Management's attitude affects shrink prevention

"No condition has a more of a significant impact on store shrinkage as the visible and credible attitude that senior management displays with regard to the importance and urgency surrounding shrinkage awareness and loss prevention."

"Management's attitude toward and prioritisation of loss prevention is the vital and essential catalyst for the achievement of a company's loss prevention goals. Senior management at companies that achieve excellence in loss-control understand their role in the prevention process and declare shrinkage prevention a corporate imperative to increase profit," Halcrow continues.

"Top-performing companies accept shrinkage prevention as a corporate responsibility first, and a store responsibility second. In doing so, senior management accepts first line accountability to the 'pro-active mechanism of change'. It is this pro-activity that drives shrink down and profit up. When proper operational practices are in place to assure these characteristics, a 'compounding' effect occurs whereby shrinkage can be proactively reduced by as much as 50%," adds Ros Neilson, training manager of the Academy.

There are five traits common to successful loss prevention leaders. These are: