Everybody lies sometimes. This is true. Research has shown that 60 per cent of people lie at least once in a 10-minute conversation with a stranger. But many lies are benign, constructed to preserve someone’s feelings, save face or avoid damaging a relationship. These lies are usually harmless, expected and appreciated. Dishonesty in the workplace, however, can be dangerous. From the lies told in employment interviews to tales spun in the boardroom, workplace dishonesty can affect a company’s security, morale and bottom line. HR professionals and investigators should be skilled and trained to detect lies. Join Timothy Dimoff, security expert and president of SACS Consulting, as he discusses workplace dishonesty and what to do about it.

1. How to Deal with Workplace
Dishonesty
Timothy Dimoff, CPP, President, SACS Consulting

2. Timothy Dimoff
Timothy Dimoff, president of SACS Consulting &
Investigative Services, Inc., is a speaker, trainer and
author and a leading authority on high-risk workplace
and human resource security and crime. He is a
Certified Protection Professional, a certified legal
expert in corporate security procedures and training,
a member of the Ohio and International Narcotic
Associations, the Ohio and National Societies for
Human Resource Managers, and the American
Society for Industrial Security. He holds a B.S. in
Sociology, with an emphasis in criminology, from
Denison University.

3. Everyone Lies
A survey of 40,000 respondents found that 92% of
Americans admitted to lying regularly in the workplace

4. People admit to feeling less guilt about behaving
dishonestly at work versus in their personal lives
Lying in the Workplace

5. 83% of college undergraduates admit to lying in
an attempt to get a job
Lying in the Workplace

6. In one study, 50% of workers admit to committing at
least one unethical action over the course of a year
Lying in the Workplace

7. The 9 Motivations for Lying
1. To obtain a reward that’s not easily available
2. To gain advantage over a person or a
situation
3. To create a positive impression/win
admiration
4. To exercise power over others by controlling
information
5. To avoid punishment or embarrassment

8. The 9 Motivations for Lying
6. To protect another person from being
punished
7. To protect yourself from physical or
emotional harm
8. To get out of an awkward social situation
9. To maintain privacy

9. The 7 Most Common Lies
• That wasn’t my fault.
• I have to leave early for a ______ appointment.
• It’s my first priority.
• The account is looking good. (bragging)
• That was my idea!
• I need it yesterday.
• I’m working on it right now….

10. Consequences to Employers
• Fraud
• Ruins business reputation
• Stealing/theft/shrinkage
• Weakened productivity and profits

11. Consequences to Employee
• Creates false persona
• Leads to complexity – web of lies
• Ruins reputation
• Destroys trust
• Can destroy career

12. Tips for Detecting Lies

13. Establishing a Standard: Baselining
Theory: Capture what person looks/sounds like
when responding truthfully.
• Begin with normal conversation, offer a
compliment
• Look for natural expressions, hand gestures,
tics, posture, gaze
• Make notes of about normal behavior
Baselining can be helpful, but use with caution!

14. What Deception Sounds Like
Look past a truthful statement
• “I work hard, and always complete my week-
end report on time.”
• Person tries to divert attention from the real
issue by stating something that is valid

15. What Deception Sounds Like
• Failure to answer – person diverts you with a
different answer
• Denial problems – absence of an explicit denial
• Nonspecific denial – “I would never do something
like that.”
• Isolated delivery of denial – a person denies doing
something but buries it in a long-winded answer

16. What Deception Sounds Like
• Reluctance or refusal to answer – “I’m not sure I’m
the right person to talk to.”
• Repeating the question – in order to “buy time” and
fill in awkward silence
o If a person thinks 10x faster than he speaks, he
has just bought himself 20-30 seconds of time
But remember cluster rule, one behavior doesn’t
indicate deception, it may just be a habit

17. What Deception Sounds Like
• Non-answer statements – may also be used to buy time
o “That’s a good question” or “I’m glad you asked that.”
• Inconsistent statements – It's difficult to keep your story
straight when truth is not your ally!
• Attack mode – “Why are you wasting my time?”
• Inappropriate questions – when the response is a
question that doesn’t relate to our question

18. What Deception Sounds Like
• Suddenly becoming extremely polite – “yes, ma’am.”
• Showing inappropriate level of concern – “Why is this
such a big deal to everyone?”
• Process or procedural complaints – “Why are you asking
me? Or How long is this going to take?”
• Failure to understand a simple question – if the wording
traps a person, they attempt to change the wording
It depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is.

19. The Most Powerful Lies
• I would never steal anything!”
• “That would be dishonest.”
• “I’m not that kind of person.”
Rather than answer a question, the person makes a
convincing statement, with which you will likely want
to agree.

20. Convincing Statements: True or Not?
These statements are often true, but don’t
address the real question
• Often contain emotion, sometimes tears
o “I would never falsify a document” or “I’ve
been a good employee for 20 years!”
o Statements are often consistent with your
bias
• Investigator agrees – “Why would anyone
jeopardize their job?”

21. Looking for Deception
Nonverbal clues or actions comprise 2/3 of all
communication
• Most of us are not aware of our nonverbal tics
• Only watch for nonverbal clues that come in the 5-
second timeframe after the question or other stimulus
• Look for clusters

22. Looking for Deception
Pauses or Delays – how long before a pause after a
question is meaningful?
• What were you doing on this day seven years ago?
• “On this date seven years ago, did you rob a gas
station?”
What are appropriate pauses for these questions?
Does the person usually respond immediately and is
now delaying?

23. Looking for Deception
• Verbal/nonverbal disconnect
o Nodding head while saying no
• Hiding the Mouth or Eyes
• Throat-clearing or swallowing
before answering
• Hand-to-face activity – anxiety can
cause blood to rush away from
face, causing a person to itch

24. Looking for Deception
• Physical barriers – moving a purse or a coffee cup
between them and interviewer
• Placing items as a barrier to a perceived threat

25. Looking for Deception
• Stillness – a liar might try to move as little as possible
• Uses fewer than normal amount of gestures
• “Freezes” upper body
• Stops natural mirroring of other person'

26. Looking for Deception
Anchor Point Movement
• Anchor points are the parts of the body
that anchor a person in a particular
position
• If sitting, that would buttocks, back and
feet. Secondary anchor points are hands
• Even if several anchor points move, count
as one deceptive movement

27. Looking for Deception
Grooming Gestures – another way to calm anxiety
• Adjusting tie, glasses, skirt or hair
• Wiping sweat off forehead
• Tidying up surroundings, adjusting notepad, glass
of water

28. Eye Contact
Most people think that poor eye contact indicates
deception
• Eye contact is a highly individualistic behavior
• Behavior varies from culture to culture - prolonged eye
contact is conveyed at times of intimacy or times of
challenge – two opposing situations
• Consider eye contact with extreme care

29. Closed Posture
• What is the reason for closed
posture?
• Person could be cold, or just
uncomfortable
• Because you don’t know – you
can’t attach significance to the
behavior
Closed posture indicates “shutting down”

30. Asking the Right Questions
• Focus on questions they are less likely to be
prepared for or to exhibit behavior that you can read
• Consider the mind-set of a person if they are guilty
• Start off with soft questions that give the person time
to entrench themselves in their “story”
• Avoid asking the direct question outright: “Did you kill
your wife?”

31. Types of Questions
• Open-ended – provide basis for discussion or explores an
issue
o “Tell me what you did after you arrived at the work site?”
• Closed-ended – probes specific case facts
o “Did you go to her house?”
• Bait – hypothetical question that triggers a mind virus
• Opinion – helps to determine how a person feels
o “What do you think about the new company policy?”

32. Successful Bait Questions
• Direct, simple to understand bait questions require a guilty
person to allow for the possibility that something may have
happened
o “Yes, I sometimes pass through the neighborhood, and now that
I think about it I did drive through last night.”
o Now you’ve placed him in the vicinity of the crime
• Don’t overuse bait (or presumptive) questions as person will likely
figure it out
• Use two or three bait questions per hour
• Person needs to feel you have no preconceived notions – you must
be neutral

33. The Key to Open-Ended Questions
PREPARE thoroughly
• Make a list of the facts you know about incident
• Identify what information you want to find out
now and what can wait
• Make a list of evidence
• List what you know about the person

34. Tip:
Repeating a question in full is a delaying tactic that
may indicate time to construct a deceptive answer
When a truthful person just wants to make sure he
heard correctly, he’ll usually repeat only part of the
question.
The Key to Open-Ended Questions

35. Confirm What You Have Learned
If you think you are being deceived, ask as
many questions as it takes for you to be
certain you are right.
• Analyze any suspicious clusters of verbal
or nonverbal indicators

36. The Final Takeaway
Don’t:
• Do or say anything that lets person know
you’re reading him. It will trigger defense.
• Allow yourself to deviate from the cluster rule
• Get overly aggressive
• Ask the question unless you’re sure you really
want to know the answer

37. What to do if Someone is Lying
• What are your intentions by confronting? What
do you hope to get out of this?
• If you’re trying to unmask your co-worker in
order to embarrass or undermine him or her,
reconsider – do you want to look petty
• What was their motive? Was it justifiable? What
are the consequences if you expose them?

38. If You Address the Liar
• Make it a conversation, not a confrontation
• Deal with it as soon as possible
• “Something is on my mind….”
• If he or she is willing to take responsibility,
consider forgiveness
• If not, document conversation so you can refer to
it later
• If necessary, contact the manager or HR

39. Questions
?

40. Thank-you for participating
If you have any questions, please feel free to email them to:
Timothy Dimoff, President, SACS Consulting
tadimoff@sacsconsulting.com
Websites: www.sacsconsulting.com/
www.timothydimoff.com/
Blog: http://liferage.com/
Questions about i-Sight:
Joe Gerard, CEO
j.gerard@i-sight.com