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Employee honesty maintenance service based on voice analysis

EMPS specialises in providing workforce integrity solutions assisting their customers to create and maintain an honest workforce, and improve financial performance through enhanced human resource decisions.

As part of this mission EMPS is offering customers, since August 2006, the Honesty Maintenance Service, based on Nemesysco's LVA 6.50 Investigation Focus Tool.

Motivation

Businesses lose a substantial amount of money every year due to employees' personal use of company assets and theft. Employees' theft is common for various reasons, mainly when employees feel that the company owes them, that they are underpaid or unappreciated and also, in many cases the temptation to steal is caused by the simple realisation of how easily it can be achieved.

EMPS, in its ongoing efforts to help businesses fight employees' theft and dishonesty, was searching for a solution that would enable its customers to easily locate sources of theft and at the same time deter employees who are considering inappropriate behaviour.

In the search for new non-invasive solutions, EMPS was presented with Nemesysco's LVA 6.50, which can be used remotely, requiring no physical testing equipment and enabling over-the-phone interviews. In addition, using LVA 6.50, interviews can be held in the form of an open conversation, rather than mere yes/no questions, unlike traditional polygraph systems. Similarly, the interrogation can span many subjects, whereas the polygraph is confined to one incident.

Reward

Conducted by professional investigators, EMPS created a service to perform periodical checks of employees and help businesses save money. Basing its Employees Honesty Maintenance Service on Nemesysco's LVA 6.50, EMPS set out to enable private and corporate investigators to reveal workplace theft and disloyalty issues, as well as to create a deterrent.

LVA 6.50 provides voice analysis in realtime or from recorded material, during investigations, interviews and casual conversations. Pointing out any doubtful area in the subject's narrative, voice analysis enables users to identify the truth faster and more accurately than other technologies.

LVA 6.50 is based on Nemesysco's core Layered Voice Analysis Technology (LVA), a security level technology designed for truth verification and detection of deceit. 129 vocal parameters are utilised in order to detect and measure minute, involuntary changes in the speech waveform and create the foundation for identifying the speaker's emotional profile.

The Employees Honesty Maintenance Service was designed to meet the needs of retailers, corporations or any other business that employs permanent or temporary staff. This service is currently provided as an ongoing activity.

Implementation

Based on LVA 6.50, EMPS developed a unique methodology that has proven useful to its customers in the security and retail industries and with recruitment agencies. An investigator arrives at the customer's premises and runs 10-15 Honesty Maintenance tests, based on pre-defined questions, on random employees. The first visit is unexpected and the employees are surprised to find out about the new process. Following tests, although known to employees in general, are performed at various times and dates and with no pattern as to who is going to be tested and when.

The employees checked are usually picked out randomly, from different departments, although a company may specify guidelines or only require testing of employees from certain departments. In order to maximise the effectiveness of employees' deterrence, employers are advised to keep the date of the tests confidential. Employees that have been tested once should under no circumstances feel immune and can be picked out and checked again. In addition, the Honesty Maintenance Service can be performed over the phone whilst the investigator asks questions, performing an online analysis and the conversation is recorded for future offline analysis.

Once the test is complete, a report is produced and sent to the customer, listing indications to issues in which deception was detected as well as the investigator's notes on additional and useful information. In some cases, a screen-video recording of the actual test is provided, and may even serve as legal evidence.

Kirsten Halcrow, managing director, EMPS explains, "We follow quite strict procedures. We explain the test to the employee, tell them that they are being recorded and get signed consent prior to every test. We also check while still recording that the employee is satisfied with the way the test is conducted. Due to the fact that our country has a diverse number of cultures and languages, we are quite unique in that we run the test in the language which the employee is most comfortable with, this way ensuring that they have a good understanding of what is being asked".

Review

Implementing the Honesty Maintenance Service as part of company policy has helped companies:

* Reduce assets costs and increase profits.

* Create deterrence and prevent theft from workplace and/or other employees.

* Improve productivity by creating a safer working environment.

Halcrow adds, "All our customers that have decided to implement our Honesty Maintenance Service have benefited from it in more than one way, be it used as a regular service or following a specific incident. I can even say that one of our clients, a non-profit job creation company, has seen a significant increase in turnover since implementing the Honesty Maintenance Service last year."

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