Written by
When setting up and running a field service company, it’s prudent to take your time when selecting the right field service technicians. This often requires you to spend hours interviewing prospective candidates, and to invest money and effort in training and equipment. Therefore it comes as a bitter disappointment to find that the technician you rated so highly and trusted to do a good job has been stealing from you.
Whether it is time, equipment, takings or customers, theft can hurt your business. The goods news is that there are ways you can prevent your field technicians stealing and protect your business, profits and reputation in the process.
A Growing Problem
A disgruntled employee, an employee down on their luck, an opportunist technician; there simply is no excuse for stealing, and it can be a huge problem for field service companies. When you send your technicians out on the road to work on behalf of your brand, you put a lot of trust in them. You trust them to only work for your company, to ensure all takings they collect are brought back to the business and to look after their equipment and keep it secure.
There are a number of theft issues that can arise in a field service business. Here are some of the most common ones to look out for:
1. Stealing Cash
If you are running your company as a cash-only business, you could be leaving yourself open to the risk of your takings (the amount of money you’re “taking in” from sales) being stolen or lost. Technicians could also charge customers more for your services without your knowledge and pocket the difference.
While cash is king, online banking and card payments can help you to keep on top of your takings and remove the risk of cash being stolen or your business reputation suffering as the result of customers paying more than they expected. Using field service software and platforms that take electronic payments can help you to keep track of your takings and also help you to manage your finances, especially when tax season comes around.
Remove the Risk of Cash Being Stolen and Start Taking Credit Card Payments
With mHelpDesk, you’ll get an affordable and easy-to-use payment processor built into your field service software. You can even use the mobile device you already have! Watch this video to learn more:
mHelpDesk users: Setting up Payments in Your Account Is Easy >>
New to mHelpDesk? Get a Quick Tour of Our Payments Feature and More >>
2. Equipment
Some field service companies use very expensive equipment to carry out their services, and these items are often put in the care of field service technicians. Commercial equipment can cost a business thousands of dollars, making it alluring to not only thieves, but also employees looking to make a quick buck from selling the equipment to a third party. Commercial equipment is also indistinguishable making it easy to sell without being traced.
Make things harder for thieves and unscrupulous employees by logging all equipment ownership into a database. Use an asset tagging system that indelibly marks equipment so that it can be easily traced back to your business if recovered by the police. In some cases, you can request that any particularly expensive items are checked back in at your business premises at the end of each working day.
Track Your Customer Equipment and Equipment Service History
mHelpDesk includes a built-in customer equipment tracker so can you have all the important details about the customer equipment you service. Watch this video to learn more about how it works:
mHelpDesk users: Set Up Your Customer Equipment Now >>
New to mHelpDesk? Get a Customized Demo Today >>
3. Stealing Time
Are your employees stealing time from your business? This type of theft can be subtle and go unnoticed for a long time. However, it can be just as damaging to your business as cash and equipment theft. From adding time to employee timesheets to engaging in non-work tasks while on your time, time theft can have significant consequences.
Keep track of your staff and how they manage their time by setting good examples and using systems that encourage honest time reporting and which can be checked at the touch of a button. For example, field management software that logs and processes timesheets can help you to manage employee time more effectively and ensure that time is being logged accurately.
Get Full Visibility Over Your Team’s Time and Location While Clocked In
With mHelpDesk, your techs can clock in and out and record their hours while you can track and get up-to-date information on their location.
mHelpDesk users: Set Up Timesheets Today >>
New to mHelpDesk? Get a Quick Tour of Timesheets and More >>
Final Thoughts
Theft can take many guises in a field service company. While you may not be able to prevent it completely, using field service software to streamline processes, log time and equipment and move to a cashless payment system will help to remove temptation and protect your business and profits.
Ready to get full visibility over your staff?
Track your team’s time and location while clocked in. Then office administrators can run reports, edit times, and export CSV files to make payroll processing easier. Schedule a free demo of mHelpDesk today!
Last modified: September 18, 2018
