A security guarding company reports how it weathered a difficult downturn in the sector and the business is now returning to growth. In tough times, the business maintained its commitment to training and developing staff. They went for Investors in People Gold, believing that this helps them to reinforce a market position based on quality rather than low cost. โInvestors in People Gold firmly established that we were accredited above the norm. It really gets you noticed.โ Wilson Chowdhry, AA Security Managing Director.
The business issue
Investors in People Gold shows that a business has achieved the highest levels of people management practice. AA Security first achieved Investors in People recognition in 2002. They used the Investors in People process to help them establish a business planning process. Part of this strategic overhaul involved gathering more feedback from their customers, and from customer satisfaction surveys, AA identified a need for better trained security officers, who could in turn provide a better quality of service. The guard firm then developed a service aimed at a niche market, for clients looking for trained people delivering quality customer service.
A pattern of strong growth, outperforming the market, was interrupted by the 2009 recession. However, AA came through a difficult period during which many firms in the sector went under. Managing Director Wilson Chowdhry: โThe recession has seen a lot of security firms go broke, often because they operated at the margins. Their staff were on really low wages. They had no more room to cut costs.โ AA Security down-sized, but stuck to their plan. It continued to invest in training, retaining the Training Academy it had established to deliver the training it requires and provide services for external clients, as a profit centre in its own right.
They went for Investors in People Gold as a way of strengthening their market position. โWe saw that public bodies were cutting back and weโve done a lot to reach out to the commercial sector,โ says Wilson Chowdhry. โWe arenโt the cheapest by any means but we offer a fair rate for the quality of service, and we distinguish ourselves on quality.โ
What did IiP contribute?
Establishing a niche based on quality and well-trained staff meant that AA Security needed an external validation of this quality. Investors in People provided that validation and โ perhaps more importantly – helped to ensure that the security firm had the processes and structures it needed to see it through difficult times as well as the boom years.
Staff continue to be trained to obtain qualifications above the statutory level required for the industry, and to have a working understanding of one another’s roles. Increasingly they are training for a range of security roles in new sectors such as the transport industry, which requires specialised qualifications. Staff turnover has averaged just under 13pc from 2009-2011.
Wilson Chowdhry: โInvestors in People is increasingly becoming a requirement for big contracts. So Investors in People Gold really established that we were accredited above the norm and it really gets you noticed. It means youโre on the priority pecking order. Investors in People โ especially Investors in People Gold โ and AAโs training offer through its Academy really give AA Security a competitive edge in this difficult climate.โ
AAโs approach and systems also enables it to manage a diverse workforce. โAA is an ethnically diverse company โ around 30 per cent of our staff come from a range of ethnic groups,โ says Wilson Chowdhry. โBut thatโs just happened โ we recruit on merit and our recruitment reflects that.โ
Impact
AA Security has weathered the recession better than many in the security sector. After posting a loss of £42,000, AA made a profit of £55,000 in 2010. Turnover was up by more than £80,000 in 2010 and 2011 is showing continued growth. Wilson Chowdhry believes that one reason they have won major new contracts is because โAA invests in training and qualifications way above the level required by [industry regulator] the Security Industry Authority (SIA).โ AA is in the top 10 per cent of achievers in the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme, an achievement that Wilson Chowdhry feels is due to AAโs commitment to Investors in People.
The business now has a range of blue-chip clients including major retailers Arcadia Group PLC, NTL Group PLC, Bovis Lend Lease lTD, BP Connect plc, WAGN Railways and Metronet Alliance Ltd. They are winning work in new sectors, such as defence, and in 2009 they won a two-year contract working with Brent Council, the first local authority they worked for. AAโs contract has been renewed and Brent has now consolidated an initial roster of four security providers to use AA as sole provider of security services. In January 2011 AA won the contract to provide security for the Kazakhstan Embassy in London, their first embassy contract.
And in difficult times, did he consider closing down AAโs academy or cutting back on training? โOf course not.โ
About the organisation
Security provider. Based London and Essex, and offer emergency and other services across the UK. 70 staff.
