Client Problem: Bartender Reported to Cause Major Inventory Shrinkage for Alleged Employee Theft
- Omani Bar owner notices great shrinkage on his liquor inventory.
- A waiter reported an alleged employee theft by a bartender before the owner with eyewitness accounts.
- The Omani employer has no idea how to reprimand the bartender’s different form of theft.
Rensol’s Solution: Provide HR Solutions, Investigation Assistance, Disciplinary Action
- Prior to the assistance sought by the bar owner, the partner Philippine recruitment agency recommended an investigation with respect to the right to privacy and respect for reputation.
- Upon confirmation, Rensol assisted the Omani employer in reprimanding the bartender, and in imposing a just disciplinary action against the accused employee as provided in Art. 145 of the Revised POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Land-based Overseas Filipino Workers of 2016.
For bar and restaurants, theft doesn’t just involve sneaking out of stocks outside an establishment’s premises, a simple free drink to a friend is already theft, and when it becomes a habitual practice from one of your staff, it may result to a greater dilemma of inventory shrinkage.
As for bar owners, a bartender could steal from you in various ways even if not resorting to bagging of liquor inside their boots. These various ways are the undetectable ones and if left ignored over time, it could be a crippling financial loss that may hurt your business.
Shrinkage is the mismatch between the actual inventory and net sales that is primarily due to employee theft or fraud. Even with the most skilled and most loved bartender in your bar, one may commit the kind of theft you will never expect.
Case in Point: Just Drink Don’t Sink
An Omani bar owner has been suffering great financial loss for a few months due to an apparent inventory shrinkage for a reason he can’t identify. Based on a surveillance camera, there is no sneaking out of bottles that had transpired. He has been totally clueless on how imbalance on sales and inventory happened until a waiter came out in the open to tell what he has been seeing for a long time.
The bartender hired from the Philippines was alleged to be stealing from him in an odd way. Based on eyewitness accounts of the waiter, the Filipino bartender has this crazy tactic in order to pocket cash and to have extra income from customers. He said that the bartender dilutes water to shots of liquor served to produce more shots out of it. He substitutes a lower brand of liquor for an order of premium liquor shots, he shrinks servings into two shot glasses, and he even brings his own bottles of liquor to be served.
The bar owner was shocked that this kind of misbehavior contributed greatly to the bar’s financial status. He has entirely no idea on how to classify this kind of theft and on how to solve issues like this in his workplace. With claims he had received from the waiter, he sought Rensol’s expertise on what to do next to the employee the agency has deployed.
Rensol’ Intervention
Rensol believes that in cases like this, the employer should take note of due processes and an employee’s right to privacy and respect for his reputation.
Rensol recommended conducting an investigation via surveillance. Rensol asked him to send some assets to observe their foreign bartender. This type of surveillance does not violate the employee’s right to privacy as its workplace is a public place. It was done for a couple of nights to ensure that the integrity of the employee was protected against intrusive investigation or wrongful accusation.
It was confirmed that the bartender has been robbing the bar blindly night in and night out. The staff committed a willful breach of trust and confidence against his bar employer. Such acts of dishonesty or fraud may not be sanctionable directly to dismissal, the ultimate of all penalties, but a just disciplinary action would already suffice.
It may not be Rensol’s responsibility to reprimand deployed employees but the agency guided the bar owner with principles of proportionality to take the bartender’s conduct into account. Rensol assisted in discussing the problem with the bar staff. With an evident expression of remorse from the bartender, the owner was convinced to reprimand him only with a justifiable suspension for a week without pay.
With Rensol’s above and beyond promise to all our clients, we assure them that problems like this will be resolved hand in hand with our established best practices in human resource management and consulting.
ABOUT THE COMPANY: Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. is the fastest growing recruitment agency in The Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.
A product of the University of Santo Tomas College of Law, Bryan joins Rensol team to aid in its human resource management and legal processes. His strong background in civil law, his intensive experience working for a private law firm, and his being well-versed with the technicalities on existing policies and regulations surrounding overseas employment and ethical recruitment preserves the company on the legal track with all its many endeavors.
