Case Study: Personal Use of Office Supplies

ZA and MN work in a large healthcare practice. They do different jobs but have become close friends. They take lunch breaks together and have started doing things outside of work together. They talk about everything, including what the make, performance evaluations, and when they do or don’t get raises. They are solid employees. They enjoy their jobs for the most part, but both feel undercompensated. Because of these feelings, they started using and taking supplies from the office for personal use. It started small but, over time, grew to a substantial amount. The office administrator uncovered that they were using office printers for personal use and taking supplies including pens, paper, Band-Aids, batteries, tape, and paper products. The office administrator had to address the problem directly with ZA and MN, who were terminated for this petty theft.

Diagnosis: Stolen office supplies

Recommendations:

• Include in the employee handbook that supplies are not to be taken home and make sure that this is reviewed with each employee
• Keep an eye out for theft of practice supplies, and stop the behavior immediately so it does not spread
• Periodically review how supplies are being used by tracking inventory and purchase orders
• See our checklist on Using Accounting Policies to Prevent Embezzlement 

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