The UK, as arguably the world's first commercially developed nation, is regarded by social historians as the birthplace of modern shoplifting.
By 1726, the crime had become so prevalent that London shop-owners were appealing to the government for help in apprehending offenders. And in 1800, the world's first recorded trial of a "respectable" shoplifter, Jane Leigh- Perrot, took place in Bath (she was acquitted): a well-to-do, middle-class woman and an aunt of Jane Austen.
So, with centuries of pilfering across every social class, you'd think the UK's Christmas shopping spree would also see the nation's light-fingered minority setting the pace for global thievery.
Well, the glad tidings from the 2011 Global Retail Theft Barometer are that British crooks are not the world leaders they once were - with "shrinkage" rates in the UK ranking 26th out of 40 countries surveyed. Because, in the same way UK criminals led the world into retail felony, UK loss prevention specialists have led the way in keeping their unlawful actions in check.
The success of these specialists has come in part through reminding the law-abiding majority retail crime is neither victimless nor petty. The Global Barometer points out that this year £4.9 billion will be stolen from UK stores - losses that, ultimately, will have to be met through higher prices at the checkout.
It also shows proactive investment in loss prevention is keeping this down to 1.4% of total retail spending. This goes beyond CCTV and store detectives, to a level of sophistication that is reaching out of the high street and into the C-Suite. This becomes clear when you look at the key components of retail "shrinkage".
Global Retail Theft Barometer shows that although 44% of retail losses in the UK are due to shoplifting and 8% to supply-chain issues, the remaining 48% are a combination of employee error, theft and fraud - which can happen in any firm.
In July, US business researcher, the Conference Board, produced a report, Managing Human Capital Risk, which says most companies omit employee risk altogether or focus on a narrow range of questions, such as succession planning and the leadership pipeline. They conclude HR practitioners need to be more actively engaged in risk management. This is supported by John Jones, chief scientist, HR division, Vangent. "Major firms must hire productive personnel," Jones says, "but it is important they recognise threats from high-risk employees and only hire and promote those who have no predisposition to engage in counterproductive or criminally deviant workplace behaviours."
The key word here is 'predisposition'. Jones says employees with a predisposition to dishonest behaviour are six times more likely to engage in criminality against their employer when put under stress. This impacts on the bottom line and on the reputation and overall competitiveness of an organisation.
Jones and his team are leading the way in the creation of validated assessment tools and surveys to help organisations hire an honest workforce and develop a pipeline of high-integrity leadership. These are the tools and surveys I believe stakeholders - and the moral majority of employees - will be demanding to make greater use of in future.
So I would like to raise a Yuletide toast to those unsung heroes: loss prevention specialists. They aren't just helping keep the cost of Christmas shopping a bit lower for us all, but may be pointing the way to greater honesty and integrity in every workplace.
Cheers!
