Employee theft is on the increase.  So is industrial espionage conducted by employees.   Cyber theft is but one component where valuable data is accessed and stolen.

It is no joke for a business to lose its proprietary data and the information it depends upon.   Now policing cybertheft could be made a little bit easier as as the court revived a lawsuit a Denver chemical company brought against one of its employees.   Allegedly, the employee stole proprietary data through his home computer.

According to the article in the Denver Post…Wednesday’s decision may make it easier for U.S. companies to crack down on alleged computer theft that occurs in remote locations, including outside the country. In recent years, U.S. courts increasingly have dealt with cases involving downloads of corporate information by employees, both in criminal cases brought by prosecutors and civil cases filed by companies.”

Conducting background checks on new hires and current employees may help root out potential interlopers.  In these cases you are not only looking for criminal records but for civil and criminal issues that while not directly related my indicate substance abuse or other tendencies toward desperate behavior.  Domestic issues, incumbent with financial issues, can often be at the top of the list.  The thing is, get on it early.   If you wait before reviewing, then your company may be in the headlines for stories you would just as soon avoid.

We all know how natural disaster and disaster in other forms can adversely affect the workplace.  We often don’t realize how badly the workplace can be affected until there is an actual disaster.  The key is to prepare for possible disaster so that you will incur less damage and can recover much more quickly.    The less damage you sustain and the faster your recovery is the key to maintaining your business.

Management Today provides some excellent insight regarding the best way to prepare for the eventualities of a disaster.  Kate Russell is the MD of Russell HR Consulting , is the author of the article.  Here are some ideas from her article…

“Back in the workplace, organisations need to give detailed thought and plan in advance to prepare for disasters. To lead your business back to work with maximum effectiveness you need to prepare yourself and your employees. Your ‘Disaster Recovery Plan’ should be put together by representatives of the entire organisation and carried out in several iterations to ensure rigour and completeness.

1.     Identify the fullest list you can imagine of serious risk to the business. Assign a probability rating to each risk and assess the likely level of severity.

2.     Against each risk decide what your plan of recovery action is and what resources you will need in place to enable the recovery.

3.     You will need to identify stages within the process i.e. action in immediate aftermath of the disaster; action in the following weeks; action in the following months.

4.     Identify what business functions will need to be resumed and in what order. You will need to identify which employees are key to achieving this.

5.     Test the plan. The emergency services hold periodic disaster practice sessions to ensure that in the event of an unusual emergency that things run as well as possible. We saw evidence of considerable success in the London bombings in July 2005. Lessons still have to be refined, but in general the plans worked well.

6.     Make sure all critical personnel are well briefed, trained and regularly tested in their specific roles. Keep records of test results.

7.     Brief, train and rehearse staff so that they all know what to do in the event of an emergency.

8.     Audit and review the plan and update as necessary.

Having clear policies and guidelines, training and testing employees in what behavior is expected of them in these circumstances can go a long way towards making sure your disaster recovery plan works effectively.

Hundreds of businesses have been sunk by disasters, both natural and man made. Your workplace might be destroyed, and your technology pummeled but with preparation and knowledge you can save your employees and your business.”

 

No employee is happy about being fired.    Who would in these times where the economy is still sluggish and decent jobs are difficult to find. Some take their firing  with good grace, and some feel their being fired  is unwarranted or harsh and become agitated and voice their feelings of betrayal and abandonment.

And then there are some that snap out and turn violent.  In most instances it is some momentary rage, kicking over the trashcan, sweeping equipment from their desks.   A violent outburst that is still somewhat constrained and fades quickly as the now former employee storms out the door, determined to describe for their managers just what they have thought of them.

An article from CBS Minnesota encourages employers to have a formal protocol established as the means of firing employees.   According to  the article, Dan Seman, CEO of Avalon Security, advises it is ill advised to terminate an employee off the cuff.   Seman advises to have plain clothes security on site who will escort the terminate employee to his car.   He advises that the employee should not be permitted to return to his office.

According to the article…”“I think often times employees aren’t so easy to predict,” said Dr. Kelly Wilson, a forensic psychologist with PsyBar….The only way, usually, that an employer finds out about those things is if they have an environment where employees feel comfortable enough to say something,” Wilson said.

Careful termination planning and protocol can greatly minimize the chance for violence erupting at an employee’s firing.”

Social media background checks as part of an employment screening process has long been a controversial subject.  There are questions about the distinction between the eccentric personality and the prospective employee who might not be a good fit for the employer.  One employee’s wild night on the town in a certain city may not bear the consequences as another employee in a different, more conservative part of the country.

But I have also seen with social media background screening distinctive negatives.  This is where employees cast serious aspersions on their  employers and on their managers.  I have seen, frankly, some really stupid stuff.  I have also read social media background checks where the subject expresses some serious violent behavior.  Given all the workplace violence, it may be prudent to have pause before hiring an applicant who writes in social media that he hates women or a certain race or lifestyle.   With this, we are not talking about someone’s biases, but some truly ugly stuff.

All that being said, California has passed a strict social media privacy law.  It is a good law.  It is now illegal in California for an employer ask for passwords and access to an employee’s social media accounts.  Not passwords for Facebook or Twitter, or anything else.

I have written about social media background checks before.  One informative article is entitled, “Some Things for Employers to Follow When Conducting Social Media Searches.”

According to the article in security info watch….”The two laws — SB 1349 from Yee and AB 1844 from Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose — overwhelmingly passed the Legislature in late August and had broad support from employee unions, technology companies and consumer groups.

But some securities firms that are charged with overseeing business communications opposed the bills, saying it would restrict them from monitoring whether an employee is using a personal account to communicate about the company.

“The securities industry has absolutely no interest in accessing employee accounts that are used exclusively for personal use,” said Andrew DeSouza, spokesman for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. “We believe that a personal social media account that is used for business purposes must be treated as a business account.”

Realize that the law does not prevent employers or universities from looking over any social media pages that are made public.  The better social media software does that and limits background checks to public information only.