|
A typical Russian company loses at least a million annually as a result of economic crimes related to employee disloyalty Illegal actions, negligence, sabotage, leakage of confidential information by employees of organizations cause colossal damage to companies, while most of the offenses go unnoticed, and the losses incurred as a result of the actions of dishonest employees often turn out to be irretrievable.
Indeed, personnel security issues have been repeatedly raised in the press recently. According to the 2007 Global Economic Crime Survey, 50% of companies surveyed worldwide fell victim to economic crime (for Russia, this figure was significantly higher in 2007 – 59%). Moreover, 63% of the 125 Russian companies that participated in the survey suffered losses from fraudulent activities exceeding million (the average level of damage for Russian companies was 1,8 million). This is more than four times more than in 2005 and five times more than the world average (1,4 million). According to Russian survey participants, the greatest threat to business is theft of assets (this type of damage was named by 43% of respondents), while 34% named corruption and bribery as a threat. In addition to direct financial damage, Russian companies also suffered collateral damage in the form of reputational and moral damage.
Threats to company security can be divided into external, related to the business environment, political and other risks, and internal, arising from the negligence or abuse of personnel. In addition to the banal theft of employees of trade enterprises, abuses include corruption, abuse of office for personal purposes, disclosure of confidential information, financial violations, etc. To prevent losses related to the above issues, companies break down security issues into the following components-tasks. First of all, these are tasks related to access modes, security of facilities and personal protection of the management of enterprises (they are traditionally supervised by the security service). Secondly, these are issues of financial security (ensuring solvency, control of financial transactions, reservation of funds, etc.). Thirdly, legal support for the activities of the enterprise. And finally, these are measures to protect commercial secrets (security of computer networks, data safety, etc.). It is easy to see that the common place and component of all the listed elements of business security is the human factor. That is, a person — an employee of the company. The lack of systematic monitoring of potential threats emanating from specific people makes the entire built security system of the company weak. At the moment, the maximum that the company does to protect against the human factor is «entry control». That is, this is a conversation between the HR manager and the candidate and his subsequent check by the security service employees. As a result, the security service receives information that the candidate has not had conflicts with the law and is characterized positively by the environment, and the HR employee is satisfied with the candidate's professional training and is suitable for the job based on personal qualities (according to the subjective assessment of the HR employee). The employee is hired and, after the so-called adaptation period, receives full access to the information, financial and material assets of the company. From this moment on, the employee is a priori considered safe for the company and is not viewed as a possible source of risk or damage. And only an emergency brings us back to the question: «Why did this happen? Who was looking and where? After all, there was a normal person … »
Is there an alternative? How else? — you ask.
There is an alternative. Let's see what solutions exist for this problem.
Traditional psychological testing of a candidate
Many companies already use psychological tests (questionnaires) when hiring to filter out suspicious candidates. Today, about 20 of the most popular personality testing methods are used; they are well known and widespread. As a rule, candidates use special literature to prepare for interviews. There is also a subjectivity component when processing the results. The use of projective methods (fixing a conscious reaction to an unconscious stimulus) for the most part does not give a sufficiently reliable result. In addition, it can be noted that a significant amount of time is spent on conducting and processing the test, even when using electronic processing options.
Cases
Using pre-set situations to identify the professional and personal qualities of the test subject. The advantages include the ability to obtain information on the candidate's professional training. As for personal qualities, candidates, as a rule, give socially desirable answers due to the fact that the content of the cases suggests a logically justified social response. The disadvantages also include the lack of correctly formed cases, large time costs and the presence of a subjective attitude of the tester to the subject.
Remote testing methods
They work on the principle of psychological tests, but the results are processed on the server of the patent holders of the method. The undoubted advantage is the minimization of time spent on processing the results, the absence of a subjective component, a narrower definition of such personal criteria as honesty, attitude to someone else's property, willingness to comply with instructions, accuracy in work, etc. The main disadvantages of this program can be called a standardized approach to age and professional groups, the lack of consideration of national mentality. Also, the methods do not check the professional qualities of the subjects. The use of test results by the developer company is also questionable.
Psychophysiological testing methods (polygraph, variations of voice analyzers, MindReader)
Their action is based on changing the psychophysiological parameters of the subject's body in response to the presentation of a significant stimulus. In a person's mental perception of the external world, two levels can be conditionally distinguished: subconscious and conscious. To put it simply, a lie is a product of the activity of consciousness. At the subconscious level, an emotional assessment of the stimulus is formed, and this is what should be recorded as a kind of signal during testing in order to clarify a person's true motives.
Polygraph (lie detector). In response to presented stimuli, the device measures blood pressure, respiratory rate, electrical resistance of the skin and motor activity. A polygraph in the hands of an experienced polygraph specialist gives excellent results. However, this effective and long-recognized method also has its drawbacks. First of all, a polygraph test is always psychological stress for the subject. A polygraph does not give a guaranteed result when working with young people, when testing trained people, as well as when examining people with an unstable nervous system and in a stressful state. In addition, it is no secret that there are methods, the use of which allows you to distort the results. And finally, the main drawback: misleading a non-professional polygraph examiner is a very real task. Among the disadvantages, one can also name the high cost of both the equipment itself and the testing services (such services are provided by specialized companies), as well as the time spent on the study.
K-factor (HR) is a voice analyzer. It works on the same principle as a polygraph, but it only records one indicator — voice. Advantages: no sensors, short procedure time (20 minutes), does not require a highly professional specialist (results are processed automatically). Disadvantages include the lack of a comprehensive approach (only one indicator is recorded), a standardized approach to age and professional groups, no consideration of national mentality, and the methods do not test the professional qualities of the subjects.
MindReader. During testing, the individual is presented with a stimulus (a key word or image that best characterizes the topic under study), after which the stimulus is erased with a “mask” – a set of symbols (or pictures) that have no semantic meaning. The time interval from the moment the stimulus is shown to the pressing of a special button on the remote control is recorded as the subject’s reaction. The main advantage of the method is that the content of the test is completely hidden from the subject and, as a result, distortion and conscious resistance are excluded. Testing lasts about 20 minutes. The intervention of a psychologist, as, for example, in the case of a polygraph, is not required; the system makes an assessment independently. The psychophysiological state of the subject does not affect the results of the study. It is possible to conduct a study on any topic focused on a specific organizational situation.
Of course, this is far from a complete list of modern means of personnel verification, but even the methods mentioned here give good results, and perhaps businessmen should not rely so much on the role of the state in matters of combating economic crimes and should take the necessary self-defense measures now.
Prevention of any disease is always more effective and cheaper than its treatment.
|
