One in 10 retail employees has committed a crime or failed to report a crime committed by colleagues against their employer in the last 12 months, reveals new research by G4S Secure Solutions.

 

The most common crime committed by retail employees was consuming produce without paying for it, with an estimated 110,000 workers secretly stealing consumables. More than 55,000 retail employees admit to stealing cash from the till and almost 31,000 have stolen cash from another area of the retail outlet such as a cash office, or petty cash box.

 

The findings reveal that those working in the retail industry have also turned a blind eye to crimes being committed against their employer.

 

Around 37,000 people say they have not reported a friend or family member deliberately putting weighed items through a self-scan checkout on a cheaper product code, and more than 30,000 have turned a blind eye to friends or family failing to scan items at a self-scan checkout.

 

Douglas Greenwell, sales and marketing director at G4S, said: "Retailers often have a very high staff turnover and recruit significant volumes of casual and temporary workers, so it is difficult for them to screen and vet all the people they employ effectively."