21st Century Integrity Check Private Investigations
L.A. private investigators have witnessed an increase in many types of fraud since the pandemic. Some, like disability and workers compensation fraud, have been around for decades, but others like employment fraud committed by remote workers are relatively new since 2020. Organizations offering work-from-home positions take a significant risk that their remote workforce may not actually be on the job all the hours they’ve committed to. Some remote workers even accept more than one full-time position to maximize their income at the expense of the productivity, confidentiality, and loyalty they have to offer to either. Smart California business owners and management teams are turning to Los Angeles County investigators to carry out worker integrity checks. While “secret shopping” a business is something most Los Angeles private detective agencies have offered for decades, remote worker integrity checks are a newer version of this age-old private investigation service. In this new employment paradigm, it pays to hire a California private investigations firm like Kinsey Investigations to determine the integrity and accountability of work-from-home employees. Read on to learn more about modern integrity checks.
Beyond Traditional Secret Shopper Private Investigations
For any customer-facing business, even business-to-business (B2B) sales and service providers, the face of the organization will always be the employees entrusted with customer service. Regardless of the quality or innovation of a company’s products or services, if a customer has a bad experience with an employee, the business can lose both revenue and its good reputation. Even employees in non-customer-facing roles can negatively affect a business’s bottom line if they continually fail to meet performance goals. With the widespread adoption of remote workforces, the list of ways that employees can fall short of expectations or even commit fraud against their employer has only become longer. From remote workers clocking hours they’re not actually spending on the job to employees accepting more than one full-time, work-from-home position, it’s become even easier for unscrupulous individuals to scam the companies that hire them. Luckily, the best way for California business owners to determine the accountability and integrity of all kinds of workers is still the same as it always has been – hiring a Los Angeles private detective agency.
A California private investigations firm like Kinsey Investigations can perform secret shopper services for any kind of organization. Over 20 years ago, when we first opened our doors, mystery shopping a business usually looked like walking into a restaurant or retail store. Known as integrity checks in the private detective world, these cases have changed, with the times, and while we’re still happy to secret shop a clothing store or a fine dining restaurant, we’ve also worked cases involving calling into customer service lines or going through the motions of an online transaction to learn about customers’ experience.
Since the pandemic and the rise of remote work, we’re also prepared to conduct integrity checks involving an employer’s concerns about performance and accountability of remote workers. Drawing on several of our private investigation services, we can find the answers to any questions a company may have about its remote workforce. While some organizations have tried to implement their own means of monitoring employees working from home, anyone who’s willing to lie to their employer about their workday will also be willing to take countermeasures against such monitoring. From “mouse jigglers” (physical devices that keep a scammer’s mouse moving even when they’re away from their desk) to software designed to circumvent corporate monitoring, the ways for employees to counter employer surveillance measures are advancing at a similar pace. While a worker’s productivity level may be a better way to measure their integrity, it’s not the most time-effective, or even the most cost-effective in some cases.
Female Private Investigators Make the Best Mystery Shoppers
A Los Angeles County investigator can carry out an integrity check investigation on one or more of a company’s remote workers and report back to the employer. Instead of spending months and man-hours attempting to monitor remote employees, the organization can make an informed decision about retaining or dismissing someone in just a few weeks or less. Even if an integrity check reveals an honest, hardworking employee, the cost savings can still be significant if both time and money that would otherwise be spent on monitoring can be saved, going forward.
Kinsey Investigations’ team of female private investigators have the knowledge and experience to carry out mystery shopping for corporate clients for both onsite and remote workers. Especially for any in-person secret shopping, a female private detective has a natural advantage as women are expected to frequent almost any kind of retail store or restaurant. We blend into many environments and inspire less suspicion than our male counterparts in nearly all cases. Earlier this year, Kinsey Investigations was also named among the Best Private Investigators in Los Angeles by Expertise.com for the third time. Whether your business is brick and mortar or virtual, whether your employees work in an office, a retail outlet, a call center, or from their homes, we can provide integrity check private investigations to lighten your human resources load and give you the information you need to protect your bottom line.
