A Report on Employee Theft and Prevention in the Hotel Industry

This report delves into the pervasive issue of employee theft within the hotel industry. It begins with an executive summary and introduction, defining employee theft as the misuse of hotel assets without permission, encompassing various forms such as credit card fraud and merchandise theft. The main body discusses the problem's impact across different hotel departments, including kitchens, cash management, and product/supplier sections. It identifies different types of employee theft (tangible, intangible, intentional, and unintentional) and explores the underlying motivations, such as lack of internal control, poor employee morale, and financial pressures. The report further outlines best practices adopted by international hotels for prevention, like background checks, personality tests, and robust inventory management. Finally, it recommends effective management strategies, including automated cash management systems, security measures, and clear policies, to mitigate and control employee theft effectively. The conclusion reiterates the significance of the problem and the importance of adopting preventative measures.

A report to investigate employee thefts in hotel
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Executive Summary
This report is based on the employee theft that may refer of misuse of hotel’s assets and any type
of stealing with permission. It can be identified different type of employee theft that could affects
on the overall business process. It may involve credit card fraud, corporate funds and
merchandises theft etc. It has been evaluated the employee theft and how it can be developing
the problem of hotel industry. It occurs variety of employee theft in the hotel which are not
acceptable during cash management process. It has been analyzed the best practices which
adopted by the hotel to make prevention against stealing. Furthermore, it also recommended to
implement the security system that can monitor the activities of employee during business
operations and functions.
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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................4
Discuss about how and if employee theft is a problem in hotel industry....................................4
Describe that how employee theft is a problem across different departments............................5
Explain the type of employee theft in hotels...............................................................................5
Describe that underlying motivations behind employee theft in hotels......................................6
Describe the best practices adopted by international hotels to prevent employee theft..............7
Recommendation on how employee theft can manage effectively.............................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Employee theft refers any stealing, misuse of organization’s assets without permission. It
usually problem that occurs in hotel industry where it provides various type of opportunities for
theft from guest. Businesses lose of million dollars each year in employee theft. It can be existing
in different forms, identify theft to credit card fraud and merchandises theft. The hotels are not
hired an employee thinking that someday going to steal. Hotel needs to take action towards theft
and prevent.
This report will discuss about the employee theft and how it generates problem in hotel
industry. It will discuss about different type of employee theft in the hotel industry. Furthermore,
it will determine the best practices adopted by international hotels for the purpose of prevention.
However, it will recommend that how employee theft can manage effectively and efficiently.
MAIN BODY
Discuss about how and if employee theft is a problem in hotel industry.
Employee theft is the most common problem in hotel industry because there are lot of things to
damage the overall property. It also affects on the revenue generation and profitability in
marketplace. It is to be considered the serious problem sometimes, employee leak sensitive
information about credit card details, consumer data etc. in this way, it directly impacts on the
hotel industry (Akbari, 2018). Employee theft is mainly defined the dishonest appropriation of
another property with intent to deprive permanently.
Employee theft is associated with the staff turnover, lack of trust between management and
staff, dishonesty and unhappiness etc. It can be generated the in equitable employment condition
in the hotels. In this way, there are many workplaces suffer problem through employee theft
regarding high staff turnover. For Example- The student employees were representing the
significant risk to the hotel industry which are important sources of work (Shukla, 2018). Under
the age of 26, they have no management experience and low integrity score.
Apart from that employee theft is not based on the physical assets and money where it
increasingly data theft which are most dangerous to the hotel industry. Many employees are
trying the stolen sensitive data that can results in loss of enterprises.
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Describe that how employee theft is a problem across different departments.
Employee theft is based on reality that impact on hotels owner across the world. It might
have specific vision of intruders to effect on the business operations and functions
(OgunyebiSwar & Aghili, 2018). There are following ways to identify that employee theft is
major problem in different departments.
 Kitchen department: It may include the canned items, raw materials and finished meals
in the form of free food for employee eaten but many employees stolen the food items. In
this way, it can minimize the quantity of items and increase money investment.
 Cash and account department: In hotels, there are major possibility of employee theft
where cash can come in different forms such as a simple as straight out of register and
stolen deposit (Bordei & et.al., 2019). With many employees need money for outside so
that it has chances to cash stolen. In this way, it will increase the mismanagement in cash
management process.
 Product and supplier department: Employee theft need to consider would be hotel item
and supplier which depending on the enterprises and its intellectual property. There are
multiple items that can be stolen in the hotel environment. In this way, it directly affects
the loyalty between management and workers.
Explain the type of employee theft in hotels.
There are different types of employee theft in hotel industry: intangible and tangible.
Tangible theft:
Tangible is based on measurable and physical assets that can use in the business operations of
hotels. This type of tangible stealing is everything that could be taken form hotel by employees.
It involves raw materials, office furniture, laptops, machines and supplies etc. these types of
product stolen by employee (Bugdol, 2018).
Intangible theft:
This type of intangible stealing occurs in both intended or unintended workers activities
that leading to loss of tangible in hotel industry. Employee theft had performed the activity that
impact on the overall reputation of hotels which increases to critical financial situation.
Employee has been stolen the selling database of hotels, patents, copyrights and other
confidential data
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Intentional theft:
Employee is an intentional misappropriation of hotel property such as current checks,
inventory, trade secrets and other type of currency checks etc. It may include the fraud when
employee misleading the hotels for theft corporate funds and negotiate instrument that uses in
hotels. This type of theft might be considered as an intentional (Goh & Kong, 2018).
Unintentional theft:
This type of theft happens unintentional when employee accidentally unscrews lightbulbs
and throws in their bag during cleaning. Employee had stolen packed item or packed from the
hotel. This type of employee theft doesn’t harmful for business operations and functions.
Describe that underlying motivations behind employee theft in hotels.
Hotel industry is the fastest growing business in g lobal marketplace because of their size,
locations in different countries (Leung, Yang & Dubin, 2018). It has chances of increasing risk
of employee theft in hotels. There are various reasons of motivations behind employee theft. Lack of internal control is the most common motivation behind employee theft due to
absence of leadership style where employees don’t have much capabilities to handle the
earn improve growth in hotel. In this way, they are trying to perform illegal activities
related corporate fraud.
 Poor and low employee morale is also another reason of employee theft in hotel where
industry only wanted experience employees. In this way, it will increase the poor
economic.
 In hotels, employees feel that they are underpaid of their work while it may come where
top executives are taking higher salaries. On the other hand, Other staff members don’t
receive the pay bonus or raise.
 Another motivation of employee theft being include gambling addiction, excessive use of
alcohol or drugs etc. In this way, they are suffering from the financial crisis therefore
decided to steal from hotel properties (White, 2018). It is considered the potential
consequences of employee theft in hotel industry.
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Describe the best practices adopted by international hotels to prevent employee theft.
International hotels are always trying to maintain their brand image and position in global
marketplace. It can maintain their policies and procedures that help for prevent employee theft
otherwise it directly harmful for reputation of hotels across the world (Mao Tian & Ye, 2018).
There are some common practices helping for international hotels to prevent through employee
theft in proper manner.
 Implement background check- It depth knowledge, qualitative background must be
required to identify the past records, bad behaviours especially in terms of stealing. In
additional, it also pulling to check legal documents at the time of hiring.
 Organize character and personality test- Hotel owner try to understand the integrity of
potential employee by asking some ethical questions during interview process. It can be
taken decision on the basis of their answer because it always help for understanding their
opinion towards the hotel industry (Moulton & Liu, 2018).
 Manage inventory and appropriate use of security system- hotel must be stored the
information about shipping functions and maintain the physical inventories that should
done by individuals. Hotels are mainly installed security devices that regularly check
activities of employee who will do work on the merchandise and inventory process. It
helps for monitoring the activities of employee.
Recommendation on how employee theft can manage effectively.
A recommended solution for preventing and protecting the employee theft related cash by
implementing automated management equipment. It can be used in hotel industry to eliminate
the chances of human errors. It also useful for save time, energy of employee as they will require
to recount cash drawers. In this way, everything can be done automatically. Sometimes, it is able
to avoid the dishonestly at workplace but it will reduce the temptation by using security
measurement to control authorized access of employees. The employee of hotels will think twice
before trying to steal any type of cash because an automated cash process will generate a
message directly to the hotel owner.
By implementing the efficient measurement to demonstrate the staff face problem if owner
can identify the employee theft. Install cameras and hidden devices are captured the activities of
employee during stealing. On the other hand, Hotel owner enforce to make legal policies
regarding cash management process so that employee always aware and don’t try illegal actions.
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Make sure each staff member understands after making policies and take all responsibilities
related cash process.
Apart from that often employee theft occurs when one member is alone in the register and
store. In this way, it has recommended to work with two employees during closing and opening
so that it will generate limited opportunity of stealing. In hotel, it always refunds and correct
witnessed by another staff members. Time to time, it can be rotated the duties of employee and
paired together in hotel where it avoids employee theft in the organization.
CONCLUSION
As per discussion, it concluded that Employee theft is considered the most common problem
in hotels. it can be identified into different forms such as credit card fraud and merchandises
theft. It is possible when hotels cannot identify the employee thinking that when someday they
are going to steal. It has been summarised the employee theft and how it generates problem in
hotel industry. It also determines the different types of employee theft in the hotel industry. It can
be concluded to adopt best practices by international hotels for the purpose of prevention also
recommendation for manage and control the employee theft effectively.
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REFERENCES
Book and Journals
Akbari, M. (2018). Developing a typology of customer misbehaviours (case study: hotel
industry, Iran five stars' hotels, Homa, Parsian Azadi, Esteghlal, Evin). International
Journal of Business Excellence. 16(1). 19-34.
Bordei, I. & et.al., (2019). The influence of authentic leadership on public employees analyzed
through self-determination theory: A case study in Republic of Moldova. Journal of
Spatial and Organizational Dynamics. 7(2). 125-143.
Bugdol, M., 2018. The Control and Punishment of Employees. In A Different Approach to Work
Discipline (pp. 85-133). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Goh, E., & Kong, S. (2018). Theft in the hotel workplace: Exploring frontline employees’
perceptions towards hotel employee theft. Tourism and Hospitality Research. 18(4). 442-
455.
Leung, X. Y., Yang, Y., & Dubin, E. A. (2018). What are guests scared of? Crime-related hotel
experiences and fear of crime. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 35(8), 1071-
1086.
Mao, Y., Tian, X., & Ye, K. (2018). The Real Effects of Sharing Economy: Evidence from
Airbnb.
Moulton, P., & Liu, F. (2018). A Quick and Easy Approach to Financial Fraud Detection.
Ogunyebi, O., Swar, B., & Aghili, S. (2018, March). An Incident Handling Guide for Small
Organizations in the Hospitality Sector. In World Conference on Information Systems and
Technologies (pp. 232-241). Springer, Cham.
Shukla, Y. (2018). New opportunities in inventory management in the hotel industry. Journal of
Commerce, Economics & Management. 2(1). 46-57.
White, A. (2018). Internal Fraud: Prevention and Detection Methods Including Machine
Learning (Doctoral dissertation, Utica College).
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