Retail register for dishonest staff
June 20, 2008
A new register has been set up that is intended to assist retail companies reduce losses incurred by dishonest staff, which apparently costs the industry up more than £2billion a year from things like theft and fraud. The register has been set up by a partnership between the Home Office and The British Retail Consortium called Action Against Business Crime (AABC), and organisations such as Harrods and Selfridges are said to have already signed up.
The register, which went live at the end of May, will contain information about people who have left employment in the retail industry as a result of actions they have taken that could cost the employer money. So this would include people who have been dismissed, or those who left of their own accord but were under suspicion of an illegal act concerning money. It doesn’t take a genius to work out the problems with this scheme before it’s even got off the ground, and it’s no wonder Human Rights Groups and Trade Unions have already expressed their concern about the database. It’s completely at odds with the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ concept because of the inclusion of people who haven’t actually been dismissed for anything. Also, the statutory dismissal procedure, which should ensure that staff members get a fair hearing if they are accused of misconduct and involves a detailed investigation, does not apply to staff who have not had a year’s continuous service. So there may be occasions where staff have been dismissed without a fair investigation, and then end up not being able to get another job because they’re on the register.
Another important point is the management and policing of all this highly sensitive information. We’ve hardly gone a month this year without a Government ‘lost information’ cock up, and there have been major problems in the past with a similar database; that of the Criminal Records Bureau.
Clearly, AABC needs to try to do something about the issue of retail crime, but I don’t think this database is the right answer. Retail giants have a variety of ways in which they tackle shoplifting and other crimes by the public, and I think the money and time invested in this database would be better spent working with retail chains to come up with ways of adapting these methods for employees.
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