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How Entrepreneurs Can Fortify Their Startups Against Fraud

Businesses that neglect workplace fraud detection are leaving themselves open to catastrophic losses

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employee fraud

Fraud in the workplace is a problem of gigantic proportions. Everything from a little light skimming of the cash register to fraud at a corporate level represents extreme risks that organizations need to guard against.

While each industry has unique risks that it must mitigate against, there are plenty of common threats that a robust and structured anti-fraud policy can help prevent.

Understanding these risks and how to protect your business against them is a critical step in mitigating fraudulent employee risks.

Workplace Fraud: Understanding the Risks

Let’s be clear, understanding the size of the problem will not make pleasant reading. However, it is essential to read because knowing the size and scope of the problem is a vital first step to mitigating the risk.

The challenges that employee fraud raises are often in line with e-commerce fraud trends. But there are plenty of areas where they differ and detection methods and how businesses defend against it differ accordingly.

But how big is the problem? Well, huge if the latest Association of Certified Fraud Examiners report into occupational fraud is to be believed. To illustrate the size of the problem we only need to list a few of the key takeaways from the report:

  • Duration and loss: An average fraud case will go undetected for 12 months and cause a median loss of $117,000.
  • Revenue loss: The report estimates that 5% of all revenue is lost to occupational fraud.
  • Fraud types: Asset misappropriation (theft in common parlance) accounts for 86% of all employee fraud. Other high-rankers include corruption and financial statement fraud.
  • Department: Four departments (accounting, upper management/executive, sales, and operations) accounted for half of all employee fraud.

The report does make a grim reading. But there are plenty of positives to take from it. The most notable is the improvement in these statistics among organizations with strong anti-fraud procedures in place.

Strategies to Mitigate Fraudulent Employee Risks

It is obviously necessary to stop fraud that can disrupt the customer experience. However, the problem of employee fraud should not be overlooked at its expense. The potential scale of workplace fraud means robust measures are needed to protect an organization from “insider” fraud.

Some of the most successful measures for workplace fraud prevention are detailed below.

1. Implementing a Strong Ethical Culture

This is more important than it may appear at first glance. But a strong ethical culture that encourages employees to voice their concerns is an incredibly potent anti-fraud measure.

The importance of this is emphasized by a single statistic – 42% of workplace frauds are detected by tip-offs. This is three times as many cases as the next most common method.

Workplace culture should promote honesty, integrity, and transparency. It should also make employees feel that their concerns are listened to and taken seriously.

2. Smart Security Technology

While cybersecurity is absolutely critical, physical building security systems and measures are an essential component in protecting against fraud in the workplace. Theft, or “asset misappropriation”, is the number one threat that workplace fraud poses. Physical security measures such as the examples listed below can substantially lower the risk of theft:

  • Smart security cameras: A modern no business video surveillance system that utilizes the latest business camera technologies can act as a deterrent as well as catch perpetrators red-handed. The latest generation includes features such as high-resolution imaging, night vision, cloud-based remote systems, and the integration of AI.
  • Smart access control systems: The latest generation of smart access control and fob entry systems can easily be integrated with companion technologies like business surveillance systems and alarm systems.

Physical security is an essential part of an integrated security policy, it can radically reduce workplace theft and other forms of employee fraud.

3. Regular Audits and Surprise Checks

Again, these can act both as a deterrent and an effective method of detecting fraud. Surprise audits and checks deter fraud by serving as a reminder that regular monitoring for irregularities is undertaken.

It also ensures transparency and accountability making it more difficult for fraud to go unnoticed. This is important as the average duration of fraud is a year – and a lot of damage can be done in 12 months.

A proactive policy of regular audits supported by surprise checks can significantly reduce the opportunity, and the willingness, to perpetrate fraud in the workplace.

4. Employee Education and Awareness Programs

Finally, employee education and training can play a crucial role. With 42% of all workplace fraud uncovered by tip-offs, an educated workforce that understands the risks and the warning flags of fraudulent behavior can be an added line of defense.

It also helps to promote a workplace culture that is open, transparent, and more resistant to employee fraud.

An Inside Job: Mitigating Employee Fraud

Businesses that neglect workplace fraud detection are leaving themselves open to massive, potentially catastrophic, losses. However, being forearmed is forewarned, and much can be done to mitigate the risks.

A combination of smart technology in the form of business surveillance systems, an ethical culture that promotes openness, and robust auditing procedures can greatly reduce a business’s exposure to workplace fraud.

With 5% of all annual revenue lost to employee fraud, investing in robust internal fraud controls is a smart investment.

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Entrepreneurs

The Leadership Shift Every Company Needs in 2025

Struggling to keep your team engaged? Here’s how leaders can turn frustrated employees into loyal advocates.

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Bridging the gap between employees and employers
Image Credit: Midjourney

In workplaces around the world, there’s a growing gap between employers and employees and between superiors and their teams. It’s a common refrain: “People don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.”

While there are, of course, cases where management could do better, this isn’t just a “bad boss” problem. The relationship between leaders and employees is complex. Instead of assigning blame, we should explore practical solutions to build stronger, healthier workplaces where everyone thrives.

Why This Gap Exists

Every workplace needs someone to guide, supervise, and provide feedback. That’s essential for productivity and performance. But because there are usually far more employees than managers, dissatisfaction, fair or not, spreads quickly.

What if, instead of focusing on blame, we focused on building trust, empathy, and communication? This is where modern leadership and human-centered management can make a difference.

Tools and Techniques to Bridge the Gap

Here are proven strategies leaders and employees can use to foster stronger relationships and create a workplace where people actually want to stay.

1. Practice Mutual Empathy

Both managers and employees need to recognize they are ultimately on the same team. Leaders have to balance people and performance, and often face intense pressure to hit targets. Employees who understand this reality are more likely to cooperate and problem-solve collaboratively.

2. Maintain Professional Boundaries

Superiors should separate personal issues from professional decision-making. Consistency, fairness, and integrity build trust, and trust is the foundation of a motivated team.

3. Follow the Golden Rule

Treat people how you would like to be treated. This simple principle encourages compassion and respect, two qualities every effective leader must demonstrate.

4. Avoid Micromanagement

Micromanaging stifles creativity and damages morale. Great leaders see themselves as partners, not just bosses, and treat their teams as collaborators working toward a shared goal.

5. Empower Employees to Grow

Empowerment means giving employees responsibility that matches their capacity, and then trusting them to deliver. Encourage them to take calculated risks, learn from mistakes, and problem-solve independently. If something goes wrong, turn it into a learning opportunity, not a reprimand.

6. Communicate in All Directions

Communication shouldn’t just be top-down. Invite feedback, create open channels for suggestions, and genuinely listen to what your people have to say. Healthy upward communication closes gaps before they become conflicts.

7. Overcome Insecurities

Many leaders secretly fear being outshone by younger, more tech-savvy employees. Instead of resisting, embrace the chance to learn from them. Humility earns respect and helps the team innovate faster.

8. Invest in Coaching and Mentorship

True leaders grow other leaders. Provide mentorship, career guidance, and stretch opportunities so employees can develop new skills. Leadership is learned through experience, but guided experience is even more powerful.

9. Eliminate Favoritism

Avoid cliques and office politics. Decisions should be based on facts and fairness, not gossip. Objective, transparent decision-making builds credibility.

10. Recognize Efforts Promptly

Recognition often matters more than rewards. Publicly appreciate employees’ contributions and do so consistently and fairly. A timely “thank you” can be more motivating than a quarterly bonus.

11. Conduct Thoughtful Exit Interviews

When employees leave, treat it as an opportunity to learn. Keep interviews confidential and use the insights to improve management practices and culture.

12. Provide Leadership Development

Train managers to lead, not just supervise. Leadership development programs help shift mindsets from “command and control” to “coach and empower.” This transformation has a direct impact on morale and retention.

13. Adopt Soft Leadership Principles

Today’s workforce, largely millennials and Gen Z, value collaboration over hierarchy. Soft leadership focuses on partnership, mutual respect, and shared purpose, rather than rigid top-down control.

The Bigger Picture: HR’s Role

Mercer’s global research highlights five key priorities for organizations:

  • Build diverse talent pipelines

  • Embrace flexible work models

  • Design compelling career paths

  • Simplify HR processes

  • Redefine the value HR brings

The challenge? Employers and employees often view these priorities differently. Bridging that perception gap is just as important as bridging the relational gap between leaders and staff.

Treat Employees Like Associates, Not Just Staff

When you treat employees like partners, they bring their best selves to work. HR leaders must develop strategies to keep talent engaged, empowered, and prepared for the future.

Organizational success starts with people, always. Build the relationship with your team first, and the results will follow.

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Entrepreneurs

What Makes an Entrepreneurial Leader? Traits of the World’s Best Innovators

Inside the mindset of entrepreneurial leaders who transform risk, passion, and vision into world-changing results.

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When you think of Richard Branson (Virgin Group), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), Rupert Murdoch (News Corporation), and Ted Turner (CNN), one thing becomes clear: they are not just entrepreneurs, they are entrepreneurial leaders. (more…)

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Entrepreneurs

Building a Business Empire: Lessons from the World’s Boldest Entrepreneurs

Learn essential lessons, success strategies, and mindset shifts every aspiring entrepreneur needs to overcome challenges and build a thriving business.

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Back in July 2017, I attended a business seminar on entrepreneurship in India. With my appetite for learning and meeting new people, I wanted to explore the latest developments in the entrepreneurial world. (more…)

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Change Your Mindset

Why Ideas Are More Valuable Than Resources for Entrepreneurial Success

Discover why ideas, not resources, are the true driving force behind entrepreneurial success, innovation, and lasting growth.

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Power of ideas in entrepreneurship
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History shows us that the greatest minds, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Walt Disney, Stephen King, and countless others, faced failure early on. Yet, instead of seeing failure as the end, they treated it as a comma in their story, not a full stop. (more…)

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