Use of polygraph for employee screening

By the subject of theft of inventory assets in retail facilities, it can be conventionally divided into three groups:

• • committed by customers (outsiders);
• • committed by employees of retail facilities;
• • committed in collusion between outsiders and employees.

Since this article primarily concerns the screening of current staff using a polygraph (lie detector), we will consider only thefts committed directly by employees of retail facilities.

The main methods of theft committed by salespeople (cashiers) include:

• • appropriation of cash from the register;
• • taking store goods without payment (also applies to security staff);
• • illegal manipulation of receipts — failing to ring up part or the full amount of goods at the register, replacing the barcode of a more expensive item with that of a cheaper one, unauthorized use of “discount” operations, cancelling a receipt after the customer has paid and subsequently appropriating the money, accepting returned goods without processing a refund through the register and then keeping the goods or their value in cash, etc.;
• • intentional damage to goods in order to later purchase them at a reduced price;
• • substitution of store goods with personal items, creating a “double turnover” of goods and thus causing financial loss to the company; this also often includes unauthorized sale of personal goods on the store premises;
• • selling goods to acquaintances at prices below the official rate;
• • consuming store products without payment (common in grocery stores);
• • unauthorized price markups on goods;
• • use of a personal discount card when processing customer transactions, and many other methods.

In many cases, such thefts are detected only during inventory audits when shortages are discovered — that is, some time after the offenses have been committed. In such situations, it is very difficult to determine who is responsible for the shortage. As a result, the entire store staff often becomes subject to suspicion, even though only one person may be involved. In these cases, a practical solution for store management is to involve a polygraph specialist (a lie detector examiner).

Polygraph testing can help quickly identify dishonest employees and also serve as a strong preventive measure within the team. The website also provides an indicative list of questions used for staff screening in retail polygraph examinations.