Any business is like a baby that needs a lot of nourishment and care. You invest money and acquire assets to let you earn returns. However, your employees and others might handle the resources that well.
It is often disappointing to see that the employees you care about are not as loyal to you as you think. You should not let the employees misuse the assets that you have purchased for your business. The best way to stop theft is to ensure you do not provide them with an opportunity in the first place.
Your fleet is one of your company’s most important classes of assets. This article enlists how your employees can get involved in car theft. Whatever we have mentioned in our article does not discredit the efforts of any employee. It lets the owner have better control over the business processes.
Unauthorized usage
One of the most common examples of vehicle theft is unauthorized usage. This means your employees often think using your vehicle for their work is acceptable. Your drivers might change the route when bored to enjoy the scenery. The route might be longer than the route they usually take, so it will ultimately cost your business. Moreover, drivers might also use your company’s vehicles for personal chores.
An unauthorized usage is a form of car theft because the fuel is wasted on something that does not benefit your business. Additionally, using your vehicle for other activities makes it more vulnerable to theft. This authorized usage is of two kinds. Your staff might use your vehicle for another side work or job that is their alternate source of income.
Another method includes providing customers with under-the-table services. This means that your resources (the car and fuel) are used to provide your customers with services, but the revenue is not disclosed to you, and payment goes into your pocket.
This will have an impact on your business and will taint the reputation that you have earned over the years. You must know where your drivers are and why they are moving to stop this. You can correlate the movement with each order that they have fulfilled. This is possible only if you have installed a GPS car tracking device in your vehicles.
Time padding
Time padding means when your employees charge you for hours, they do not do their job. There are instances where your employees are late to work or leave early, but they mention the wrong timings on the time sheets.
Normally drivers do conservative time padding, adding a few minutes here and there. However, this conservative time padding adds up to around 4 to 5 hours weekly. The amounts add up to an even larger number, costing you thousands of dollars.
Time-padding culture is devastating for your business, especially because the drivers usually have the leverage to do it. Drivers are mostly on the field, so knowing when they come and go is hard. This leverage might also induce them into aggressive time padding, which is even worse.
Time padding is not considered a type of car theft, especially because fuel consumption and vehicle usage are not involved. However, it involves higher payment of salaries to the drivers, so your finances are impacted in the end,
You should install a GPS car tracking system to ensure you know when your driver has reached to perform his job and when he has left for home. A GPS Car tracker company will let you generate comparatively accurate timesheets. You can then take disciplinary action against the culprit and reward the ones with more hours.
Vehicle and equipment theft
The vehicles you use in your business and the equipment you place inside them are valuable. You should know that valuable stuff is vulnerable to theft. Your employees might be the ones that are stealing the equipment without you knowing when it happened.
According to various research, equipment theft is on the rise. People tend to steal and sell the equipment because companies do not record and monitor them that effectively. Another factor contributing to this problem is rising inflation, where people find it hard to make ends meet. Some equipment might cost more than a grand.
GS car tracking system is the collusion to this problem, especially when the tracking company provides you with the luxury of creating a tab for each piece of equipment. You can trace where each piece of equipment is and when someone has misappropriated it. It is not hard to control the movement of the vehicle and equipment. However, you have to be smart with it.
Rash driving
Rash driving does not qualify as vehicle theft like other things mentioned in our article. Rash driving includes instances where the driver over speeds or applies harsh brakes. This might not result in a monetary outflow or direct loss of equipment. However, rash driving does reduce the life of your vehicle fleet. Otherwise, you will have to spend more on repair and maintenance in the future.
Rash driving has more indirect impacts on your company. This can impair your company’s reputation and might also result in penalties from the police or other authorities. Your employees are the custodians of your assets. They have the responsibility to use vehicles properly.
GPS car tracking systems can ensure a better driving routine followed by your driver. The tracking system records the average speed and the manner in which the car is stopped or accelerated. You can avoid many problems by just making a small investment in the GPS car tracking system.