2nd Sept 2009

Is office pilferage really something we need to worry about?

Pilfering refers to taking small items that don't belong to you, usually on a repeated basis. People who pilfer generally do not think of themselves as thieves. Because the items are small, they are often considered insignificant.

Pilfering can take many forms such as taking small amounts of office supplies, including pens, batteries, PC supplies, paper, envelopes, and postage. Many people don’t think that making personal long-distance phone calls from a company phone is especially wrong.

Nevertheless, when people do these things without company permission, they are taking things that do not belong to them, which is stealing. Pilferage costs a lot of money, and it is against the law.

A landmark survey found that 80% of the 9,000 employees surveyed admitted to noticeable amounts of pilfering from their employers. Perhaps even more surprising was that many employers said there was nothing really wrong with it.

Many employees make a distinction between pilfering and outright theft. They see stealing as wrong, but pilfering as common and an accepted perk of employment. From an organisational perspective, however, the difference is not so great. Everyone agrees that taking £10 from the petty cash tin is a dishonest act. But, not everyone agrees that using £10 of company postage to process personal letters through the company’s franking machine is a dishonest act.

One of the most serious problems of pilfering is that it leads to a blurring of the ethical distinctions between right and wrong. Taking a pen home from the office is not wrong if the employer grants permission. Indeed, some employers invite employees to use office supplies at home or to use the office for personal business because it maximizes an employee’s efficiency. However, there is strong evidence to suggest that unapproved pilferage leads to theft of small items, and theft of small items leads to theft of larger items.

People who commit theft of any kind must rationalize their behavior to maintain their feelings of self-worth. Employees who pilfer soon develop the attitude that pilfering is not really wrong. In time, they develop other justifications for their pilfering, such as the company owes it to me, everybody is doing it, managers do it, or management knows about it but does not do anything to stop it, so it must be all right.

• 33% of the office workers think stealing from employers is widespread
  
  

• 32% either agree or strongly agree that three-fourths of the country would be unemployed if all employees who stole were fired.
  
  

• Only 46% strongly agree that making personal long-distance phone calls on an employer’s phone without permission is stealing.
  
  

• 29% strongly agree that taking pens, paper, and envelopes from the company for one’s personal use is stealing; while 10% say it is not stealing.
  
  

• And when asked how often they would feel guilty about stealing small items from an employer, only 59 percent answered always while 16 percent said seldom or never.

There is also strong evidence that middle and upper managers pilfer as much as lower level employees.

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