Instead of Monitoring Employees, Try Motivating Them

Employee theft costs the economy up to $200 billion a year. In the hopes of putting a stop to stealing, many managers have turned to surveillance systems. According to new evidence from a rigorous study led by strategy professor Lamar Pierce, surveillance can work. After restaurants installed monitoring software that sent electronic theft alerts to managers, weekly revenue climbed by around 7%. Servers appeared to give out fewer free drinks, and focused their energy instead on selling more food.