Do you have a tier system at your company?

[Condo Guard]

Actually two questions here - do you have a tier system, and / or shift differential? What criteria does your company use? I'm asking because my direct supervisor is looking at trying to get the S/Os a raise, and to make us a bit more efficient. The problem is we have a mix of duties, both mundane and requiring a better skill set. (For example, we do "valve operator" training so the S/Os can assist with the fire sprinkler systems at the direction of the fire department if needed.)

I don't know if a shift differential will fly, but I'm not opposed to it. Yes, night shift is slower, but they have to check a lot more stuff than we do during the day, and because it's night shift, which is a grind on your body and personal life. When something does come up there are fewer of them, so IMHO you need a skilled officer and not just a typical "guards 'r' us" -type S/O.

I can't really compare us to other retail in the area, because the range is too broad - you literally have within a 50 mi. radius S/Os that are the typical "Paul Blart" type, to armed mall security that deals with gang fights in their parking lots. I'd say we fall in the middle.

Any advice / insights are appreciated - my supervisors are good and I want to help them (any myself, obviously).

[Squid]

IMO Grave shift should be 20% higher due to impact on body. Plus, there are fewer people who can actually stay awake. Lots of people who are AFRAID of "being all alone on the post at night". On Grave, figure when something does happen the Guard WILL BE the person to handle it, since unlike Day there wont be anyone to hand it off to.

Conversely, there are lots of people who WANT lots of human contact typical of a day shift. World is full of such people who can't do much, but want to feel semi-needed. Mostly old folks.

Simple law of supply and demand.


Personally, I'm working on higher wages via tougher Govt regs for more Certs. More Certs/Training required means higher pay due to less competition. Police Unions understand this very well. Also trying to get CA State BSIS to actually crack down on unlic. guards/companies.

PS-besides having LOTS of seniority, only time I've had Tier was a Warm Body gig where off duty cops got $30, guy with gun permit got $25, guys with just Card got $20, but we were not allowed to have guns. Maybe the off duties were CCW but I don't think so. Not sure what logic was for paying more for guard with permits but not armed. Maybe they just needed bodies real bad and figured "if they got gun they can make more money elsewhere, so we need to match just to fill posts". It wasn't a post where being off duty would help much either. More likely to hurt both client and company if an off duty decides he can't look the other way when some important engineer is doing drugs etc.

[psycosteve]

Actually two questions here - do you have a tier system, and / or shift differential? What criteria does your company use? I'm asking because my direct supervisor is looking at trying to get the S/Os a raise, and to make us a bit more efficient. The problem is we have a mix of duties, both mundane and requiring a better skill set. (For example, we do "valve operator" training so the S/Os can assist with the fire sprinkler systems at the direction of the fire department if needed.)

I don't know if a shift differential will fly, but I'm not opposed to it. Yes, night shift is slower, but they have to check a lot more stuff than we do during the day, and because it's night shift, which is a grind on your body and personal life. When something does come up there are fewer of them, so IMHO you need a skilled officer and not just a typical "guards 'r' us" -type S/O.

I can't really compare us to other retail in the area, because the range is too broad - you literally have within a 50 mi. radius S/Os that are the typical "Paul Blart" type, to armed mall security that deals with gang fights in their parking lots. I'd say we fall in the middle.

Any advice / insights are appreciated - my supervisors are good and I want to help them (any myself, obviously).

My understanding with the companies I had worked with was that wages were dependent upon 2 main criteria. The first was the site and 2nd was rank. But this is easy to do when your getting 50 an hour per guard and only paying them around 10 an hour. There were some other minor considerations that were taken into consideration like site distance, uniform requirements and the like. A site differential might be one avenue to talk to managers about but that is something that will be lost on other sites. A rank system might cause some problems with floaters as someone who is technically a higher rank who knows nothing about the site could get themselves into trouble if they try to assert command of the site. The best idea I could come up with is a tiered pay schedule based on certifications and time in service. But this is dependent on a guard getting not only the time off to train but to have the training accessible to them.

[Condo Guard]

Good points. I agree with Squid that I think guys that have all their current required certifications (or more) should be recognized for being the professionals they are.

Rank appears to be an issue where I am at; I haven't been there long enough to understand the personalities / issues. I get that some S/Os that work and have a brain resented some previous sergeants who apparently thought their duties were to guard the back office and stay up to the minute on the NCAA / NFL scores (LOL).

That's why a tier system might work - you would still be a security officer, but if you were "level II" or a "senior S/O" with more pay, that would be recognition without adding too much brass. (Long ago I worked a shift with four lieutenants who clearly had too little to do - really annoying.)

[fortsmithman]

When I worked at the local hospital as a guard we got paid a shift premium of 2.50 an hour extra if our shift occurred between 1600 until 0800 the next day.

[psycosteve]

I
PS-besides having LOTS of seniority, only time I've had Tier was a Warm Body gig where off duty cops got $30, guy with gun permit got $25, guys with just Card got $20, but we were not allowed to have guns. Maybe the off duties were CCW but I don't think so. Not sure what logic was for paying more for guard with permits but not armed. Maybe they just needed bodies real bad and figured "if they got gun they can make more money elsewhere, so we need to match just to fill posts". It wasn't a post where being off duty would help much either. More likely to hurt both client and company if an off duty decides he can't look the other way when some important engineer is doing drugs etc.

Keeping guards who have their permits to carry on hand is a good idea. This means that they could go to an armed site at any time. Keeping these guys happy and working benefits the company and also allows for expansion into more armed work when it becomes available. This alone becomes a huge advantage over other companies looking for other contracts as the ability to grow with your security company as demands change.

[Squid]

prob is 99% of operators view any wage cut as pure profit.

Guards are like Day Care Workers, in that its hard to directly connect higher pay with better product. Also, the nature of most of the work is such that many unqualified people can do the job great, and many more qualified people wont do it as well. An energetic high school (or even Jr High) girl will be a much better mentor than a school teacher with Master's and 20yrs exp. Some posts you are better off with 20/20 vision but an IQ of 80, rather than IQ of 120 and bad eyesite.

On the other hand, unlike Day Care Workers, clients rarely care about finer points of quality of the service. "Nothing got stolen, neighborhood still crap" is as good as it gets most places (so why not give guard a few extra duties?). With Day Care, the possibilities for extra service and extra quality are unlimited. Why not teach the little buggers French AND Chinese?

[Condo Guard]

Thought I'd give an update - it got approved. It is a little complex, but basically is determined by performance and skill set. Rank and seniority are factors, but the bottom line is a regular S/O can move up and see the benefit in his paycheck when performance reviews and raises / bonuses are assigned.