Where's the stapler? | What to do if you think an employee is stealing

Whether it's stationery going walkabouts, food vanishing from the fridge or chargers being ‘borrowed’ and never returned, office theft can occur in the workplace.

For employers, HR (and even colleagues) this can cause a bit of a headache, particularly with data highlighting that office theft might be more common that people think.

Theft in the workplace

Following a rise in demand for secure office storage, office furniture suppliers, Furniture At Work, polled 1,000 Brits about office theft in the workplace.

Shockingly, the research found that over one in ten (10.4%) office workers admitted that they have stolen something from their workplace. The study said that, with 24.7million people working in the UK, this means that around 2.5million are guilty of sneaking stationery, food or even money home with them.

The most common stolen items

Furniture At Work’s data unearthed some of the most common stolen items with a variety of things making the list. Ten per cent said that they have stolen money, and eight per cent have confessed to taking a phone.

Food also featured on the list with one in six (17%) stealing food from the communal office fridge, and ten per cent admitting to taking someone else’s mugs. Moreover, 40% said that they have stolen a pen and other stationery from the office.