Towards a skilled workforce

Customers are increasingly demanding that security companies demonstrate their commitment to employee development and training. Traditionally characterised as having demotivated, poorly remunerated employees (and a consequently high staff turnover), the industry must be seen to respond to these demands for two reasons – to keep its customer base, and to continually improve the quality of its services.

Without doubt, the role of employee training and development in the security industry must move up a gear. No matter what industry they work in, those members of staff who receive personalised training and development contribute not only to a more skilled workforce, but are more likely to stay with the company for the longer term. Training and development encourages company loyalty, makes members of staff feel valued and will lead to lower rates of officer churn.

Equally important are the demands of the security companies' end users. They are beginning to require an increasingly high quality of service from our staff, and expect the contractor to support employee development.

Loyal, skilled staff not only perform their jobs more professionally, but they also give their employer an edge in what is now an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The training and development of staff, then, is now very much a business driver.

Basic standards for all
Compliance regulations for training – in the form of British Standards – have existed for many years. British Standards accreditation, audited in our industry by the Inspectorate of the Security Industry (ISI), has played a vital role in setting down the minimum training requirements necessary to achieve basic skill levels in health and safety, emergency procedures, customer care and operational standards off-job before beginning on-job training.

The ISI continually monitors the content of training programmes to ensue they are of a satisfactory quality. They will also commend specific training programmes which they believe to be of an excellent quality. Commendations reflect high standards within individual security companies as well as within the industry. Training which is British Standards-accredited offers an excellent starting point. But it's only that. As an industry, we must keep building on these foundations.

Although British Standards are the traditional quality mark for training, the security industry has also identified ways of focusing on training initiatives.

SITO is a dedicated provider of training for the security industry. Established by the BSIA in 1991, SITO has gone on to become an international force dedicated to developing best practice training. Recently, SITO has been working with both the Open College Network and the Qualifications Authority to create nationally-recognised, security industry-specific qualifications. Such initiatives can only benefit employees, while helping to build the reputation of the entire security industry.

Making people count
Individual security companies need to maintain a company culture that encourages training and development in all areas of the security industry, from custodial and cash services through to guarding and distribution.

Loyal, skilled staff not only perform their jobs more professionally, but they also give their employer an edge in what is now an extremely competitive marketplace. The training of security staff is now very much a business driver

At Securicor, we value our Investors in People (IiP) recognition, which we attained back in 2000. It has had very positive effects. Indeed, many clients now prefer to employ security contractors who have been officially recognised in this way.

IiP is a national standard which sets a level of good practice for training and development of people to achieve business goals. The standard was developed during 1990 by the National Training Task Force in partnership with leading national business, personnel, professional and employee organisations – including the Confederation of British Industry, the Trades Union Congress and the Institute of Personnel and Development.

By committing to the standard, organisations gain a flexible, motivated and well-trained workforce that helps deliver success. For their part, employees benefit from personal career development plans based on four key principles: commitment, planning, action and evaluation.

Training for the future
Traditionally, a major constraint on staff training and development has been time and resources. The industry operates on a 24/7 basis, with many members of staff working shifts. However, in this high-tech age we must be able to use available resources and technology to develop innovative solutions that all of our employees may access all of the time.

At Securicor, we've recently exploited this resource by investing in an e-learning system. The new training and development solution began a pilot run at the end of April, and will be fully-implemented throughout our Cash Services network of over 50 branches from the end of September.

E-learning systems can improve the performance and service levels of both the individual and the company. Staff can access training modules via a PC, and are able to manage and keep track of their own personal development.

The most obvious benefit of e-learning is that it's available round-the-clock, allowing staff to plan their training to suit their own shift patterns. Training modules can also be developed to correlate with an individual's job description and required skills.

Individual security companies are continually investing in and improving the quality of employee training and development. The benefits are clear. By raising the standards for each and every employee, we are raising the standards of the entire industry.