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Attorneys'
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disloyalty? |
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an investigator? |
Has he ever been married? |
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| Question:
Recently I was betrayed by an
executive in my company who gave very damaging information to the adverse party in a
lawsuit. I pride myself by my judgement of people. Yet, in this case, events proved me
wrong. Now that the horse is out of the barn, is there anything I can do to prevent
recurrence? |
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| Kaplan
responds: |
 | Some employers have
difficulty believing that any of their employees would sell out to the competition. Yet,
it happens every day. It takes many forms, but is undoubtedly the most dangerous threat
faced by most businesses. Too often, it is discovered by accident after serious damage has
been done. Interestingly, money is not always the motivating factor. Sometimes its a bent
ego and sometimes it is just a sense of adventure. Your ability to prevent recurrence is
limited. But, there are meaningful things that both you and an investigator can do: |
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| In sales related
activities it is possible for an investigator to periodically insert leads and then see if
those potential sales are being "walked" to a competitor. |
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| Since such disloyalty can
also involve the use of bugs and wiretaps, installed by the disloyal employee, periodic
debugging sweeps of the premises should be considered. The presence of a wiretap might be
your first and only warning of this sort of problem. |
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| One of the most effective
safeguards is a good solid background investigation prior to hiring an individual. In the
results of such a background check don't expect to see a prior history of disloyalty per
se. What you can expect, may be an attempt to hide a prior period of employment. Whatever
the reason for this, it is almost certainly an attempt to hide a problem that you don't
need. However, far more likely to surface are personal character flaws that suggest that
this individual feels that he doesn't have to play by the rules. These can be manifested
in any number of ways. Something as innocent sounding as a long history of traffic
violations, suggests that at least in a small way, this applicant feels that he is above
the law. |
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| Anybody who is the law
unto themselves, is also a person who can easily rationalize the correctness of violating
the established norms by selling you out. There are many other problem indicators that a
good background investigation will surface. |
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| Do not overlook exit
debriefings. They will tell you a lot, particularly about disloyal executives who prior to
that time, the departing employee was afraid to talk about. These debriefings can be
conducted in house, or better yet, by an outside investigator who is not likely to try to
protect a member of your staff. |
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| Probably the best
safeguard is setting up an "Inspector General" position. This is a person,
either in house or under contract who answers only to the CEO. This is a function well
suited to a Private Investigator. Employees are encouraged to make direct contact with the
Inspector General without fear of being identified or retaliated against. Although many
minor complaints that should be handled in the course of routine business are surfaced, so
are serious allegations of high level disloyalty and dishonesty. What you are doing here
is opening up a channel of communications that is missing in most companies. |
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Call us at 702-453-4500
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