Not everything can be verified with a lie detector

However, it should be noted that a polygraph cannot be used to clarify questions that are formulated as doubtful or speculative in their nature, for example: “Are you capable of betraying the company?”, “While working at the company, will you steal?”, or “Are you prone to theft?”, and so on.

In order to assess employees for “loyalty” (or reliability), polygraph testing should be organized along the following main directions:

• • illegal income (this topic allows verification of involvement in fraudulent activities, running parallel businesses using employer resources, concealment of revenue, receiving bribes or kickbacks, etc.);
• • illegal earnings (this topic allows verification of fraudulent activities, running parallel business operations, committing embezzlement and theft; this includes questions about stealing both colleagues’ personal property and company assets).
• • disclosure of confidential information (this is one of the most important topics, allowing verification of cooperation with competitors or other individuals undesirable for the company, as well as the illegal use or sale of information from databases, etc.);
• • submission of false reporting information to management (this issue is particularly relevant for employees whose bonus payments directly depend on their performance indicators, although other motives for deception are also possible).

Polygraph testing using the above-mentioned questions allows for a full assessment of an employee’s reliability. In addition, conducting lie detector tests on even one or several employees will undoubtedly have a significant preventive effect on other members of the team.