PRODUCT SHOWCASE

■ Corrections officers (191), firefighters (192), and garbage collectors (193) have better jobs than flight attendants (194) ■ Newspaper reporter (199) is down at the bottom, along with taxi driver (197), enlisted military personnel (198), and lumberjack (200). ■ In the “irony” category, tied for 179th are military general and butcher. The general earns seven times more money (for good reason). Neither has a particularly good hiring outlook.

I am, however, worried about the prospects for my magazine bosses. Here’s a direct quote from CareerCast. “Of course, much can change in the rankings of our Jobs Rated report over 26 years. Consider publication editor. Just 12 years ago, it ranked 31st overall. It checks in at 139 in this year’s Jobs Rated report.”

The stress level has risen dramatically, the hiring outlook has worsened, and the pay isn’t that good, either. Why are we doing this again?

Background Screening Benchmarking Report

The Retail Industry Background Screening Benchmarking Report has revealed a healthy respect for EEOC guidance and a keen understanding of what checks are necessary for what positions.

The report takes an in-depth look at retailers’ background check habits including what checks are run, what positions are screened and how retailers are reacting to EEOC guidance. In addition to looking at what checks are currently used, it looks into what checks retailers want to increase or decrease their use of background checks as compared to years past.

“For a long time, background screening was focused on more— more types of checks, done on more employees. With EEOC guidance, all industries have to switch their focus to doing the right checks on the right employees, and the retail industry is at the head of the pack,” says Matt Robbins, vice president at GIS.

In addition to showing what services are used, the report also shows why retailers are performing background checks. Retailers were asked to rank their various reasons for performing background checks, showing that safety is their biggest concern: ■ Safer work environment ■ Hire better employees ■ Customer safety ■ Shrink reduction ■ Protect brand and image

Retailers can request their copy of the report now by visiting theftdatabase.com/benchmarking.

U.S. Retail Fraud Survey

The U.S. Retail Fraud Survey 2014, now in its second year, is an extensive study of the retail fraud and loss prevention systems, processes, and strategies employed by 100 of the United States’ top retailers. The survey reveals that theft of cash from U.S. retailers has soared by a staggering 20 percent, while the number of stores using secure storage at POS dropped by 35 percent.

While suggesting that the reduction in use of secure POS is directly responsible for the dramatic increase in cash shrink would be to oversimplify a complex issue, those retailers affected may well wish to review their cash-handling systems in the light of this information and reexamine how they store, validate, count, and move their cash; both around their stores and to their bank.

Other areas of store loss highlighted by the survey include: ■ Employee theft is identified as the biggest area of store loss at 38 percent of shrink. ■ Administrative and bookkeeping errors account for the third biggest area of loss at 21 percent. ■ Shoplifting is the fourth biggest area of loss in stores at 11 percent.

Download the survey and executive summary by going to retailfraud.com/survey.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

A COLLABORATIVE SOLUTION TO RETAIL THEFT

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