Security Guards & Value For Money
Within the security industry, there's a varying range of quality and as such there's a range of costs involved. In the next series of blog posts we're going to break down what differentiates between security providers and show you what we do that affects how we set our pricing. As a complete security provider we operate in several sectors within the security industry, but it makes sense to start with man-guarding as this is the one that comes up most often and it's also the one that is most directly connected to the input cost of manpower - arguably our most expensive cost.
What is Value For Money
We hear it all the time that people want "value for money", but what this means for two different people may not be the same - for example, some security buyers use "value for money" as a code for "cheapest possible option", whereas others use it to mean they want value added to the basic service that they're getting - which is what we try to bring to the party, maintaining our ethics and doing our level best to deliver what we promise. At K9 Protection, we're a PAYE company meaning all of our staff work "on the books" and are visible to HMRC. We don't employ based on umbrella companies, we don't employ cowboys on a "self employed" basis, and we don't subcontract staffing.. If you book K9 Protection, you get K9 Protection.. you get our guards, you get our management, and you get my passion for the industry that goes back 25 years.
When shopping around for a guard, you'll see rates anywhere from £12 an hour up to £30 an hour - often with the upper end of that scale still paying minimum wage and subbing out the task (often to the guys at the lower end of that who will often be some pillock with a WhatsApp group filled with staff that aren't even known to them). When looking at the rates, ask yourself: How much does it really cost to pay a guard enough to make them care. Those charging £12, bypassing employment law by paying £8 self-employed or cash are putting your assets at risk, it's as simple as that.
Pre-employment checks
Before we offer anyone a role, each candidate is invited to an interview where we not only discuss their CV and what transferrable skills they can bring, we then run through pre-defined scenarios and a visual note-taking exercise which is scored; only those that make the score are invited to progress within the recruitment process.
When we initially recruit a guard, there are several things we need to do in order to achieve compliance and internal happiness that we're employing the right person. The government (and every insurance company we've ever used) tell us we must screen our staff to British Standard BS7858, which acts as a box-ticking exercise to show that the candidate doesn't appear on any watch lists, isn't a financial or bribery risk, and has a five year checkable history. Screening to BS7858 is a time consuming process that involves contacting former employers, schools & universities of a candidate in order to verify where they've been for the last five years. The days of getting honest references are long behind us and screening typically only gives us the most basic of information on dates worked, so for this reason at K9 Protection we go one step further. In addition to BS7858, we need to know we're employing the right people - for this reason we'll take up character references and try to build a pen-picture of the candidate. For many of our roles (specifically PBSA type roles) we will take out a criminality check on a candidate which will be monitored for the duration of their employment, making screening a living process that is updated on a regular basis. Screening can be frustrating and hard going, and consumes many man hours. Some companies outsource this side of things but we keep better control by keeping it in house.
Getting equipped
Once a candidate is screened and becomes an employee, we ensure they have the right equipment for their role at no expense to themselves. Whilst many security companies provide nothing more than a clip on tie ready to be attached to aged and bobbled shirts that were once white from any supermarket shelf, we provide our guards with a practical uniform - all bar trousers and pants - there's nothing worse than guards turning up to work looking like shabby waiters and having the right kit helps the team to do their job. Our uniform has been selected and tweaked over the years to provide our team of security guards with a smart year-round uniform that's breathable and ventilated in the summer and warm and practical in the winter months. On top of the basic uniform, we ensure that the correct PPE for the task is supplied to the new employee and that all contracts have the right hardware, be it site phones, body-worn video cameras, or anything else that's needed. Something we do a little bit differently is ensure our guard's name is visible on their uniform, personalising any engagements with the public they have.
Ticking Over
Two things we've kept at the forefront of what we do are making sure our guards are paid right and on time, and making sure our guards are kept safe while they're working. When implementing a new guarding contract, we will always base it on paying the guard no less than real living wage; in fact, we were the first security guarding company in South Wales to sign up with the Living Wage Foundation and still fundamentally believe in paying at least a real living wage. Wherever it's possible, we'll go a step above and pay a KPI based supplement to the living wage, ensuring that when staff remain punctual and carry out their patrols as expected they'll be rewarded with an enhanced rate of pay. When a member of our team books on, they're logging in to our proprietary guard management system which ensures that their hours are logged on their timesheet, billed to the client, and adhere to the shift. The second key feature of our GMS is automatically managing the safety of our team; each site will have a patrol requirement or a check-in timer which is automatically monitored by our servers. If for any reason a guard fails to check in or patrol within the allotted timeframe, the system starts our lone worker safety protocol which is designed to wake the dead - alerting line managers, deploying mobile patrols, and putting people on standby to alert the emergency services. This system has been designed in house and nurtured over the years to ensure it's managing both safety and compliance - it also means that there's no way anyone working for K9 Protection can fit in a sneaky power nap during their shift.
Retention
As with all service industry roles, the trick is two fold 1) Recruit them, 2) Keep them.
Security is traditionally an industry which is made up of a largely transient workforce, so it might surprise you to read that over 50% of our team have been with us for over 4 years. It's easy to pretend that it's our charm and people skills that keep our team, we could even pretend that the employee perks scheme we use entices people to stick around, but I suspect the core reason is that people know where they stand - wherever possible, people know their role, they know their shift patterns, and they are part of their site's customer experience.
In Summary
When looking at "value for money", as a security company we implore you to look deeper than just the hourly rate, and when comparing companies, try to compare apples with apples. There are many companies out there who are playing the odds and running roughshod with their client's business; whether that be cutting corners in their screening which invalidates any insurance, treating staff as self-employed which invalidates insurance, or even paying cash at a rate below minimum wage in order to aid benefit fraud and breaches in right-to-work legislation. It's worth mentioning that we're aware there are also many decent companies like ourselves who work honestly and within the framework of the law, and much respect goes to these competitors and colleagues.
If you'd like to talk about a security service, get in touch with us today.
