![]() Excessive Personal TimeĮxcessive personal time is an activity that many employers consider time theft, but it is unclear what exactly constitutes “excessive” as there are no regulations that set out any guidelines. For example, if someone says that they were working one day, but they were actually at home watching TV, this would be considered stealing time. Just like the last type, employees can potentially steal time by reporting that they were at a job site or on the road when they weren’t. Misreporting Time Spent on a Job Site or on the Road Or, they may do something more egregious, like come in for 30 minutes and report that they were there for three hours. Often, this takes the form of rounding up.įor example, an employee might come into work for 45 minutes but round up to an hour. Timecard fraud refers to employees that misreport the time that they spent at work. However, employers should tread cautiously, as studies indicate that it is actually these types of accusations, which would commonly be argued as unreasonable, that lead to time theft in the first place. Some employers may consider even a five-minute, unapproved extension to be time theft. ![]() For example, if an employee is allowed a 30-minute lunch break but takes an hour, this would be considered an extended break. This term refers to employees that don’t return from breaks on time. This could lead to very short amounts of time (on the order of a couple of minutes) being inaccurately logged or it could lead to entire days being mis-logged.įor example, an employee may ask their friend to punch in for them because they are running five minutes late, while another employee could ask their friend to punch in for a day that they don’t plan to come into work. Buddy Punchingīuddy punching is when an employee asks another employee to punch in for them even though they are not yet at work. However, here are some situations that some may view as constituting time theft. The only usage of the term “time theft” is not commonly used on any United States federal or state government web page except in a few instances referring to time theft in municipally funded programs. Types of Time TheftĬurrently, it is not clear what exactly constitutes time theft as there are no laws or regulations that use that term. Let’s find out what are the different types of time theft before we get into its solutions. This is evident that time theft exists and it is costing the businesses. Theft, however, extends beyond just traditional stolen physical goods, with some employees taking advantage of employers by stealing time when they should be on the clock. businesses annually” along with 30 percent of businesses citing employee theft as the reason for going bankrupt. ![]() However, according to the recent study by SMG, employees steal approximately 5.5 times as much as shoplifters, equating to “more than $50 billion from U.S. In fact, the figure itself was based entirely on employer estimates of how much time they believed employees wasted. The most commonly quoted statistic, which says that the average employee steals 4.5 hours of time per week, is from the 1980s and is rife with methodological errors. How Costly Is Time Theft for a Business?Ĭurrently, there are no reliable studies on how much time theft costs businesses. However, the money is based on time that they didn’t work. So, time theft isn’t really stealing time, it’s stealing money. Scholars are still trying to work out what exactly might constitute an infraction. In fact, time theft is a fairly new concept, and there is no universally agreed-upon definition of what time theft is. However, it’s important to note that even though the term uses the word “theft,” it is not currently considered a criminal offense. For some, this may mean falsifying their timesheets, but for others, this could mean browsing the internet during a slow period at work. What Is Time Theft?Įmployers generally consider time theft any time that an employee tries to get paid for work that they didn’t complete. Here, we’ll cover six situations that employers may consider time theft and what exactly the term means. However, it’s unclear exactly what constitutes time theft, as it is not currently considered a crime under any major state or federal laws. When you think about employee theft, chances are you think about stealing cash out of the register or stealing something off the shelves of your store.īut there’s another type of theft that employers have started to become concerned about - time theft.
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