FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
THE SECURITY SECTOR’S VIEW
PAUL LOTTER
MANAGING DIRECTOR, CORPS SECURITY
2020 has turned those well-known words ‘business as usual’ on its head. Processes, planning and execution have all had to adjust to facilitate new ways of being and new ways of working. This year has been about being flexible and adaptable in the face of a continuously changing landscape.
Our biggest challenge has been working effectively with customers and colleagues from afar and keeping up to speed with their individual changing requirements. Security contract managers were previously out in the field on a regular basis carrying out audits and reviews and having valuable face-to-face contact. The impact of the global pandemic has pushed us to find new ways to achieve all of this remotely, yet still getting the job done to the high standards expected. Our online customer portal, Corps Secure, has been instrumental in making more remote practices a success. It has given us the ability to measure and manage our service delivery effectively even if our management team cannot always be physically present.
Remaining agile and working even more closely with customers this year has been paramount. With so many changes to working practices and premises shutdown or partially occupied at different stages, we’ve been working hand-in-hand with our customers to ensure they maintain fit-for-purpose security solutions that are sensitive to the financial pressures that many are facing. We’ve taken this one step further and we’re now offering complimentary full-service reviews to all existing clients and to new customers.
Supporting the wellbeing of our security officers has always been a core focus for Corps Security but the pandemic has really brought this to the forefront and shone a spotlight on the extent of the challenges faced by our colleagues. We conducted a report early on in the pandemic about the considerably high death rate among security officers and we’ve elevated our commitment to wellbeing as a result. It’s been vital to ensure our officers themselves are in environments that are safe and secure – it’s not just about them delivering security to others.
Our colleague portal has considerably ramped up and now has a separate colleague wellbeing section that offers more support than ever on mental wellbeing, exercise and nutrition. This will continue to be developed and will become a more pivotal part of our wellbeing strategy.
For the Corps management teams we’ve also had to adapt as a result of working remotely. We’ve implemented shorter, more frequent Teams meetings that take place weekly rather than monthly. With weekly online video conferencing we can be far more agile and address any challenges in the moment and act on them immediately. This is something we’ve all adopted as a fruitful new way of working.
The global pandemic has taught us a lot. It has sparked a new level of compassion and made us more united, collaborative, resilient and innovative. It has also elevated the importance of our frontline security workers. Corps has always been an advocate of the Living Wage and we will only beat this drum louder now. Security is not just about security anymore. It’s now about keeping people and places safe and secure. The role of the security officer has now taken on a wellbeing responsibility and this is something that will become a permanent change and one that I expect to see grow in the foreseeable future.
