s success. So don’t allow neglected corporate culture to erode what likely took years to build. Re-review this toxic workplace checklist and decide if further action needs to be taken.
What To Do When Concerned About Corporate Culture
Fixing corporate culture gone awry begins with understanding the why and how of it all. The best way to achieve this is with a comprehensive corporate culture audit. This process will serve-as a health check for your organization, bringing to light the toxic traits that are undermining your brand’s success and the wellbeing of your team.
It’s important to know, too, that these issues can arise across work-from-home teams just as readily as they do in a shared work environment. So turn to a skilled and trusted auditor from Lauth Investigations International to turn the tables on a toxic company culture. Learn more about the process or reach out to our corporate team today. A consultation is no-obligation and we’re ready to explain exactly how we can help.
For many business owners, white collar theft seems like a pretty abstract concept until faced with its fallout first hand. We tend to romanticize the idea of the white collar criminal, and how could we not? Over the years, cinema has glorified this kind of perpetrator—from Leonardo DiCaprio in the Wolf of Wall Street to Christian Bale in American Hustle. But as fascinating as the idea of a well-paid professional taking an insane risk for illicit gain may be, at the end of the day there are always victims left behind.
The FBI reports that white collar theft costs the United States upward of $300 billion per year. And while its true that 31% of this kind of illegal activity is undertaken by operations staff, the vast majority was ultimately traced to trusted leadership. Yes, some 34% of white collar theft was found to be committed by middle management and 26% by senior management. That means that if someone’s going to engage in this kind of behavior within your business, the chances are they’ll be doing so from somewhere within your core leadership team.
Delving Into the Mind of White-Collar Criminals
A substantial part of mitigating white collar theft among your leadership lies in anticipating where the criminally inclined might find means and opportunity. This begins with conducting comprehensive background checks on managerial or high-responsibility candidates—or potentially leaders already in place if this step was overlooked during recruitment.
Introducing security-centric procedures such as segregating and rotating certain duties can remove opportunity to some extent, as can using accounts-monitoring software and making timely audits. Launching an anonymous white collar theft tip line is also a powerful tool that shouldn’t be overlooked. In fact, the #1 way that occupational fraud is detected is via a tip, and companies with a hotline manage to detect white collar crime 33% faster than their counterparts.
Of course, the ill-intended are most likely to thrive in a working environment where many of their colleagues are already bending or breaking the rules. Team members suffering low morale due to work-related stress are also far less likely to feel motivated to report white collar theft if they witness it. These factors alone should be enough to inspire you to prioritize elevating your corporate culture if you aren’t already.
It’s true that organizations with strong culture enjoy better employee performance and greater profits, and the flip-side of that is that those with an eroded culture can become a hotbed of white collar crime—right under the nose of oblivious executives. Fundamentally, your leadership staff are critical to setting the tone on corporate culture, so if you suspect that their example is anything but shining, a corporate culture audit is definitely in order.
Navigating White Collar Theft When It’s Rooted With Leadership
When employee misconduct is coming from lower-level team members, the process to deal with it—from investigation through to discipline or dismissal if required—can be uncomfortable, but is ultimately a part of being responsible for a functioning team. However, when the suspect of workplace criminality is a member of your most trusted inner-circle, and perhaps someone who has been by your side for years, the situation becomes a little more challenging.
While HR may usually take the lead on employee investigations, this can become problematic if the individual in question is senior to the HR team. Simultaneously, impartiality is critical to navigating a potentially criminal corporate investigation, and long-standing colleagues can hardly be expected to assess the facts without bias, making it tricky for fellow leaders to investigate a peer. The only logical option in dynamics such as these is to bring in an external corporate investigator to provide pivotal support.
The investigator’s work may begin with a corporate culture audit or a targeted investigation following an unexplained discrepancy. In instances where discretion is key, an undercover investigator can be placed within your team to covertly gather facts until a case is solid enough to bring it forward. Providing peace of mind to those seeking this support, the seasoned and specialized corporate investigator will be able to advise on how to navigate each unique situation in pursuit of the best possible outcome.
So, whether you wish to initiate a culture audit or risk assessment as a preventative measure against white collar theft, or want to know what truth lies concealed from your suspicions, the expert corporate team at Lauth Investigations International is ready to assist. Learn more about our approach to white collar crime or reach out to us today for a no-obligation consultation and we’ll help you explore your options.
Your organizational structure—does it serve you in preventing embezzlement, or is a loaded gun simply waiting to go off? Countless business owners across the US see employee fraud or embezzlement as something that only happens to other people, but in reality, the statistics sing to another tune.
Starkly, research tells us that embezzlement impacts around 95% of businesses. So if it hasn’t touched your company yet, then you are living the exception rather than the rule. The same data reveals that the average embezzler has worked for the organization they attack from the inside for eight years. This means that perpetrators are trusted, core members of the teams they undermine, making implementing preventative measures an essential pursuit.
One aspect of keeping the horror of a hole in your books at bay is conducting comprehensive background checks on everyone entering your team. Why? Because 4% of embezzlers are found to have had prior convictions—red flags that their employer would have spotted if they’d done the appropriate groundwork. But that defense is only a partial salve. A far larger puzzle piece for preventing embezzlement is building staunch safeguards into your corporate structure. So let’s look at why this tactic is so important, and how you can get expert assistance if you feel your current modus operandi is far from bulletproof.
Leaving the Door Open to Embezzlers
Sadly, for those of us in the corporate investigations business, this is a story as old as our profession. Company after company comes to rely upon that one gold-standard employee. They’re the dependable one—the bedrock of daily operations—and as such, their reach and control gradually extends and the checks and measures fall away. Of course, not all trusted managers or C-suite executives will leverage the opportunity to embezzle when they meet it. But the right cocktail of means and motive can lead to a slow-burning crisis with a sizable crescendo.
When asked by researchers, employees who stole from their employers, 24% said that they did so simply because they knew they could get away with it. Of course, factors such as personal financial woes or a build up of resentment at work due to poor corporate culture can all contribute to creating that melting pot-moment, but in essence, no employer can predict with certainty which rock-solid employee may take a turn in a far darker direction.
Not only do these factors justify why thoughtful measures for preventing embezzlement are so vital, but so too does the fact that most embezzlers get away with their crimes over an extended period. Among employees committing fraud, the average window within which they are able to siphon off money undetected is 18-24 months. That’s a mighty long time for your company’s assets to be hemorrhaging, so how can changing corporate structure close that window and lock it down tightly?
Preventing Embezzlement By Changing Corporate Structure
The reality is that an embezzler needs space to work—they need the scope to insert their falsified figures and fraudulent documentation; to paper over the cracks that would reveal their misdeeds. This means that developing systems that ensure all numbers are cross-checked and never the responsibility of one individual alone will certainly create a substantial obstacle to such endeavors.
Rotation of duties, multi-managerial verification, and tightly controlled and monitored access to high-value—or even low-value—assets can serve as guard-rails that protect against entry into embezzlement-friendly territory. And while it might seem that these practices are peppered with mistrust, in practice, they allow the opposite to blossom. When anti-theft measures are taken as gospel and followed to the letter, teams can enjoy an environment of confidence and collaboration that is far healthier and far less vulnerable to crime. So, is your corporate structure up to the task? If the question gives you cause to pause for thought then the corporate team at Lauth Investigations International can help. We combine expert services such as Corporate Culture Audits and tailored risk assessments to help businesses just like yours avoid leaving the ranks of the graced 5% of businesses unaffected by embezzlement. We can also aid with detailed background checks and workplace investigations if anything doesn’t add up. Turn to a trusted ally by reaching out to our team today and we’ll be happy to talk you through your options.
