Stop,
Thief!

Computer/Paper Trails Stop Employee Theft

Editor’s Note: A “Help Wanted” sign in your salon’s window will bring in people looking for a job; but who’s there to help tanning pros with the many issues that come with hiring and maintaining employees? IST, that’s who! With help from some seasoned salon veterans, this feature series will address many issues that tanning operators face each day – who to hire, who not to hire, how to handle employee theft, it’s all here, and more. Look for future Help Wanted features in the months to come!

Whether stealing tanning products or giving their friends free sessions, some em ployees will always find a way to cheat you out of your hard-earned money. But how do you know which of your “devoted team members” might be thieves? As one salon professional discovered, it takes a two-pronged approach to pinpoint the scams of unscrupulous employees.

As most salon operators know, there are almost as many ways for employees to steal from you, as there are employees to do it. Not that they all do – it’s just that those who are pilfering your profits ruin it for everyone else, in terms of mistrusting your team. Salon owners looking to stop employee theft need a way to catch a guilty party without punishing those innocent staff members who might happen to also work during

the culprit’s shift. The way to do this, according to one salon owner who’s had success with it, is to utilize the data provided by a salon software program in conjunction with detailed written forms.

A few years ago, Bob Flickinger decided it was time to install salon management software at his business – Sunset Lane Tanning in Wooster, OH. His reason: he suspected certain employees of one of the tanning industry’s most common forms of theft – allowing their friends to tan for free. After installing the popular salon software program, he and his manager, Julie Stillwagner, began noticing some disturbing trends involving the staff members in question.

“When we began comparing the written documentation with the computer data, we noticed that although the employees were writing certain members’ names on the sign-in sheets, they weren’t entering a session for them on the computer,” Julie recalled. “When we confronted them, we discovered that they were allowing a couple of their friends to tan for free.” The employees in question eventually quit their jobs, in large part due to being caught in this incident. Since then, Julie and Bob have also networked their software directly with the equipment timers, thus preventing staff from bypassing the computer system and operating the tanning units manually.

This experience was an eye-opener for salon manager Julie Stillwagner. She was glad that she and her boss were able to figure out what was going on and put a stop to it. They would have never been able to do this, she says, were it not for the combination of detailed written forms and effective salon software. “Salon software is simply a must for tanning pros these days because of everything it allows you to control,” she explained. “If there’s ever any kind of questionable transaction, you can easily access the data to look into the situation further, and most programs are designed to flag things that salon owners and managers should be aware of. But it’s just as important to keep written records of everything, too, as a way of creating a paper trail to compare with the computer data.”