Monitoring Field Staff by Detectives

Checking Suspicious Employees

Germany is, by European and global standards, a country with both very high living standards and a high employment rate: in March 2016, 43.172 million people were employed, representing an employment rate of nearly 53 percent of the current 81.9 million inhabitants. This is a clearly positive sign given the still unresolved refugee crisis and numerous job cuts, although apparently not all employees value it equally.

 

The corporate detectives of Kurtz Investigations Nuremberg are increasingly employed to monitor field staff who have either made themselves conspicuous through unusually high expense claims or inappropriate working hours, and whose offences are generally confirmed in the course of our investigations. Such breaches of the employment contract naturally constitute a serious breach of trust against the employer, as field staff are entrusted with extensive responsibility and a high degree of autonomy in handling their cases. While at fixed office workplaces it is quickly noticed if regular coffee breaks exceed 20 minutes, it is considerably more difficult for HR or management to oversee and validate the actual weekly hours of field staff – our private detectives from Nuremberg assist with such verification throughout Franconia, Bavaria, and Germany: +49 911 3782 0154.

Payment Without Performance + Loss of Assignments and Customers

Field staff carry significant responsibility for the actual completion of their working hours; temptations such as extending lunch breaks by half an hour on a pleasant spring day or claiming personal restaurant visits outside working hours as expenses occur repeatedly. Even though no reliable data exists regarding the ratio of contractual to actual working hours of an average field staff member (any survey would hardly yield honest responses), our Nuremberg detectives’ case experience confirms that many employees working off-site like to round up their timesheets and expense claims. They start work later, finish earlier, or sometimes do not work at all.

 

Especially in a commercially productive city such as Nuremberg, such behaviour translates over a year into significant financial losses: employees paid by the hour extract undue sums from the company while their timesheet fraud results in fewer customers being acquired and, consequently, lower revenue. The company is thus doubly affected, while the field staff member benefits from gained free time and ill-gotten money.

Procedure for Suspicious Timesheets

Do you have one or more employees who are supposed to work off-site but increasingly draw your attention with suspicious hours or expense claims? Do you feel that one of your field staff is noticeably less successful compared with other employees, resulting in revenue losses? Have you confronted the relevant individuals with your suspicions but received only excuses and superficial explanations?

 

In such cases, contact the private detectives of Kurtz Detective Agency Nuremberg for comprehensive personal advice on possible approaches. Whether your field staff member is fully responsible for planning their working hours or follows a fixed schedule, observation over several working days is recommended to remove all doubts. The employee is discreetly monitored from the beginning to the end of the workday by one or more of our Nuremberg detectives, with any contract violations documented photographically and thus admissible in court.

Not All Field Staff Are Automatically Timesheet Fraudsters – Case-by-Case Observation Permitted

Where there are substantiated suspicions, the motto "trust is good, control is better" should apply to prevent company losses and revenue shortfalls. As noted above, financial losses are doubled when employees shamelessly exploit the goodwill and trust of their supervisors while enjoying an early, employer-sponsored end-of-day drink.

 

Of course, not every single field staff member may be monitored arbitrarily to prevent timesheet or expense fraud; employee privacy is to be respected and considered more important than the employer’s interests, as long as no suspicious behaviour occurs. However, if employees repeatedly produce astonishing and sometimes contradictory reports that do not correspond to the data of the clients/customers allegedly or actually served, Kurtz Private Detective Agency Nuremberg may intervene and monitor the suspicious employees. Our detectives work professionally and effectively; all evidence is admissible in court, can be used in claims for damages against field staff, and – in the case of contract breaches – may lead to the conviction of the fraudulent employee.

Extreme Case: Customer Poaching by Field Staff

As if breaches of trust and contractual violations were not enough, employers may face even greater damage: beyond excessive wage payments and revenue losses, a field staff member may secretly offer company services in client meetings for personal gain, or poach long-standing clients for a privately operated business. This harms the company far more than falsified timesheets or expense claims, as losing valuable clients unexpectedly is among the hardest blows for any business owner. In such cases, the employee commits a criminal offence to such an extent that, besides summary dismissal, a contractual damages payment – typically several thousand euros – may be required, along with detective fees and any expected revenue losses.

 

The criminal mentality that aims to achieve the most money and/or free time with the least effort regularly causes companies losses in the millions. The deployment of our corporate detectives in Regensburg, Bayreuth, Nuremberg, or Amberg is therefore not only recommended but necessary if fraudulent field staff are to be caught in the act, ensuring affected companies receive fair compensation. After all, the German economy is Europe’s strongest and should remain so. In case of need, contact our detectives in Nuremberg for non-binding information on our procedures and fees: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-nuernberg.de.

Author: Maya Grünschloß, PhD

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Nuremberg

Äußere Bayreuther Straße 59

D-90409 Nuremberg

Tel.: +49 911 3782 0154

Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-nuernberg.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-nuernberg.de/en

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