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IntegriTool UK Ltd has launched a revolutionary tool to help reduce the chances of hiring dishonest people, and therefore dramatically reducing the incidence of stock theft and employee fraud.

According to the 2013/14 UK Retail Fraud Survey, retailers’ concern over merchandise theft by employees is second only to their concerns over shoplifting – 27 per cent compared to 30 per cent.

The IntegriTool online system is a recruitment tool which uses the very latest interview technology to help retail companies measure the honesty of potential employees or staff seeking promotion to more responsible roles.

IntegriTool is designed to help retail employers select candidates for interview that are less likely to commit dishonest or criminal acts, or exhibit counterproductive behaviour such as workplace bullying, company disloyalty or substance abuse.

According to Michael Pettitt CEO of IntegriTool UK Ltd, “In 2011 the Centre for Retail Research put the cost of employee theft to UK retailers at £1,765 million, that’s a staggering amount of money. There are obviously weapons in retailers’ armouries to help combat employee theft and fraud, but none as powerful as avoiding employing dishonest staff in the first place.”

An employer and HR professional contracted to IntegriTool UK Ltd is able to invite selected candidates to undertake the interview at the company’s premises or at any location with wired and uninterrupted Internet access. An email is then sent to the candidate with a web link to the secure online interview which runs the moment the link is activated.

The questions which are multiple-choice and have to be answered within a certain time-frame relate to ethical matters such as theft, substance abuse and bribery. This revolutionary system adapts itself to each candidate by choosing questions based on their previous answers and the time taken to respond.

The interview takes about 30 minutes. Once completed, a report is immediately available to the employer highlighting particular aspects of a candidate’s work-based behaviour and attitudes which may benefit from further scrutiny during the interview process.

As well as helping to reduce the risk of recruiting dishonest individuals, IntegriTool is proven to enhance the longevity of an individual’s employment, thereby saving companies money on further recruitment costs. This is extremely important in the retail sector which has historically suffered from high turnover.