Employee Theft At Church
Churches like all organizations can experience issues related to employee theft. Many churches believe none of their church staff would ever steal from them.
Our employees are viewed as our church family, and very well may be your actual family.
Why would our family ever risk losing our trust in them over a few bucks?
Well, the truth is, churches deal with a lot of cash, and can have a substantial amount of funds in their bank account.
As you examine your employee theft insurance coverage for churches, you will want to make sure you have enough employee theft coverage.
Most employees will not come into your church carrying a gun or crowbar.
They typically will conduct their business right in front of your face.
Employee Theft And Your Church Receptionist
Your church receptionist is involved in a large number of tasks. They typically know where everyone is throughout the day, and know everyone’s schedules who work at the church.
They are also aware of all of the gossip that happens, and can either be your church’s best resource for information or your church’s worst nightmare.
We have heard from a number of churches, that they recently had an employee theft happen involving their receptionist. Depending on the size of your church, identifying which employee has stolen from the church can present challenges.
Sometimes the process can take weeks, months, or years to discover. Filing a police report should be your first step in the process.
How Much Employee Theft Coverage Should Our Church Carry
When you evaluate insurance coverage related to employee theft, as your church insurance brokers we will want to know specific financial information about your church.
It is important to calculate how much cash your church deals with on a weekly basis. If your church does not accept cash, this could be a non-issue.
However, if you do collect cash, you will also want to calculate enough coverage for inside and outside theft coverage. This is a separate coverage that protects the church if you are robbed at church or on the way to the bank.
We will also want to know, how much your church typically has in your checking and savings account.
Once we have calculated your overall funds, we can make a recommendation on how much insurance coverage you should have.
There may be special times, where your church may want to increase employee theft coverage. For instance, if your church is setting aside large amounts of money in the bank for your upcoming building project.
We recently had a church whose employee took over $27,000 out of the church’s bank account. This was for a building project they were saving for. Unfortunately, the church has had $10,000 in employee theft coverage.
Church property insurance companies also realize your church may have an increase in funds on special holidays. You are able to select specific days such as Christmas, for your crime coverage to be increased automatically.
Keep A Watchful Eye On Your Churches Bookkeeper
Your church’s bookkeeper has access to all of your critical banking information.
We recommend that churches not allow their bookkeeper, the ability to sign for checks or to have any access to the church’s bank account.
Creating a clear separation between bookkeeping and access to church funds is critical in helping to prevent theft.
Rarely should a bookkeeper need access to your bank account. While they will need to review bank statements, these statements can be provided via US mail to the church.
This will remove the need for online access to your church’s bank accounts.
Let Us Help Your Church Stop Employee Theft
Integrity Now Insurance Brokers works will many different churches throughout the US. We are here to help you with your church property insurance and church liability insurance.
We are here to help review your current church operations and provide recommendations on any vulnerabilities your church may have related to employee theft.
We also provide risk management services to help reduce church workers’ compensation insurance claims. We want your church staff to remain healthy and safe. While a church group health insurance program can be expensive, your church staff will appreciate having this important coverage.
As your church insurance agent, we work with a number of church insurance providers, so your church is able to obtain the needed insurance coverage at an affordable price.
Let us know how we can help your church with their church insurance needs. Give us a call or complete our online church insurance quote form.