Employee stealing from a food bank

[QQWWEERRTTTYYY]

NC'd for this. I run a food bank. I have a (paid) assistant Mary, along with lots of volunteers. My assistant used to be a volunteer, for context, but this is now her first proper job. She's on the autistic spectrum but very high-functioning. She is due to leave at the end of this month (travel, then uni). She's 19.

Anyway - I'm pretty sure she's stealing stock. Not donations from the public, but corporate type donations - bulk packs of biscuits, crisps etc. Always treat-y things rather than the (many) more mundane foods we have. Eg we receive two boxes of Dairy Milk at 2pm on Monday, I see them on the shelf, I head off at 3.30 and leave Mary there to finish whatever task - and when I come back in at 7 the next morning, one of the boxes is open and two large bars are missing. That sort of thing, again and again. On some of these occasions other people are in too, but the common denominator is Mary (and she'd always be the one in last/locking up). It's also extended to leaving the wrappers lying around on occasion, which is both dumb and infuriating.

Lives at home in a very well-off house, no expenses/money issues, no shortage of food - I'm quite certain. It feels, instinctively, like "teenage bottomless pit" type behaviour.

So:
Catch her out definitively?
Give her a vague but pointed chat about our stock and what it's for?
Say something before I wave her off at the end of the month?
Ignore?
Some other thing?

I don't think the value of what she's stealing is any great shakes, but a) really, who the hell steals from a food bank? b) theft is theft c) I trained her up and gave her a brilliant opportunity with this job, so I find it quite hurtful. I also would rather she learn her lesson now rather than when she's, I dunno, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I don't have any other managers etc to bounce this off. I have trustees, who I suspect will leave it with me to make a decision as I see fit. WWYD?

But if you don't ask her what would you do instead? Accuse her? Ignore it? If she lies then at least she knows that you know so the problem may stop (but be careful you don't mistake confusion about the question for guilt- to my shame I've made this mistake with my own son on a couple of occasions).

Why on Earth would you consider humiliating someone like that?

You need to address this op, ASD or not- you’re setting this young person up for a life of work, how you handle her could help her get a sense of what’s appropriate and what isn’t. Do her a favour, treat it seriously.

My experience is ‘all staff’ type messages fall on deaf ears. The people doing it know they shouldn’t - yet still are - and those who follow the rules are annoyed at being treated like toddlers. I would ask (not accuse) the individual directly. I think an all staff reminder in a largely volunteer organisation might potentially piss people off, and is unnecessary particularly when you know who it may be. An all staff announcement would be more like FYI we now have cameras.

All staff meeting telling them that food items that are considered luxuries are going missing, the consequences of it going missing if someone is caught e.g. person being dismissed/told to leave with no reference, and if it happens again a camera will be going up.

Something goes missing again then put a camera up.

If you catch Mary (or any other volunteer)you will need to do a formal disciplinary process with what you stated.

Letting her continue to steal isn't acceptable.
Yes, you could put up signs etc as a PP said but actively preventing employees from committing a crime, or harming others isn't what 'reasonable adjustments' are for. You're jsut setting her up to be fired later.
DP is autistic, I have ADHD, we both have impulse control issues. Had we said/done everything in the heat of the moment we'd probably have caused millions of dollars in damages, or been verbally abusive.

I'd say catch her on camera, she at least has to admit it, speak to her parents, but if she still goes 'nanana it's not me' you have no choice but to fire her.

I don't mean we go around destroying objects!
More like we're both software devs and cannot help but fiddle around with stuff we aren't supposed to... we have come close to pressing a nice button (metaphorically speaking) and have systems go boom :)

She’s leaving soon anyway so firing is neither here nor there - it’s the principle.

My experience is ‘all staff’ type messages fall on deaf ears.

The OP has no proof it was Mary she just has strong suspicions. If she accuses Mary directly or says something that is clear that she only suspects Mary then it will be disability discrimination. I don't think the OP wants to be forking out to defend herself and her organisation at an employment tribunal.

Presumably she will want a reference at some point?

She will ask you for a reference for her next role.

Do you feel comfortable giving someone who you suspect of stealing a reference?

Supposing she ended up working in finance for another charity, NHS or public sector organisation and continued to steal but this time thousands, would you be happy that you enabled her to get that role?

Re bringing it up at a general meeting of staff - I remember once asking my son's headteacher to speak to a certain group of staff about confidentiality as I had been told one of them had been gossiping about my DS out of school. Rather than dob in the individual (to protect the identity of my informant) it was agreed the HT would speak to 4 staff members together. Interestingly 2 members of staff owned up to talking/gossiping when out of school to people who didn't work at school. The actual person who'd been overheard was not one of the ones who owned up.
My point being, it does no harm to remind everyone of the rules from time to time!

And to the poster who thinks people with autism don't lie, I can categorically say that's not true. My own DS has ASD and he could lie for England.

Just speak to the girl for God's sake. Ask her what happened to the chocolate.

I dont think there is any need the "for Gods sake" comment, perfectly reasonable thing to ask for advice on

Mary I've noticed dairymilks etc going missing any idea? She'll say 'no' the reply 'in that case I think the time has come for camera we can't have people stealing from the charity it is not acceptable and I want to find out who it is'
Hopefully it stops.
Not in a charity but I worked somewhere they knew an employee was stealing but couldn't prove it ended up having to make him redundant basically rewarding him for his theft!

Stop writing on here and go be proactive.

Also, doesnt the foodbank have a policy?
Look the policy up, and go deal with the issue.

Please don't resort to nanny-cams or similar without explicitly briefing your staff and volunteers about them and what it could be used for. It is a major breach of privacy and fair procedures, and a breach of GDPR.

I suspect there could potentially be an eating disorder at play.

I think the fairest thing is to speak to her and ask her if she knows what happened to the chocolate. Have you been completely clear with her that the stock can not be dipped into? If you are feeding volunteers because they are in need the distinction may not be completely clear to her. Is she getting adequate meal breaks with somewhere to store a packed lunch? Do you have a system in place where there is a tea kitty and biscuits for staff? If you don't, perhaps it might be an idea to start one, with the explanation that it needs to be completely separate from the stock.

Stick a sign up ‘taking stock is not allowed’.

I’d suspect she has binge eating/bulimia.
I think you need to give a warning re not taking any stock eg do you have clear policy for damages then if carries on say you are putting cctv up.
Is there any chance someone could be accessing area after she’s locked up - via attic space, homeless person hiding in a outhouse etc. Not likely I know.

When I was working in a shop someone started stealing. There were three of us in regularly when it happened. We all got called into the office and told that there were security cameras and if it happened again then they would press charges. Only two of us turned up the next day

I think you need to speak to her about the missing chocolate, explain why it is a concern, ask if she has any idea of who is taking it and make her the chocolate monitor as she is the last one out. Can she please check the chocolate before she leaves and note the number of items left so you can check again in the morning. Have a chat about your concerns about a their in the team and what the consequences might be.

It's an impulse control thing;I have family members who are autistic and things like crisps,chocolate,biscuits are like kryptonite to them;they are sweet,crunchy and more importantly easy to eat;there's no food preparation involved;you open and eat.

Early this morning I had a grocery delivery;between 6am and 8am my 13 year DS who has ASD had managed to sneak off with a 5 packet multi pack of crisps and scoff the lot;I'm not particularly happy about that;I have to physically hide packets of biscuits etc

You have to remember people with ASD have logic that doesn't fit with other people's logic.In Mary's mind if it's in a bulk corporate donation then it might not matter;if you confront her it's likely she might lie about it out of panic she might get into trouble.

You need to very tactful on broaching this with her.

There is no such thing as high functioning autism please educate yourself.

Is she overweight?

I didn't say that people with autism don't lie @bigbluebus I said that, ime, they tended to be on the honest side ie less likely to lie/cheat etc than the population at large. And I stand by that, lying convincingly requires a good understanding of theory of mind and how yo integrate that with the facts of the case.

That's a good idea if you don't want to fire her op