Thoughts on Security today
Looking around as I do, its obvious our industry is growing, there are men and woman in uniform everywhere, some well dressed some scruffy but what they do have in common is their look of boredom and vacant existence, an expression of what am I doing here! Whilst our Industry grows it seems we pick anyone for the job stick em in a uniform and throw em on site, I thought we stopped doing this in the eighties, obviously not. Its becoming extremely difficult to get the right calibre of person through the door to interview these days for positions in security, we get hundreds of applicants weekly who frankly I wouldn’t give the time of day too but, employment law states we have to see these bewildered idiots and waste our time and theirs in a process they wouldn’t and couldn’t pass, that is a legible conversation with their trousers in the correct position around their waste.
Price is a major factor as clients want the cheapest rates, understandable, if you just want to meet your insurance criteria clients don’t consider at all the staff they are employing, albeit from a contractor that’s completely over looked, its not their problem, it’s all about the hourly rate, the cheapest rate so let’s look at what makes the rates up or what should be included, here’s an eye opener.
Security staff, your front of house staff, your first line in security should be P.A.Y.E employed, that means they have a steady job a future with steady hours, radical I know! Being employed means staff are not self-employed paying their own tax national insurance, holidays and uniform, yes uniform, this should be factored at around £280 per person/guard, man or woman and everything else in between. Self employed looks like companies are paying the correct rates but let’s be sensible if you can, their not, and its impossible to compete with them therefore they win the contracts, they go on to provide the level of inadequacy clients have become far to familiar with, its not the guards fault, it’s the expectation of a cheap labour in today’s throw away world. A major factor in any Security Proposal should be Supervision and Management, this has a financial impact and is usually missed out to save costs. Staff who are left to their own devices are less productive and become extremely bored very quickly. Security staff need a purpose a job to do so let’s give them a purpose, its not difficult if you have an overall Aim and Objectives for the service you require, generally this is the root cause and the client hasn’t one.
Living in London as we do, and lucky to do so is quite expensive, I would think a starting rate for any good quality security officer in London to be £12.50 per hour. The company should employ its staff direct, recruit, screen and train staff to a decent level before deployment, don’t rely upon the so-called training staff receive to gain their SIA license! Staff should be representative of both the Security Supplier and the client they represent, if not, its gone wrong before you start. On going training should be at least eight (8) days per year per security officer and this should include, fire, first aid, customer service, actions on different events, site familiarisation, patrolling, the law (theft, burglary, robbery & trespass) and most importantly the site they are employed to protect.
I found myself last weekend telling a Security Officer off for the way he looked, scruffy disheveled and generally vacant. I caught myself in time before I got to involved after all, he didn’t work for me and it wasn’t my site but it is my Industry and I generally care about the people in my industry the conditions and pay they suffer hence I voice my opinions to anyone who will listen including our governing bodies like the SIA who in my opinion don’t do enough for us.
If you are in the envious position of employing security companies and staff, give thought to what you really want, if you personally look like a bag of washing tied in the middle, employ the trash currently out there or if you consider yourself to be a cut above the rest look further afield at what’s on offer in the Security Industry, good staff and companies are out there they are just surrounded by effluent (a great word for what I really mean)!