How Your Own Employees Are Putting Your Business at Risk

Your employees are among your business’ most important assets. Unfortunately, they can also be major sources of distress for your business and can commonly cause problems that put your success in jeopardy. Below are just a few of the ways that employees commonly put businesses at risk.

Time/Wage Theft

As a business owner, you know that a fairly high percentage of your overhead goes towards paying your employees. When your employees don’t track their time correctly, you’re not only going to end up spending more money on payroll than necessary but you’ll also be unable to correctly staff your business. This can start off as a small issue, but it becomes the type of major expense that causes great businesses to become unprofitable.

Lack of Expertise

Sometimes employees are asked to undertake tasks for which they are ill-suited. While it might seem like an employee is doing you a favor when he or she goes above and beyond to get the job done, the truth is that you’re often better off with outside services. It’s important that you don’t ask employees to do jobs for which they are unqualified, as even a small mistake can open your business to a fairly substantial amount of liability.

Data Insecurity

There’s a lot of talk about cybersecurity and directed attacks, but the truth is that the biggest threat to your data is your own employees. Poor operational security is the cause of most data leaks and the entry point for most ransomware attacks. If you fail to train your employees on proper network security, you’ll quickly find that they are the cause of most of your network woes. Managed services for IT will help you to see where the holes are in your security and what you can do to better train all of your employees on keeping the company safe.

Public Perception

Finally, your employees can put the perception of your business at risk. Every time they interact with your customers, they represent your business. For good or for ill, they also tend to represent your business when on social media. It’s important to have a good social media policy in place to ensure that your employees are able to keep their professional and personal lives separate in a way that protects you all.

While your employees can put your business at risk, you can still minimize those risks. Train your employees well and make sure that you keep up with how they represent your business. With care, you can ensure that your employees will continue to contribute to the success of your business without causing any type of accidental harm.