Eyes down for great staff lootery draw

Lots of companies carry out spot checks to make sure their staff are not going home with the profits in their pockets. Now one chain of stores has decided to go a step further and introduce an element of fun into the process.

Instead of the dull old routine of lining up to have their bags checked, staff will be able to pick coloured balls out of a bag to determine which lucky person will be the subject of a random search before going home.

Yes, it's the National Lootery and it could be you.

The searches were introduced at Hobby Craft toy and model superstores nationwide yesterday and will be carried out by security staff or management.

Once the store has closed for the day, staff will be required to form an orderly queue as the balls are selected one by one. A green ball allows the employee to go straight home without undergoing a search, a yellow one means an on the spot bag check, and red hits the jackpot - a search of the person's locker, bag and car.

The scheme was revealed to staff in an internal memo, which while stressing there was "no problem in this store" read: "We have been requested by head office to carry out random searches. As I do not wish to embarrass any member of staff by singling them out I have decided that we should work the following system."

Once the ball has been selected and the area of the search decided, the duty manager then has the choice of searching either all or part of the designated areas.

The memo ends on the somewhat hopeful note: "I hope that I can rely on your co-operation to make this as painless for everyone as possible."