When it comes to the economy, everyone seems to be waiting for something to happen. Reports we used to pay little attention to, like unemployment, consumer confidence, savings rates and housing starts, capture our attention and are analyzed closely.

Employers are no exception. They’ve weathered the economic storm, and many want to know if it’s ever going to turn around. You may be asking yourself if it’s time to spend some of the cash you’re holding on to, or if it’s time to hire again. Or you may just want to know if you can exhale yet!

We can’t tell you the answer to Questions 1 & 3, but here are some tips for question #2: How do you know if it’s time to hire?

1. You and your employees are stressed out. You might have cut positions, combined workloads, or just kept piling tasks on yourself and your staff. If your people are starting to show signs of discontent, are leaving things undone, or are threatening to walk out—you know you have a problem. It just might be solved with a new employee.

2. You are profitable. Profitability is a very good sign. But only when it happens for several months in a row. Much of this depends on your business, but if you’ve been turning a profit for 18 months, and your current staff is overworked, it might be time to hire. If you’re not steadily seeing profits, see #3.

3. The new hire will produce profit. If you’ve crunched the numbers and a new hire will pay for him or herself and then some, what are you waiting for?

4. You’re paying for temps or independent contractors. If there are services you need enough to pay higher temp and contractor fees, can you afford to turn that expense into an employee? Consider hiring a good-fit contractor or temp. If they have skills you need, then find a way to create a sustainable solution.

When you make the decision to hire, be sure to properly screen employment applicants. Pre-employment screening is an easy way to mitigate the risk of hiring staff with questionable backgrounds, criminal histories, or unacceptable credit problems.

Office Manager Pilfers $645,000 from Car Dealership

Finance Manager’s Theft Causes Interactive Business to Shut Down

Furniture Store Suffers $250,000 Loss through Bookkeeper

These headlines are real. Every single day, real employees steal loads of money from their employers. In the United States alone, the amount of property and cash stolen by employees adds up to nearly $1 trillion each year. Whether it’s done by taking property or cash out the door, or falsifying balance sheets, deposits, and checks, embezzlement is a huge problem for businesses.

Often, employees who are charged with embezzlement have a fiduciary relationship with the employer—they are in a position of trust, with access to bank accounts and financial records.

How do they do it? Some embezzlers set up relatives or themselves as phony vendors in the bookkeeping system, then pay phony invoices with real company checks. Others just write checks to themselves or pay their personal bills with company checks.

Embezzlers often start out with small amounts, gradually building up to larger sums when they don’t get caught. Others tell themselves they’ll take the money “just this once,” but find they are unable or unwilling to stop—even after the credit card is paid off, their child’s medical expenses are paid, or they buy themselves a new car.

The guilt felt by an embezzler is often replaced with justification that they are undervalued or underpaid, and therefore the company owes them the money they are stealing. Others feel no guilt whatsoever, and are simply stealing for their own financial gain. For some employees, opportunity is the only “license to steal” that they need.

So how does an employer remove opportunity from the equation—and prevent employee embezzlement?

Be diligent: Managers and owners must have their hands in the business. Know where records are kept, and review them regularly. Are bills or checks outstanding? Are invoices missing? Be an authorized signer on bank accounts, and review activity and statements online. Keep tabs on petty cash, deposit slips, and profit and loss statements.

Listen: Don’t discount when customers complain about double billing—it could be a sign that checks are being detoured to an employee’s account. And if employees report suspicious behavior among their ranks, deal with it immediately. Let employees know you trust them, and care about their job satisfaction. Nip bad attitudes in the bud.

Pay Attention: Employees who regularly offer to work overtime are either great to have, or a potential problem. But what about when the workload doesn’t require it? Staying late with no supervision—especially for an employee with access to cash and financial records—is something embezzlers do.  Embezzlers also spend money they don’t earn—so watch for signs of spending above salary should allow. Driving a new car, showing off expensive jewelry or bragging about trips and pricey restaurants are potential warnings.

Screen employees: Pre-employment background screening is critical to prevent fraud. But don’t stop there—occasional screening for established employees who have access to fiduciary information is also essential.

Employers don’t need to be paranoid about employee fraud. Reasonable safeguards and common sense supervision of employees is often all that is needed to prevent embezzlement. But even the sharpest managers have been fooled by embezzlers—and it can happen to any business.

Reports are surfacing that the professor charged with the fatal shooting of three colleagues last week in Alabama had a violent history that perhaps could have been discovered—with more thorough background screening.

Amy Bishop, who also wounded three others, had more than one incident in her criminal past. She was arrested in 2002 for assaulting a woman in a pancake restaurant—over a child’s booster seat. She shot and killed her brother in 1986, in what was officially ruled an accident. And she was questioned about a mail bomb received by her supervisor at Harvard.

The question remains: was this information available, and not acted upon by the University? Or did the University of Alabama use an insufficient level of pre employment screening for Amy Bishop’s position?

Employers typically choose from several levesl of background screening. The lowest level might be enough for a back office employee with no client contact, on-the-job driving, or access to sensitive data. On the other hand, day care providers and nursing homes, who work with vulnerable populations, need all the information they can get on a potential hire.

Why not the University of Alabama? Isn’t it better to know more, rather than less, information on a university professor, who is in a position of power and influence over students?

Now that the damage has been done, and the victims’ families face untold grief and loss, it is easy to look back and wish things had been done differently. Instead of regretting inaction, isn’t it better to take all possible actions—before workplace violence occurs?