Corrective Education Company Announces CEC Return, a Restorative Justice Education Program That Addresses Employee Theft

OREM, UT--(Marketwired - Oct 13, 2014) - Corrective Education Company (CEC), the leading provider of Restorative Justice Education Programs, today announced the introduction of CEC Return™, a restorative justice education program and technology that helps Retailers address the growing problem of employee or internal theft.

Employee theft costs retailers billions in losses every year. In fact, the most recent National Retail Security Survey concludes that there is no other form of larceny that costs retailers more than employee theft. The impact of employee theft is broader than shoplifting; it also disrupts store operations, has a negative impact on associate morale and can impact customer service, and ultimately, customer satisfaction.

A further hidden cost behind employee theft is the time, money and lost productivity a retailer can experience in hiring replacement personnel. According to a report published by the Center for American Progress, the cost of turnover and finding a replacement worker can range anywhere between 16% and 20% of the employee's annual salary.

CEC Return™ is a solution that will help retailers achieve greater workforce optimization by:

• Eliminating costs of hiring and training new employees;
• Saving time and costs associated with lost productivity; and
• Saving time and expenses that are associated with changing locks, alarm codes, system logins, reissuing keys and other administrative tasks that are necessary when an employee leaves the company.

Interviews with offenders often reveal that the crime was not-pre-mediated and was committed because the employee felt underappreciated or unpaid, were experiencing personal financial strain or simply saw an opportunity where the chances of being caught were low.

"Employees steal for a wide variety of reasons, but oftentimes it stems from a feeling of hopelessness and necessity rather than greed," said Bob Summers, Director of Loss Prevention and Compliance for Buehler Food Markets. "They are good people who have made bad choices. For this reason, we have found that providing an alternate course of action through a Restorative Justice program, like those offered by CEC, is often a more effective and cost-effective way of dealing with these petty crimes and gives the offenders an opportunity to learn from their mistakes, make restitution and once again, become an active member of society without the stigma of a criminal record."

"CEC's original charter was to create an alternate method of dealing with shoplifters outside of the traditional court system," stated Darrell Huntsman, Founder and CEO of CEC. "Our goal is to help retailers stem their losses from employee theft by re-educating and retraining their employees so that they can contribute to the ongoing success of store operations while also helping the retailer avoid the costly and time-consuming process of hiring and training replacement workers."

The key components and main features of CEC Return™ are:

• Streaming Capabilities: The solution compiles an investigation via a mobile tablet while streaming through the cloud right to a desktop, including gathering offender photos, capturing live and recorded video and audio feeds from mobile devices, compiling all evidence associated with the investigation, and importing lists of stolen merchandise.
• Efficiency: CEC Return™ also allows users to collect signatures, admission of guilt and all necessary documentation while syncing with a desktop anywhere in the work environment.
• Cloud-Based Analytics and Reporting: CEC's state of the art dashboard helps users to now predict and prevent future employee theft.
• Online Education Program: CEC has developed a proprietary and proven online cognitive restructuring and life-skills course that focuses on the workplace environment to help employees improve their performance, work well with others and help them learn the skills required to receive further promotions and pay increases.

CEC Return™ is compatible with third-party case management programs and also offers a secure web portal. Another advantage to the CEC solution is its ability to share the information with external case management systems, so there is no need to duplicate the data-entry process.

About CEC
CEC has set the retail standard for Restorative Justice by increasing overall restitution dollars at no additional cost to retailers. CEC has provided retailers with a new way to process low risk offenders who are detained for retail theft. Our innovative education curriculum, mobile data collection technology, and law enforcement and prosecutor-approved process save time, reduce cost and increase restitution. For more information, visit www.correctiveeducation.com.