Selecting a Guarding Contractor is a subject which is covered on both the Security Management Stage 1 and 2 courses. On a recent Security Management Stage 1 Course delegates were asked to identify the pros and cons of proprietary (in-house) vs contract guards. These are their answers based on varied experiences:
Advantages In-House
Assume and radiate authority; better continuity; communicate with workforce better; more aware of the company image and culture; they can multitask or be reassigned to other duties; better motivated; familiar with site, operations and loopholes; better relationship with union.
Disadvantages In-House
They can develop a union mentality and there can be a loss of control; cost more; usually unregulated; difficult to introduce change; difficulty in managing poor performing guards, or those with bad attitudes; prolonged period of sickness have to be covered by the company; more aware of the loopholes they can exploit; too familiar with employees.
Advantages Contract
Cheaper; avoidance of human capital issues; may be regulated; medical cover and insurance provided by contractor; contractor deals with many of the management issues; contractor responsible for damage; impartial rule enforcing; have experience from other assignments; client not responsible for out-of-hours misconduct; already trained.
Disadvantages Contract
Difficult to dig into background, even if “vetted” - could one or two be “in the pay” of an adversary?; greater risk of organised criminal penetration; may "import" criminal practices from previous assignments; don’t understand corporate culture; require increased supervision; poorly paid so easier to corrupt; may project image and attitude of being quasi-police; often no selection of who is on site if the contract is poorly negotiated; poorly trained; they may be the ones who pose the real security threat!!
Please note that these are delegates' answers based on experiences, not ARC textbook answers, so please don’t be offended!
ARC courses are designed to maximise delegates interaction. A typical training method is for the tutor to present best practice, and then ask delegates to discuss and modify this according to their own first-hand experiences, such as in the exercise above. This makes for a very profitable learning experience.
Forthcoming university accredited training courses are:
Security Management Stage 1, 4 - 15 August 2008
Security Management Stage 2, 30 June - 11 July 2008
Click here for details.
Click here to read what previous delegates have said about ARC Training courses.
