With all of the changes businesses are going through right now saving money is probably at the top of everyone’s agenda. Trying to keep afloat while the pandemic is closing down small businesses is a challenge for all of us.
While some businesses may think of cutting staff, changing office space or outsourcing services many don’t think of hiring a private investigator. As a private investigation firm in Bristol, we can save you money and in this article, we will take a look at some of the ways in which you could save money by hiring us.
Employee Fraud

No one likes to accuse someone of stealing from them, especially in a business environment but the truth is it happens more that you would like to think about. Employee fraud is hard to prove and if you get it wrong you could end up with an unhappy workforce.
A private detective in our opinion is the best way of finding out if an employee is committing fraud against your business as it allows us to keep an eye on your staff without them suspecting a thing. Our surveillance services have helped many businesses with the same problems.
Vehicle fraud

If you are a business in Bristol and you allow your staff to take company vehicles home we could be saving you money. Vehicle fraud costs businesses thousands a year and is one of those situations that your staff may not realise they are committing fraud.
Some Bristol businesses will have a clear vehicle usage policy and some may have a relaxed policy, however, some businesses don’t have one and expect the staff to use common sense and only use the vehicle for work purposes.
So firstly, you should have a policy that clearly outlines what is expected from your staff when it comes to company car usage. When you have this policy you can then act on the employees who are not sticking to it.
Some staff could be using your vehicles outside of work purposes. It’s not uncommon for people who use vans to run odd jobs for others. This may be ok for you but for many, this drives up the mileage on your vehicles and also uses company fuel. If your company vehicles are leased this will increase the mileage on your vehicles and often lead you to pay fines on over-usage.
A private investigator in Bristol can install GPS devices on your vehicles and track them to make sure they aren’t being misused. A private investigator can also monitor your employees to make sure that no fuel is being stolen either. Fuel being stolen is a common problem that businesses face. If you suspect someone at your Bristol business being fraudulent when it comes to your fuel usage please get in touch with us.
Delivering sensitive documents.
If you are a law firm in Bristol or any other company that handles or receives sensitive documents we can help. We can deliver sensitive legal documents via our process serving service as we have operatives up and down the country who can retrieve these documents from you and serve them to the correct person.
Some companies trust their staff with this process but it does waste their time if they don’t have the correct experience. At Covert LTD we understand the importance of the legal process and can help deliver documents in a court-approved way.
Employees faking sick

Employees faking sick can have a huge impact on a business as not only do you have to pay them but you also have to pay someone to do their work too. In small businesses, this may not be possible and will cause your other staff to be overworked. This is a vicious cycle as one member of staff faking being sick could have a chain reaction on others in the office causing them to be overworked and stresses which can ruin their production and mental health.
Having healthy and happy staff is key to running a business and this shouldn’t be something your business should have to deal with. Unfortunately, some people will fake being sick and it can be costly to your business.
The biggest problem with employees faking sick is that it’s hard to prove. Some staff may well be sick and your suspicious could be false. If you accuse someone who is actually sick it will cause tension and morale will go down, eventually leading to a staff member leaving.
A private investigator can monitor a member of your staff and report back their findings. If for example your member of staff is off with back pains but then we find them dancing on tables on a night out it doesn’t look good for that member of staff who would be clearly faking sick.
Conclusion
If your business in Bristol is finding it tough and is looking for ways to save money during this pandemic or even after it, we would highly recommend hiring a private investigator as there are multiple ways in which we could help save your business money.