Beat 'em OR Join 'em?

[Mr. Security]

I work for WBS Security. [Warm Body Security] :D My coworkers do the minimum to get-by and collect the same check I do. When I train new s/o's, I try hard to get them to take it seriously. This lasts for about a week until the new s/o realizes that there are no consequences for taking the course of least resistance, as long as nothing serious happens during the shift.

When I patrol, I find many lights left on, interior and fire doors left open, and the like. These officer's are leaving the facility vulnerable to smoke, fire, and water damage, as well as high-energy bills for a client who could easily move somewhere that is more affordable.

I finding it more difficult to hold to a higher standard when no one else is interested in doing the same, the pay is the same, and the security company offers hiring bonuses, but rarely acknowledges performance. Thus my new thread question. Any ideas? :(

[Bill Warnock]

Mr. Security. Before you can take any action you must document everything the guards do that violates written company policy and specific written instructions to the guard.
When you issue a counseling letter, your supervisor and corporate counsel must have seen it and signed off on what you plan to give the individual. The guard must sign that he has received the letter, you have forwarded a copy of this letter to the company personnel office for inclusion in the temporary portion of his personnel file. You must give the individual every opportunity to repair. After three counseling letters, you can normally move to have the individual dismissed if that is company policy. At such time, the letters are moved to the permanent portion of the personnel folder. When that individual applies for employment elsewhere, the folder comes in handy.
You must maintain performance folders on each one of your subordinates lest you be accused of unfair practices.
Check with your personnel office. If you do not have the company's backing, you are shoveling sand against the tide.
You yourself must remain a pillar of deportment otherwise your best efforts will boomerang on you and you will be castigated.
Hope this is of some help. Supervision can at times be a pain.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[Mr. Security]

If you do not have the company's backing, you are shoveling sand against the tide.


You have described my situation in a nutshell. The company can barely attract or retain enough individuals to cover the posts that are available. That's why they are pushing the hiring bonus. Even when the Client asks to have a guard removed from the site, the company tries to stall because of being shorthanded. Anything short of larceny, using illegal drugs or worse, usually results in just a transfer for the offending guard. If I complain too much, the company will figure out how to get someone who doesn't 'rock-the-boat.'



You yourself must remain a pillar of deportment otherwise your best efforts will boomerang on you and you will be castigated.
Hope this is of some help. Supervision can at times be a pain.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

Thanks for the encouragement. :) Sounds like you've been in my shoes before. :eek:

[wvd1979]

I can understand why you're frustrated, but just remember that this is mostly the company's problem. If you are truly doing your best to teach people the right way to do the job and setting a good example, then I wouldn't get frustrated over it. When it comes down to it, money talks. And if your employer doesn't pay that much or hire quality candidates then there is only so much you can do. I used to get frustrated at one of my earlier jobs when co-workers acted like that. I would write letters to my supervisors and try to bring issues to their attention. It was fruitless labor. I soon realized that I wasn't going to change the world and for the most part, people are what they are. It takes an effort from different levels to create a professional environment in my opinion. Sort of like a chain. The chain won't hold unless all the links are on the same mission.

If the job truly brings you down, I'd look for a better working environment. I know that's not always an option, but sometimes good things happen when you least expect it.

[1stWatch]

Poor operation starts at the top, not in the field and certainly not in the middle.

[N. A. Corbier]

Is training part of your job description? As in, the job description on paper in the company offices. If it is, then their poor performance can be used against you if they decide your usefulness has come to an end. Unless, as Bill and others said, you document their training was completed, that they understood the concept taught, and that they were not performing to the standards that they were trained to.

Vicarious liability dosen't extend sideways in job classes, thank God. But it does extend upwards. If your job description places you as a supervisor over them, document the hell out of it, even if it dosen't get them reprimanded.

Keep your own records, as well.

[Bill Warnock]

Well said, N.A. All of us in this business, for the sake of our own hides must maintain a "Pearl Harbor" file. I know it sounds shameful but if you don't protect your "six," few others will.
Remember the wording on the Claymore mine, "This side facing enemy." Forget it at your peril.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[Mr. Security]

Is training part of your job description? As in, the job description on paper in the company offices.

Unofficial FTO. I could refuse to do it, but it definitely would be a strike against me. I recently designed a form covering all aspects of the job. When I finish training, I review all items on the form and have the probationary officer sign off on it.

[1stWatch]

I see your dilemma indeed. They expect you to design forms, train people, and do work that is above and beyond others, but there is no official promotion or even a raise and they won't support your ideas or, in some cases, their own company policies to make things run properly. It's your call as to what to do, whether or not to stay, but always consider alternatives. I have left four companies because of a similar situation. Better to look out for yourself than to be used and thrown away IMHO.

[N. A. Corbier]

There is no "unofficial." You are a Field Training Officer, it is now part of your job description. You are now able to be sued, fired, and otherwise negatively affected by the job performance of those you train. Especially when you began issuing forms under your authority for other employees to sign.

Good luck in your new position. I would do one of two things: Use it to establish yourself, and then ask for money to go along with it, or 2) do the bare minimum you can with it, and look for another job.

Its just like the guard who does escorts on a property where the account is "property protection only." You allowed them to assign additional responsbilities to you, and now they can use it for/against you.

Its like the first shift guard who holds no rank/position, but assigns schedules, writes reports on other employees, and leaves "notes" giving orders to other employees. They're technically a site supervisor, and companies have used that for "failure to perform duties," but they're not paid as a site supervisor.

[Bill Warnock]

Envision the first thing to be sought during discovery will be the training records. From there the dominos fall. Every scrap of paper concerning performance will be asked for in the form of a ?Subpoena Duces Tecum.? After that fun-filled event, you received a ?Witness Subpoena.? Nothing as N.A. has written is ?unofficial.? The attorneys, the state or presiding judge will make that abundantly clear.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[mallpopo]

join them, why fight it??

[EMTGuard]

It's a major peeve of mine to have to put up with Officers who refuse to do even the minimum tasks of the job. Sadly, the mindset is in nearly every job I've been in. When I worked for the State DOC we had Corrections Officers who NEVER made rounds but logged them in the log book anyway. These "Paper Rounds" became so common that eventually key stations were installed in certain sections which required COs to physically go there and key in and keeping an automated list of the time when the officer was there.
Now as a Security Officer/EMT I still see that behavior. Officers who show up for shift still half asleep and begin napping before relief is even made. Officers who don't make rounds or even do basic housekeeping chores such as emptying the trash or passing the broom or mop in their guardshack.
I own my job to an EMT who never stayed awake on the nights she worked. She was crashed out at the front gate when the Vice President of the Client conpany showed up and woke her. Before he had driven away he noticed she had gone to sleep again. The VP retreived a video camera that he had and videoed the Officer from outside and then inside the shack and continued taping as he called the Security Company, on the Guard shack phone, to report the officer. Inexcusable.
COME ON PEOPLE! It's not that hard of a job for most of us. The majority of the time I'm sitting around the guard shack talking with the Security Officer and Scalehouse operator. I log in the occasional truck and make one round a night just to stay familiar with the plant while the Security Officer does all the office checks and turing on and off alarms and locking and unlocking doors. Every once in a while I have to go to the medical clinic and wrap a cut or burn or respond to an injury and take someone to the hospital. Then there are the times I get to Piss test someone after an accident.
But I'm not out in the yard throwing big planks of wood or huge pieces of steel around. It's a pretty easy gig. Most 3 day weekends I can go the entire time wearing the same uniform shirt and pants.
I don't understand people who won't do even the minimum.

[Mr. Security]

Thanks for the input everyone. I formed my own security consulting firm recently. I have clients and revenue, but not enough to go 'solo' yet. I hope to add clients as time goes on. I'll have more options then.

I also had my manager approve the form that I designed in case a lawsuit should occur. In the meantime, I'll have to 'go with the flow.' :)

[Echos13]

Ah yes, the flow. I have been there in the early years when I did uniform part time. I always try to do what's expected of me. But I also learned that sometimes when you give %125 you find it causes a few rebounds with these WM companies. At least when I went home I knew I had done my part as best as I could and then some. Indeed, one must always go with the flow sometimes or at least try to push against the current to keep one's self respect intact. Good luck and I hope things pan out.

[N. A. Corbier]

Thanks for the input everyone. I formed my own security consulting firm recently. I have clients and revenue, but not enough to go 'solo' yet. I hope to add clients as time goes on. I'll have more options then.

I also had my manager approve the form that I designed in case a lawsuit should occur. In the meantime, I'll have to 'go with the flow.' :)

How much is agency licensing down there? And does your state allow you to work for two companies at one time (Yours and your employers)?

[DMS 525]

I don't know where to start. I do agree, most of the problem is in the management, especially that company I started out with.

I always said that a company that can afford their own Lear jet can pay more than minimum wage, in order to attract better people, but I may as well yell at a brick wall.

I was a supervisor(watch commander). Some of those idiot guards would go complaining to the Guard manager(my immediate superior) that I was so hard on them; we locked horns so many times over the simplest things:

-I never expected anyone to come on duty looking like they were ready for a West Point inspection(although I praised those who went to the trouble to look like a professional), but I have no tolerance for someone who shows up for work looking like a pile of ****(or smelling like one)!! I'd be very direct in telling them to get it together.

-Paperwork is everything in this business. I have torn up so many reports and activity logs, telling them to do it over, and do it right! I also got a policy instituted to forbid the use of "white out"; violation could get you suspended or terminated, because of so much altered or falsified paperwork.

-I can understand the "bag monster" getting someone, especially on a boring account, or one where it is hot, or the ventilation is poor. But I had no tolerance of someone who intentionally slept on their post.

-Same for someone who used alcohol or drugs. Think of the dangers, if nothing else.

-I always raised hell when equipment was neglected or abused.

For all of the above, they complained they were not getting paid enough- I asked them how they thought they could be paid more, when they are costing the company so much with such needless negligence and stupidity?

I was always a proactive employee, even when I was a guard; always looking to make things easier, more effective, and more professional.

Yet all I got for that in the long run was kicked right in the chops. The Area Manager we had(a real great, straight up guy) left the company, and moved out of state. Company sends us this guy who had to be the biggest joke and disgrace to the security profession. Although I tried to give that guy a fair shake to prove himself, and offered him the respect he was afforded in his position, it became clear as crystal in no time at all that that man did not know his ass from a hole in the ground!!! We butted heads so many times, and I told him he needed to spend some time on the street to see where I was coming from, rather than sit on his duff in his office most of the day reading that stupid newspaper.

It finally came to a boil when I got called in on the carpet and really reamed out good, about how I was supposedly mean to a certain female officer, as alleged by her beer guzzling account supervisor, who thought he was gonna move up a peg at my expense. As for that female officer: anyone with half an eye could see she was nothing but a spoiled rotten, sheltered, sniveling, stuck up little brat who had no business in the job. No sense of humor, no people skills, and thought everyone was out to get her.

At that sorry session, the Area Manager and that two faced witch of a Guard Manager were not interested in anything I had to say. They made the decision to suspend me for a week with no pay.

That did it for me. I went right from there to another company where I knew some people, and was hired by them right away. Within a few weeks, my old company lost two manned accounts and 35 mobile patrol accounts to my new employer. I started out as a grunt, but within a few months I was on patrol, and within a year, I was a Watch Commander again.

I did take the liberty of writing the President of the former company, asking him in so many nice words why he kept a couple of obvious idiots running the show in that city. I told him my side of the issue, etc.

What I could never figure out at first was why they came down on me so hard for the sake of one guard, when they normally treated them like cannon fodder? It didn't make sense. Then it hit me, and I did a little investigating; it was just what I thought. That snotty little brat was the Area Manager's daughter!

Justice does prevail. The drunk SGT who made trouble quit less than 3 weeks after I did(probably mad because he didn't get my position). Little Miss It got his job, but before long, she had her charges and the employees at the account she managed hating her guts, and she began to recieve a lot of threats.
Corporate soon realized that Area Manager was nothing but a moron, and got rid of him. Guard Manager realized her number was up, and left the company rather suddenly.

May they all roast in hell.

[IrishGuard]

Ah, Life at the Main Gate. :)

Very interesting posts. They all make good reading.

In my opinion the best standards are those which are, generally speaking, maintained by Security Guards who are direct employees of the Company who is requiring the service.

I know of many large multi national Companies who employed their own Security Force and recruited mainly Ex Military, but alas those days are over.

These days, it's usually the lowest possible Tenderer who gets the job, and in many cases the customer gets what they paid for.

[Mr. Security]

How much is agency licensing down there? And does your state allow you to work for two companies at one time (Yours and your employers)?

I'll PM you when I get the chance.

[Mr. Security]

Ah yes, the flow. I have been there in the early years when I did uniform part time. I always try to do what's expected of me. But I also learned that sometimes when you give %125 you find it causes a few rebounds with these WM companies. At least when I went home I knew I had done my part as best as I could and then some. Indeed, one must always go with the flow sometimes or at least try to push against the current to keep one's self respect intact. Good luck and I hope things pan out.

Thanks! :)

[Mr. Security]

I'll PM you when I get the chance.

PM left today. ;)