If everyone said, "NO" then many of us are lying; at least according to new research. The Salt Lake Tribune just released findings from a survey conducted by Spherion Staffing Service and it turns out that nearly one in five workers has stolen office supplies during the last year.
I'm wagering that since we're of a breed who don't always admit when we're wrong; the numbers are likely higher. You can get the entire interesting scoop at the Tribune but here are a some points that were discussed.
Why would office workers steal?
Most workers may not consider one or two relatively inexpensive items taken to be 'real' theft. But the products start to add up -- say, if everyone took a pen and one pack of file folders at a typical workplace. It will eventually hurt the company financially.
Other reasons include workers perhaps blurring the lines between work and home and feeling entitled due to long workday hours.
Interesting Stats:
- Workers who make more money are more likely to steal (guess I'm safe, whew). I find this very odd. The survey showed that 23% of workers who make more than $75,000 steal but only 11% who make under $35,000 steal.
- Just 21% of workers expressed guilt over stealing.
- Younger workers (29%) were more likely to steal than their older counterparts (9%).
Personally, I frown on theft of all sorts, but office supply theft; that pretty much takes the cake.
People complain about wages, and yet, enter stealing, a common practice that will result in busting up a company's bottom line. Which of course cycles back to workers in the form of less pay. If you want to play devil's advocate, I suppose you could say that wages aren't rising fast enough no matter what; so maybe that is the chicken before the egg. Workers know they aren't going to get higher wages anyhow, so why not steal to make up for it.
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Folks are going to steal if they're going to steal. Maybe it affects workplace wages and supervisor to employee trust; maybe not. But I'm pretty sure that the karma fairy won't care about which excuse we use; with her it's all, "What goes around comes around."
What do you think? Do employees who work longer or harder have the right to steal?
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When I was working in an office where seating was rearranged all of the time and no one had his/her own desk, I hated coming in and finding that the pens I had placed in the desk I used most frequently were missing. I'd stock and restock the drawer, only to find that my favorite pens and highlighers were always missing. I started keeping a pouch of personal pens and highlighters for when I went into the office so that I would always have my own supplies - I liked my own pens better than the regular ol bic ones anyway. But it was very frustrating to always find supplies missing.
Posted by: Kimberlee Morrison | July 20, 2007 10:54 AM | Permalink to Comment