by Carie McMichael | Oct 4, 2022 | Corporate Culture
A vast survey from Gallup recently provided powerful insight into the current employee engagement landscape in America. We are, it would seem, in a pretty gloomy slump. Engagement began to dip towards the end of 2021 and it’s still in decline. The only silver lining to this unfortunate news is that stats are far more favorable for organizations that focus on culture and wellbeing. So is that you? If not, isn’t it about time you made it so? A corporate culture assessment is a great place to start.
Tune into Your Employees With a Company Culture Assessment
Even for the most intuitive employer in the world, knowing how employees really feel is nigh-on impossible without a comprehensive strategy. How’s morale looking in teams and departments that are beyond your oversight? Have your employees taken recent changes in stride, or is resentment building under the radar? Is it possible that team members are unhappy enough to decide that workplace theft or malingering might have become a great idea? These are the questions that a corporate culture assessment can answer.
It’s no secret that employees who feel heard and seen will yield better performance and greater profits while sticking around for longer. There’s no point in investing heavily to recruit the best talent if your company culture sends the best hires packing not long after their first day in your team. And in contrast to the welcome rewards that a strong corporate culture will manifest, a toxic one can soon turn into a melting pot of toxic management tactics, discrimination, theft, fraud, and harassment. It is a harsh truth that the symptoms of a neglected workplace culture are inclined to escalate.
The salve to these issues is a clear picture of your organization’s current standing and a game plan to get it back on track as required. A corporate culture assessment will aim to deliver on both of these points. First, a thorough investigation will illuminate issues such as poor communication, misaligned values, flawed management practices, cliques and preferential behavior, employee concerns, and much more. Once all of the data is compiled, your corporate culture auditor will lay out a road map towards remedy.
A Company Culture Assessment From Lauth Investigations International
If you can’t answer the question of how your employees feel with confidence—or if you can but you’re not too keen on what you’d have to say—then ordering an audit is the next logical step to take. Understanding exactly what shape the morale of your team is currently in and whether your company culture is serving you or holding you back will allow you to take affirmative action.
The corporate investigations team at Lauth Investigations International have been serving corporate clients for more than 30 years, operating as the largest arm of this family owned and operated private investigations firm. Our track record speaks for itself, and our team of dedicated and loyal fact-finders are ready to turn their expertize to spotlighting your corporate culture and pinpointing how to elevate it.
To learn more about our comprehensive Corporate Culture Audit service, head on over to our CCA information page. Alternatively, if you prefer, contact us today for a friendly no-obligation chat about how we can serve your organization best. We’re always ready to advise.
by Carie McMichael | Oct 3, 2022 | White Collar Crime
Understandably, embezzlement is something of a specter—a ghost haunting the dreams of business owners across America. Why? Because embezzlers often go undetected for years, are usually in a long-standing position of trust, can leave a gaping financial hole that is discovered all too late.
Alarmingly, the average company loss through embezzlement is a whopping $357,650, and over half of businesses recover less than one-third of what was lost. If you know that a crisis on that scale could cripple your enterprise, a timely embezzlement investigation is a proactive way to place yourself on the happier side of those numbers. In fact, many don’t realize that an embezzlement investigation can be both reactive or cautionary, depending on their sense of vulnerability. So, is it time to call in a corporate investigator to make sure you haven’t got a capital drain in free-flow right under your nose?
Knowing the Common Types of Embezzlement
When we talk about launching an embezzlement investigation, what kind of crimes might we be looking at? Well, embezzlement is an umbrella term for any type of fraud or capital theft engaged in by an employee and afforded by their position of trust.
Common forms of embezzlement include chronic undercharging of friends and family in a customer-facing setting, or creating a phony ghost supplier to charge your company for transactions that never really existed. The embezzler may fabricate fake refunds or fictitious bad debt. Another common type is payroll fraud—although there are many ways in which an embezzler may cook the books so that their thefts go undetected.
Red Flags of an Embezzler In Your Midst
If the perpetrator covers their tracks well, even your CFO may not notice that a sinkhole is growing in the company’s financials. However, there are other factors to become attuned to that may indirectly let you know an embezzlement investigation is called for.
For example, someone neck-deep in a complex embezzlement scheme may be very reluctant to take their accrued vacation days while exhibiting enthusiasm to work overtime. As you can imagine, moments when honest employees and management are off the clock create a far easier setting for them to conduct their nefarious activities undisturbed.
An employee overseeing an unmeasured expense such as office supplies or with access to petty cash that they can skim from should always be subject to scrutiny. So too should employees who start spending in a way that doesn’t reflect their salary, or those who dedicate a lot of time to whispered meetings with co-workers or vendors. Keep in mind that 79% of embezzlement cases involve more than one person collaborating to rip off their employer.
Launching an Embezzlement Investigation and Preventing Future Problems
As grim as these statistics might be, employers can reclaim their confidence by uncovering and stopping embezzlement in its tracks and taking steps to prevent it from happening again. Because of the complex nature of embezzlement crimes, a specialist corporate investigator is the ideal ally for tackling this challenge. They will be able to roll out digital forensics, surveillance, background checks, and even undercover investigations to bring the perpetrators and their methods to light.
A corporate investigator from Lauth Investigations International can also help you safeguard your future endeavors with comprehensive employee screening, risk assessments, procedural overhauls, and corporate culture assessments. A rise in employee misconduct often indicates a larger problem and a culture audit is a swift way to address the cause rather than only the symptoms. Would you like to know more about how we can help your business navigate an embezzlement investigation? Then connect with us today for a no-obligation consultation.
by Carie McMichael | Sep 30, 2022 | Corporate Theft
When it comes to workplace theft, few forms of criminality represent such a hefty potential drain on company resources than a steady flow of inventory disappearing from your warehouse. It might start out with a few small losses here and there, raising mild alarm but getting swept aside as running the business is prioritized. However, this kind of industrial theft can escalate quickly—especially when the perpetrators think getting away with the loot is an easy mark. Employees steal $50 billion from U.S. businesses every year, and if your numbers aren’t adding up, then you’ve just become part of that statistic.
For the HR team or CFO of any enterprise blighted by warehouse losses, it can soon seem as if the problem is out of hand with no solution in sight. Catching thieves red handed can be challenging for those whose role is already demanding enough. In these instances, an industrial theft investigator offers a port in the storm. But how exactly does this specialist private investigator tackle occurrences of industrial theft? Today, let’s look at red flags associated with this problem and how a PI can help restore honesty to your back end team.
Raising the Alarm on Warehouse Theft
Long before you decide to put that industrial theft investigator on speed dial, you likely went through the experience of beginning to smell a rat, before becoming confident that something untoward was afoot. Perhaps you’re still in the middle of that transition—and if so, what are the red flags that you might look out for?
Of course, the most textbook issue arising is an awareness that your stock level inventories don’t match your sales records. But, there are more nuanced signals, too.
You might spot that sales seem to drop off on days when certain members of your team are on duty or that invoices are missing. Maybe you keep finding stock sitting near loading bays or outside exits, while rumors begin to swirl or morale takes a tumble. You might notice that certain team members are reluctant to take their accrued leave, while showcasing increasing purchasing power or nipping off for clandestine meetings during working hours. All of these indicators should raise the hairs on the back of your neck, but without proof, what can you do?
How an Industrial Theft Investigator Closes the Door On Warehouse Theft
So, the warning signs are there and you know you have to act quickly. It’s time to bring in a professional to nip this issue in the bud, and it’s a specialist industrial theft investigator that you need. There are a number of ways that this type of PI can help you—and sometimes, the mere presence of an industrial theft investigator may lead perpetrators to stop dead in their tracks. But, the goal here is to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
An industrial theft investigator will combine a number of strategies. They will begin a careful investigation of the thefts that have already occurred to illuminate the facts. This may include tactics such as surveillance, interviews, investigating individuals, and conducting digital forensics. Simultaneously, they will be able to introduce background checks and employee screening to ensure you don’t have any more nefarious actors entering your workforce. Finally, they will be able to conduct a thorough physical and procedural risk assessment of your warehouse, providing you with the opportunity to make key updates to your infrastructure, company policy, security protocols, and more.
Are disappearances from your warehouse taking chunks out of your bottom line? An industrial theft investigator can put a stop to stock hemorrhaging today—so why not reach out for a no-obligation consultation and discuss the support you need. The industrial theft investigations team at Lauth Investigations International is always only a phone call or a message away.
by Carie McMichael | Sep 27, 2022 | Background Checks
We all like to think that we’re a good judge of character, but when it comes to choosing who to trust with your company’s inventory, intellectual property, and assets, it is always wise to defer to the facts. Today, we live in a world where 90% of all significant thefts from businesses are internal, and almost a third of businesses bankruptcies are triggered by the very same issue. This makes lifting the curtain on your next applicant’s true credentials key to stopping internal theft.
Yes, in such troubled times, it is high-risk behavior to assume that every resume is honest or that every employee is as clean and crease-free as their pressed work attire. Instead, the best tactic is to up your background-check-game and ensure that you catch any and all rotten candidates before they step into the first day of onboarding. For that, you’ll need the right collaborator, so let’s explore what makes some background checks more comprehensive than others and how that difference dictates their effectiveness for stopping internal theft in its tracks.
Outsourced Background Checks Can Be a Smart Investment
Employee screening is something that tends to happen on a sliding scale of seriousness. At its most basic level, your HR team may diligently check the references of employment candidates, however these can easily be faked. When dialing the number on an applicant’s resume, there’s no way of knowing that you’ll find their true past employer on the other end of the line.
The next step that a company might take is requesting a criminal record check on would-be trainees. This is an excellent idea as it can reveal if a questionable past lies between the letters of their application. However, this still means only piecing together small segments of that individuals character and track record. To really grant a clean bill of health to any applicant status, the best option is to turn to a corporate investigator who is equipped to efficiently present a complete composition—the full sense of who this person is and whether they will fit on your team, or pose a worrying threat.
So what might a background check from Lauth Investigations International tell you? Well, our investigators are licensed to access the same verified databases used by law enforcement. This allows up to compile an intelligence report on your candidate, presenting a full and contextual history of the subject as it relates to their potential role in your enterprise. Pertinent paths of exploration might include confirming the validity of their employment record and credentials; uncovering criminal, financial, and litigative history; and joining the dots between the various pieces to ensure that each element adds up.
Stopping Internal Theft Before It Starts
As each new employee is welcomed into your team, with them comes a distinct vulnerability to a diversity of theft types. Undoubtedly, stopping internal theft doesn’t only mean preventing inventory or office supplies from drifting away. It also means safeguarding against financial theft, embezzlement, fraud, data theft, intellectual property theft, and more. To put the scale of this threat in context, we can turn to research from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which tells us that American businesses lose roughly $50 billion each year as a result of employee theft—and that this number is rising by 15% annually.
Avoiding becoming a part of these alarming statistic begins foundationally with background checks. It is always better to prevent the kinds of disastrous disappearances that can undermine your operation than it is to launch into post-crisis damage control. And by developing a dependable collaborative relationship with a corporate investigations firm—one that understands your business and is always ready to provide dynamic support—you can dramatically reduce the risk of internal theft on an ongoing basis and act quickly if the unexpected occurs.
Without a doubt, comprehensive background checks are a powerful tool for stopping internal theft before it gets the chance to start. Health-checking your company’s culture with a Corporate Culture Audit is also a highly effective way to reveal risk before it evolves into criminal behavior in the work place. To discuss these services and more with a member of our team, reach out for a no-obligation consultation today—because we know that every unique business calls for unique solutions, so let us help guide you towards yours.
by Carie McMichael | Sep 26, 2022 | Uncover Debtor Assets
Even the most simple of estate settlements can represent a quagmire of beaurocracy for those tasked with steering the course. But when things get complicated, it can become essential to call in the cavalry.
What if there are estranged, missing, or unknown parties to locate? What if a broad spread of assets transform the probate search process into a puzzle with missing pieces? In these moments, reaching out for support from gold-standard heir search services can be instrumental. So let’s explore where to start in this process so that the route to the finishing line on successful estate settlement can be drawn into focus.
Understanding Your Needs in Relation to Heir Search Services
When probate has been opened and filed, its visibility in the public record may draw the attention of all sorts of heir search services providers. It can be useful to remember at this juncture that the ball is in your court as the family member, trustee, or appointed attorney at the helm of the probate ship. Before picking your collaborator, the first thing to do is identify your needs in relation to heir search services—or even the extent to which your needs are unknown. Doing so will ensure that you can contract an heir search expert with the necessary skills required.
Questions to ask yourself include whether the genealogical investigation ahead will require obtaining records and conducting vital record searches in a local or wide geographical area, or whether the scope is even greater—such as having an investigator on hand and ready to travel when locate missing beneficiaries.
Will the heir search services provider need experience in multi-state or even multi-nation legal navigation? If this may be the case—and even if it isn’t—choosing a seasoned firm that is well versed in evidencing heir searches internationally ensures that a lead that crosses a border won’t become a stumbling block along the road ahead.
Without a doubt, complex probate proceedings can leave responsible parties open to substantial fiduciary risk. Your responsibility is to use resources wisely when commissioning heir searches, beneficiary investigations, and asset identification. With this in mind, the right heir search services can help to mitigate risk factors such as the reality that statutes and administrative requirements vary state to state, and that international investigations call not only for excellent relations but also multilingual capabilities.
Partnering With Comprehensive and Expert Heir Search Services
Whatever an heir search expert uncovers, it won’t serve you well unless it is fully and appropriately documented and ready to stand up in court. An unearthed document may be of little use if it is considered out-of-date or erroneous, while a witness testimony that was poorly obtained may ultimately be rejected. As such, it is essential to align yourself with heir search services affording the skills to efficiently, diligently, and robustly prove the right of inheritance for relevant parties with your fiduciary responsibility held in focus.
Lauth Investigations International are proud to provide a full spectrum of transparent and cost-effective heir search services, with the scalable capability to meet demand for anything from local record searches through to international beneficiary tracing, asset identification, and beyond. Our seasoned heir search operatives are experts in meeting the highest standards for probate court proceedings and can testify to their findings whenever called upon. We strongly recommend accepting nothing less.
Our 30 years as veteran investigators serving an international client base mean that there is no estate matter beyond our resources. So, in choosing heir search services from Lauth Investigations International, you can enjoy total peace of mind that the task is in hand and resolution is within reach. Are you ready to learn more? Explore further guidance on the diversity of heir search services that we cater to, or connect with our team for a no-obligation consultation. We are always ready to share our expertize, bringing you one step closer to settling the estate at hand, no matter how complex.
