Malicious staff member
Discussion
Hi all,
I wanted to understand some personal experience from other business owners.
I am 99% sure one of our staff members has left the company this evening and I am concerned that she has stolen company information. We have strict contracts in place so we can take legal action of course I want to avoid this but I'm covered for that kind of thing by a specialist law firm.
I'm not overly concerned as she was a sub standard employee who never achieved what she said she would. Grand plans, no results. We realised something was up when she had used her company phone to call a recruitment agency several times at spurious points in the day (early morning, lunch and late afternoon - checking for updates?) it was a premium rate number that flagged it up. At that point I lost all respect and trust. We should have got rid at that point. Lesson learnt.
It's a bloody pain in the arse when you work hard to build a business and someone tries to ruin what you work for.
Has anyone ever done something similar to you and your business?
I wanted to understand some personal experience from other business owners.
I am 99% sure one of our staff members has left the company this evening and I am concerned that she has stolen company information. We have strict contracts in place so we can take legal action of course I want to avoid this but I'm covered for that kind of thing by a specialist law firm.
I'm not overly concerned as she was a sub standard employee who never achieved what she said she would. Grand plans, no results. We realised something was up when she had used her company phone to call a recruitment agency several times at spurious points in the day (early morning, lunch and late afternoon - checking for updates?) it was a premium rate number that flagged it up. At that point I lost all respect and trust. We should have got rid at that point. Lesson learnt.
It's a bloody pain in the arse when you work hard to build a business and someone tries to ruin what you work for.
Has anyone ever done something similar to you and your business?
Wouldn't worry. Let her go with a smile on your face and a good luck in your new job.
Many times I have seen this happen in business and also had sales people leave with my whole customer list. On every occasion the damage to the business is negligible. Companies buy off companies. If you continue to provide the level of service your customers are used to it will always take more than one person for you to lose the account.
Many times I have seen this happen in business and also had sales people leave with my whole customer list. On every occasion the damage to the business is negligible. Companies buy off companies. If you continue to provide the level of service your customers are used to it will always take more than one person for you to lose the account.
Yup, I wouldn't worry about them taking information with them. With data being held electronically, it's too easy these days to 'steal' someone's customer database.
I had a member of staff leave in Feb/March, he went to work for a chemical company in the same industry. He promptly when round to all my commercial customers in the local area (schools etc) trying to get the contract to supply their chemicals. He only managed to get one on board, and then cocked up their first delivery, so they came back to us.
I had a member of staff leave in Feb/March, he went to work for a chemical company in the same industry. He promptly when round to all my commercial customers in the local area (schools etc) trying to get the contract to supply their chemicals. He only managed to get one on board, and then cocked up their first delivery, so they came back to us.
Your lucky - could have had a holiday on you and done this as well - stress, contructive, discrim etc etc
Best one ever - 6 weeks in to a trial -
Us - your not suitable sorry,
Her - ok fair enough
Us - have a weeks wages - bye
2 weeks later CAB - you finished her because she was pregnant
US - She didn't say she was pregnant
CAB - Not the point etc etc
Cost me £5k to keep it out of court (I was told I would lose)
You got a lucky break mate
Best one ever - 6 weeks in to a trial -
Us - your not suitable sorry,
Her - ok fair enough
Us - have a weeks wages - bye
2 weeks later CAB - you finished her because she was pregnant
US - She didn't say she was pregnant
CAB - Not the point etc etc
Cost me £5k to keep it out of court (I was told I would lose)
You got a lucky break mate
Dr Interceptor said:
Yup, I wouldn't worry about them taking information with them. With data being held electronically, it's too easy these days to 'steal' someone's customer database.
I had a member of staff leave in Feb/March, he went to work for a chemical company in the same industry. He promptly when round to all my commercial customers in the local area (schools etc) trying to get the contract to supply their chemicals. He only managed to get one on board, and then cocked up their first delivery, so they came back to us.
I had a member of staff leave in Feb/March, he went to work for a chemical company in the same industry. He promptly when round to all my commercial customers in the local area (schools etc) trying to get the contract to supply their chemicals. He only managed to get one on board, and then cocked up their first delivery, so they came back to us.
People are funny beggers and whilst they will happily but a one off item from anyone who will sell the right item cheapest they can get very attached to regular suppliers who don't let them down and have a track record of, when the odd minor fubar slips in, getting it sorted asap and to the satisfaction of all.
If she was as 'effective' as you suggest then I suspect you have little to fear, she was only the sales person and not the product.
We had a woman who had been with us 2-3 years, she had worked for me previously at a different Company too.
One day she felt the need to email her personal Hotmail account with our customer database & trade price list, when asked why she said she was 'testing' her email as she'd had problems!
We ended up going through a redundancy process with her, shortly after leaving she set up her own business working from home trying to compete with us. We sought legal advice & paid a Solicitor to send a warning letter, a shot across her bows as they put it. She stood her ground & denied everything, we decided it was too much hassle & left her to it (apart from the odd wind up naturally
) Six months later she faded away into obscurity 
One day she felt the need to email her personal Hotmail account with our customer database & trade price list, when asked why she said she was 'testing' her email as she'd had problems!
We ended up going through a redundancy process with her, shortly after leaving she set up her own business working from home trying to compete with us. We sought legal advice & paid a Solicitor to send a warning letter, a shot across her bows as they put it. She stood her ground & denied everything, we decided it was too much hassle & left her to it (apart from the odd wind up naturally
) Six months later she faded away into obscurity I generally advise that you sprinkle a few fake clients in your database, with email addresses or phone numbers that you can keep an eye on (perhaps VoIP numbers with automatic message forwarding to email). Never use/publish the contact details. When you get a contact from one of your competitors to your unpublished number/email address you can start the legal ball rolling.
TurricanII said:
I generally advise that you sprinkle a few fake clients in your database, with email addresses or phone numbers that you can keep an eye on (perhaps VoIP numbers with automatic message forwarding to email). Never use/publish the contact details. When you get a contact from one of your competitors to your unpublished number/email address you can start the legal ball rolling.
I like this idea. May pass it on to a few customers TurricanII said:
I generally advise that you sprinkle a few fake clients in your database, with email addresses or phone numbers that you can keep an eye on (perhaps VoIP numbers with automatic message forwarding to email). Never use/publish the contact details. When you get a contact from one of your competitors to your unpublished number/email address you can start the legal ball rolling.
like the Via Gra entry in a wine database and the various oddities in maps and things used to prove copying ... TurricanII said:
I generally advise that you sprinkle a few fake clients in your database, with email addresses or phone numbers that you can keep an eye on (perhaps VoIP numbers with automatic message forwarding to email). Never use/publish the contact details. When you get a contact from one of your competitors to your unpublished number/email address you can start the legal ball rolling.
Smart, I like that one TurricanII said:
I generally advise that you sprinkle a few fake clients in your database, with email addresses or phone numbers that you can keep an eye on (perhaps VoIP numbers with automatic message forwarding to email). Never use/publish the contact details. When you get a contact from one of your competitors to your unpublished number/email address you can start the legal ball rolling.
I did exactly that when I owned a legal recruitment agency. When an employee left & set up in competition he started writing to the lawyers on my database including my 'seeds'. He settled out of Court for a few thousand £'s.I would also recommend spacing the client forenames/surnames throuought the alphabet, definitely an Aaron, Zack, abbot, etc. so if the theives start at the beginning/end of the list then you might get an early alert.
Get a legally aware IT pro/forensic investigator to investigate the origin of any emails.
If they use a third party bulk email service then better still, you can hit the third party with a heavy threat (or is it a 'Norwich Pharmacal order'?) and find out who gave them the list/the size of the list.
Get a legally aware IT pro/forensic investigator to investigate the origin of any emails.
If they use a third party bulk email service then better still, you can hit the third party with a heavy threat (or is it a 'Norwich Pharmacal order'?) and find out who gave them the list/the size of the list.
DSLiverpool said:
Your lucky - could have had a holiday on you and done this as well - stress, contructive, discrim etc etc
Best one ever - 6 weeks in to a trial -
Us - your not suitable sorry,
Her - ok fair enough
Us - have a weeks wages - bye
2 weeks later CAB - you finished her because she was pregnant
US - She didn't say she was pregnant
CAB - Not the point etc etc
Cost me £5k to keep it out of court (I was told I would lose)
You got a lucky break mate
That is outrageous.Best one ever - 6 weeks in to a trial -
Us - your not suitable sorry,
Her - ok fair enough
Us - have a weeks wages - bye
2 weeks later CAB - you finished her because she was pregnant
US - She didn't say she was pregnant
CAB - Not the point etc etc
Cost me £5k to keep it out of court (I was told I would lose)
You got a lucky break mate
Dr Interceptor said:
If only they had a clue how hard it is to earn that £5k...
Indeed. They assume - wrongly in most instances - that you carry insurance for this kind of thing. I rank them just behind Ambulance Chasers in order of morality.If there weren't so many piss poor Employers out there we would not need a piss poor CAB (NOT DS Liverpool, I hasten to add).
One local Nursing Home my eldest worked for tried to tell her she was not entitled to holiday pay in her first year....until I phoned them.
Unfortunately, CAB is a necessary evil
Jockman said:
Indeed. They assume - wrongly in most instances - that you carry insurance for this kind of thing. I rank them just behind Ambulance Chasers in order of morality.
I once went to the CAB for advice on how to pursue a debt and the bloke almost fell off his seat. I guess he'd only had debtors before not creditors. But they were later very good on a Sale of Goods issue I had. CAB defo has a place as cheap first stop shop for minor legal matters.Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff