Field Staff Monitoring (Case Study)

Employee surveillance by Aaden Detective Agency Leipzig does not necessarily have to result in the dismissal of a lazy, disloyal, or fraudulent employee; it can also produce a very pleasant side effect for the employer. What that is, you will see at the end of this case study from Gera.

Weak numbers = weak performance?

The client from Gera of our detective agency from Leipzig employed numerous field staff who were primarily responsible for customer acquisition and support. One of these employees, whom we will call Mr. Zeitz, drew his employer’s attention due to extremely poor closing rates and sales figures, which had not declined rapidly over the past years but had steadily and cumulatively dropped to a dramatic extent. The employer did not consider it plausible that the employee’s professional or personal performance had deteriorated so drastically. Instead, he strongly suspected that the field staff member was not properly adhering to his working hours and appointments or was simply putting in minimal effort, as the client of our business detectives in Leipzig put it. Consequently, the review of Mr. Zeitz by our qualified investigators was agreed upon.

Relaxation in a brothel after supposed work-related strain

Since it became apparent during the commissioning meeting in the morning that Mr. Zeitz had two known customer appointments scheduled for the afternoon, our detective agency for Gera agreed with the company owner to conduct a short-term surveillance immediately after signing the contract in order to carry out a direct spot check of the field staff member. Naturally, neither the target person nor the company vehicle was found at the two addresses in question. A subsequent check of Mr. Zeitz’s residential address revealed that the vehicle was conspicuously parked in front of the house, only to be used hours later by the field staff member leaving the house—for private shopping. On that afternoon, therefore, the employee remained at home for the entire time (aside from the shopping trip), thereby missing at least two customer appointments.

The next day, our detective team from Leipzig resumed surveillance in the afternoon, as Mr. Zeitz had to attend a meeting at the client company’s premises in the morning and would only afterward have the opportunity to spend his time as he pleased. What did the target person do after leaving the company premises? After the “strain” of the meeting, he first relaxed in a brothel on Feuerbachstraße near Gera’s main train station. Less than half an hour later, Mr. Zeitz returned to the company vehicle and, followed by our business investigators, drove to a private address in Gera-Lusan. Our private investigators from Leipzig did not initially rule out the possibility that this might finally be a customer visit, but were proven wrong when they saw the nameplate “Family Zeitz” at the property. Apparently, the target person was visiting relatives; as later confirmed in a conversation with the client, these were his parents. Shortly before 5:00 p.m., it was finally “end of the workday,” as Mr. Zeitz returned home and did not leave his residence again until the official end of working hours at 6:00 p.m.

Alternative working time arrangements that would likely interest his wife as well

On the following day, Mr. Zeitz undertook activities that most closely resembled his version of work up to that point: before lunch, he visited five customer addresses but did not stay at any of them for more than ten minutes, making it highly doubtful that the customers were satisfied with their service. Between appointments, the target person of our detectives from Leipzig interspersed various private errands, including visits to a hardware store, a passport office, a bicycle shop, and a supermarket. Given this, our business investigators began to wonder how the field staff member was managing to generate any sales at all. In addition, lunchtime shortly after 1:00 p.m. marked the end of the workday, as the married Mr. Zeitz picked up an attractive young woman who was not his wife and went with her to eat at the Greek restaurant Knossos on Dornaer Straße. After the restaurant visit, our business detectives in Gera observed the target person entering an apartment building with the young woman. After about an hour, the suspected employee returned to the company vehicle. Apparently, Mr. Zeitz was not only unfaithful to his employer—but that was not the focus of this assignment for Aaden Detective Agency Leipzig. To conclude the day, the field staff member visited a sports club before the end of working hours and took part in a training session.

On the next surveillance day, which followed after a two-day break due to the weekend, Mr. Zeitz again met with the attractive young woman and spent two working hours with her—walking, restaurant, walking. However, he had not started his day until 1:30 p.m.; prior to that, aside from his wife leaving the house (presumably for work), no activity was observed at or around the residence. Apparently, the target person of our private detectives from Saxony belonged to the type of person who dislikes Mondays. The remainder of the afternoon was spent with his parents and later with his wife, with whom he ran private errands during working hours and subsequently relaxed at a plot in a garden allotment. In coordination with the client company’s managing director, our detectives in Gera concluded the investigation at this point—the company owner had seen enough and intended to take action. His decision regarding Mr. Zeitz’s future was quite unusual, as you will see in the next section.

Massive increase in sales instead of immediate dismissal

Finally, the explanation of the positive effects of the detective investigation mentioned at the beginning: normally, such a series of breaches of contract and such blatant neglect of duties would result in immediate dismissal by the deceived employer. In this case, however, the company owner acknowledged partial responsibility. He had been too lenient and had granted his employees too much freedom. Therefore, he did not consider Mr. Zeitz solely at fault and decided not to dismiss him, but instead to inform him of everything he knew about his working day. The target person of our Leipzig detectives thus knew exactly where he stood.

In the very next week alone, the field staff member achieved twice the revenue of his previous monthly average for the current year. It therefore appears that Mr. Zeitz made use of his unexpected second chance. The company owner’s actions quickly became known among the workforce, and it soon became clear to everyone that detectives had been involved. As a result, the entire staff significantly improved their performance, leading to a revenue increase of over 60% compared to the previous month and nearly 50% compared to the same month of the previous year. Our business detective agency from Leipzig thus acted as a dramatic revenue catalyst for the client, easily offsetting the cost of the investigation. The extent of this increase in revenue came as a very positive surprise even to our most experienced investigators.

Notice

Note: For reasons of discretion and data protection, the locations and certain personal details have been altered without changing the substance of the actual events.

*Note: All assignments of Aaden Commercial Detective Agency Leipzig are processed by our operations management in Leipzig. We have a network of qualified, vetted investigators who can be active on site for you within a short time.