Mysteriously misplaced funds, suspicious computer issues, loss of proprietary information, or allegations of harassment—all of these are examples of workplace misconduct. And, although human resources departments across the country are often well-versed and equipped to handle most issues, occasionally complex incidents surface that requires partnering with experienced private investigative resources in order to find a successful solution.
But how do you know when your business might need to bring in the help of a PI? And what services can an investigator help you with?
How a PI can help you and your business
If you’ve found evidence or you suspect someone is adversely affecting your company or abusing a coworker, the situation needs to be swiftly addressed. When the suspect in question is an employee, things can get complicated fast.
Hiring an experienced third-party investigator to take on the investigation and bring it to a conclusion can be a welcome helping hand—and free up the time you need to triage the situation. An impartial, professional team can help take away some of the emotion, stress, confusion, and anger you may be feeling about the situation.
Common services that an experienced private investigator can provide for you include:
- Conduct background checks and sift through employee records. A trained PI can help you search through prospective or existing employee files to look for civil and criminal records that may impact their performance with your business.
- Perform and review surveillance (often requiring hours and hours of security footage viewing). From carefully watching video or digital security camera footage to doing security sweeps or employee monitoring—a PI can help you identify any blind spots you may have in your security coverage or issues that may be present with poor employee behavior.
- Perform computer forensics through the review of digital and/or computer data. For example: looking at software or reviewing digital records to ensure your trade secrets are protected and any proprietary data is safe.
- Detect if a theft has occurred. Your PI team will be able to suss out if a theft has happened–and also be able to help you collect evidence to support or verify the crime took place. For example, they will help you identify:
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- Inventory theft
- Supply theft
- Time theft
- Money theft
- Information theft
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- Explore allegations of discrimination, bullying, or harassment. Whether negative reports are sexual, racial, or random in nature, a professional investigator can help you identify issues and pursue positive solutions.
- Determine if fraudulent workers’ compensation is taking place or if there is insurance fraud. Fake workers’ comp and insurance claims cost businesses thousands of dollars each year. Hiring a PI can help you do the legwork to see if an employee is indeed faking a claim by looking through the suspect’s social media accounts, expenses, and more.
- Identify FMLA abuse. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) helps employees get the time and financial assistance they may need to help with the care of a family member or to manage personal health needs. But, this privilege is sometimes abused to take extra time off or work a similar job while on leave.
- Manage onsite security, repossession, and collections. Did you know that if you need to terminate an employee due to adverse behavior, a PI can help you with onsite security? Additionally, a good PI service can help you take repossession of vehicles or equipment that your business owns and also help collect funds that may be owed to you.
Building a safe workplace
Partnering with a private investigator can help you and your business create and maintain a safer space for your employees to come to work every day. Skilled PI teams will not only provide all of the services mentioned above, but they can also help you make more confident business decisions and minimize risk when it comes to hiring the right people, identifying profitable assets, and instituting optimal company services and operations.
After working with you on a solution for your specific situation, a private investigator can sit down and work with you to create a security plan for your business. Thinking ahead to any future issues, they can also map out a proactive response plan if other issues arise. Top-quality private investigators can also stay on for both short- and long-term stretches to help you institute any new systems created for you and your business.
Pilum Defense will help you keep your workers; finances, property, and assets; and valuable data or information safe and protected. Contact us today or give us a call at (303) 306-4756 to learn about our corporate investigation services and how we can help you ensure your business is not at risk. We look forward to working with you to find solutions that best match your specific needs.