Corrective Education Company announces CEC Return, a restorative justice education program that addresses employee theft

A further hidden cost behind employee theft is the time, money and lost productivity a retailer can experience in hiring replacement personnel. According to a report published by the Center for American Progress, the cost of turnover and finding a replacement worker can range anywhere between 16% and 20% of the employee’s annual salary….

Interviews with offenders often reveal that the crime was not-pre-mediated and was committed because the employee felt underappreciated or unpaid, were experiencing personal financial strain or simply saw an opportunity where the chances of being caught were low.

“Employees steal for a wide variety of reasons, but oftentimes it stems from a feeling of hopelessness and necessity rather than greed,” said Bob Summers, Director of Loss Prevention and Compliance for Buehler Food Markets. “They are good people who have made bad choices. For this reason, we have found that providing an alternate course of action through a Restorative Justice program, like those offered by CEC, is often a more effective and cost-effective way of dealing with these petty crimes and gives the offenders an opportunity to learn from their mistakes, make restitution and once again, become an active member of society without the stigma of a criminal record.”

“CEC’s original charter was to create an alternate method of dealing with shoplifters outside of the traditional court system,” stated Darrell Huntsman, Founder and CEO of CEC. “Our goal is to help retailers stem their losses from employee theft by re-educating and retraining their employees so that they can contribute to the ongoing success of store operations while also helping the retailer avoid the costly and time-consuming process of hiring and training replacement workers.”

Read the whole release.