Pens get misplaced every day and post-its disappear before the pad is ever fully used. As much as we’d like to blame it on handsy fae folk or the Other Place swallowing these items up whole, it’s likely a case of workplace theft. A new employee theft survey found that 67% of employees have committed at least one type of theft at their current jobs, with 41% admitting that they had stolen from their employers in more ways than one.
These “ways” refer to the fact that theft is not always of physical objects but time as well, with many admitting to taking care of personal responsibilities during work hours.
Now preventing workplace theft may not be the first responsibility you think of when you consider HR’s role in the workplace. However, employee management is employee management, and sometimes you have to confront the realities of work and face the problem head-on. Theft prevention in 2025 becomes more complex when you remember that some of it is occurring as a form of silent rebellion against employers. A gentle but firm approach must lead the way this year.
Tackling workplace theft isn’t about scaring workers into submission—understanding the cause is the way to finding a solution. (Image: Freepik)
Is Workplace Theft a Serious Problem in 2025?
The employee theft trend is not a new one and we’re sure most workers have taken home an extra snack or two from their work. Recent employee trends of quiet cracking have further proven that workers are rebelling against employers in small ways, taking home more than their fair share of office snacks and supplies just to show their frustration at having to come to the office.
Undoing all of these RTO policies and just letting employees work from home may be the easiest theft prevention strategy in 2025, but it’s not the best excuse to convince employers that workers are better off working from home.
Before we get to solutions, let’s understand the results of the employee theft survey a little better.
Employee Theft Trend—What Do the Numbers Say?
A survey by Business.com found that 67% of employees have committed some form of theft at work, with 41% having stolen in more ways than one. The “theft” here doesn’t exclusively refer to office supplies, although 27% did admit to stealing items like paper clips, pens, printer paper, toiletries, and folders.
Around 54% of workers admitted to tackling personal tasks during company time, taking care of their cooking, cleaning, and sleeping while they’re logged into work. Some reported longer breaks than they were allowed, while others took time off from work without approval. Now you see why getting rid of in-person isn’t really a solution to the problem.
The survey also reported that 3% of employees offered customers unauthorized discounts or free services and another 3% used company vehicles for their own needs.
When it comes to the theft of money, managers were twice as likely to steal it compared to non-managers. The employee theft survey also looked into employee honesty about working hours, reporting that 24% of workers overreported or manipulated the number of hours they worked. That’s 4.5 hours of time stolen per week.
Theft Prevention in 2025—What Will It Take?
The workplace theft data makes it clear that the problem isn’t about a handful of paperclips and a few sheaves of paper—employees are likely to “rob” the company of productivity or use their work hours for other tasks. The survey explained that there is a significant section of the workforce that steals to “settle a score” with their employers, but that is only one of the reasons why such trends might occur.
Some do it because they have very little time off to handle their personal tasks and others sidle off to take care of their mental health or work-life balance because their jobs don’t guarantee it. The workplace culture is also to blame, where the rules are so lax that workers know they can get away with anything quite easily. A strict, overly supervised workplace is not the solution but some guidelines are necessary for any organization to function.
For financial theft, it is essential to set some checks in place by overseeing the transactions, closely watching the inventory, reviewing the deals made with customers, etc. Employers can also be more present in the lives of the employees, to create a more serious and committed attitude towards work.
Handling Employee Theft May Be About Worker Satisfaction
The employee theft survey makes it clear that employees are not happy with their employers or their employment conditions. Whether employees work at the office or at home, there is theft of some kind taking place under all conditions. Using cameras and employee monitoring tools may sound like a good idea in theory, but it will only evoke further dissatisfaction and rebellion of some other form. If you replace workers with new hires, they will likely follow the same tradition as their predecessors given enough time on the job.
Better regulation is essential—workers always perform better under some form of supervision in a structured work environment—but it might be time to rethink how we calculate productivity. If employees are able to meet their targets and function like effective members of the organization, then it may be okay to overlook some habits as part of the new “era” of work.
Employees who have flexible work conditions and are not penalized for making use of them will be more easily able to handle their personal responsibilities outside of working hours. With more manageable workloads, employees will have fewer reasons to manipulate their time on the job just to keep additional tasks off their plate. Handing workplace theft may feel like a very minor part of HR’s job, but it ties into many other areas of an employee’s performance on the job.
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