A new document from the CPNI / National Counter Terrorism Security Office is devoted to motivation of a security guard force – how to measure it and improve it. Mark Rowe digests it.
The 92-page document is aimed at security managers in the CNI (critical national infrastructure) sector. This new guidance, in the form of an interactive PDF, is intended to support security duty managers, team leaders and those responsible for managing security personnel. For those readers that like to skip to the main points, the document does start with its six ‘key messages’. They are:
recognise that motivation may need to change.
don’t try to change everything that affects motivation at once; focus on two or three topics and be clear about what you want to improve.
any changes will take time; you will not see the benefits overnight – but they will happen.
For the improvements to be successful, engagement throughout the organisation is critical.
A highly motivated workforce can have a beneficial impact on performance, attitudes and behaviours, and support your business efficiency and effectiveness.
Remember motivation is not just about the amount of pay, it is about recognising good performance, rewarding it appropriately and above all listening and engaging with your staff.
The document has insight when it points to change coming from below and above. Site security managers may identify where and how to intervene, but to succeed more senior managers need to buy in, ‘rationally and emotionally’. Employees may resist, ‘simply because they were not involved’. Security officers can be influenced to change their behaviour (for the better) by those team members with pride, and informal influence in the group, even if that’s not recognised formally. Get the staff already showing pride and commitment on your side, that others will take a lead from, and you build momentum, the document suggests. The paper makes the shrewd point that motivation is about emotion, besides the rational. Rational reasons alone for changes may not win over officers, it’s suggested. To take one case study – the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s; whereas security staff were once seen as separate from store staff, now the store managers are expected to know the security officers’ names, and to get to know them. The guards have Sainsbury’s identity badges and are involved in the staff ‘huddle’. As for the actual security work, officers have been enrolled in the terrorism awareness Project Griffin; and have been trained in how to use CCTV.
As the document comes from the NaCTSO, which offers security advice – for example to crowded places in case of suicide bombers or vehicles – it is aimed at CNI. A case study more to do with CNI is Eurostar, the train service through the Channel Tunnel. The current guarding contractor is MITIE; previous contractors have included Chubb and Securitas. The NaCTSO guide describes how most staff were retained, ‘and to make sure the transfer process was seamless, MITIE held individual meetings and produced a bespoke information booklet for all staff involved.” Regular ‘surgeries’ sought to make sure that everyone, including the client, knew what was happening. To mark the new contract, officers had a new uniform, and each officer received a small gift. On day one, officers wore a Marie Curie daffodil in support of that charity. Eurostar and the security contractor defined KPIs and a service level agreement, met monthly.
The threat is not only from terrorists – ‘real and serious’ the NaCTSO reminds readers – but the UK remains a target ‘for a number of countries looking to obtain information and technologies to help advance their own military, technological, political and economic interests’ – in a word, espionage. Security has to be efficient, and (in especially regulated field such as nuclear power) compliant. And while, as the document goes on to say, a site may have CCTV, x-ray screening of people and bags, and gates and barriers, the guards are one of the most important layers of security, whether they are patrolling, a dog handler, a CCTV operator or in a gatehouse.
The document addresses the challenges to guards. The chance of a terrorist attack at any one place is low, and yet guards ought to be vigilant all the time, in all weathers, day and night. When inactive they may become bored, or if their hours or long, they may make errors. They may feel unappreciated and they may not have proper rest breaks or a bathroom. Staff turnover may be high, or staff may feel their complaints go unanswered. They may have poor standards of personal appearance, and may be disengaged from their work. Officers may arrive late, or be absent; they may lack camaraderie, be negative during team briefings; communication between staff and manages may be poor. In short: “Staff who lack motivation are at risk of resigning, delivering poor-quality work and making it difficult for other employees to do their jobs efficiently. For these reasons along the issue of workplace motivation should be high on the management agenda.” Motivated workers get along with colleagues better, and ‘always look for better ways to do a job’. There is pride in the work, and officers are willing to cover for shifts at short notice.
Next, the document defines motivation – which is not only about urging people to work harder or quicker. What also matters is that people work in the right direction (at something important to the employer) and are persistent in their work, even when things go wrong. Job satisfaction is not necessarily all, or even mainly, about money, but also shifts, relations with workmates, and the physical state of the workplace. Job satisfaction is not necessarily motivation, however, as the document points out; a worker may be satisfied because he can take it easy! The NaCTSO paper sums up: “The overall measure of motivation is whether there is a match between the type of work people naturally want to do and the work they are actually given.” Some possible ways to motivate are to set goals – ‘people need to know what they are supposed to be doing’ – to make sure that people feel that they are treated fairly; and communicate (and with ‘stripped out’ layers of management, communication by email or conference call may not work). Team-building may help, or may not: “The point is, some teams work and some will not. If you have a team of security officers working with individually assigned discrete tasks towards a common goal you can achieve high operational performance, an example of this is in aviation security checkpoint screening.” Teams may not deliver because of loafers or free-riders, or every member working slow in protest. So; what is your organisational culture, something ignored at your peril? What does the building look like, what are the slogans on the walls, how are people treated? Change in an organisation’s culture ‘takes a sustained effort or an extended time’, the document warns.
The document goes on to measurement of motivation – that you may be able to sense, or observe, or gather evidence of through interviews and focus groups or questionnaires (samples are at the end of the document).
So, how does the manager intervene to raise morale? Act on common officer complaints, such as their clothing. If they ask for warm clothing in cold weather, and the budget (or poor procurement procedures) make it hard to respond quickly, staff may be willing to trade their laundry allowance, for instance, in return for warm clothing, perhaps by agreeing beforehand that the normal procurement practices can be bypassed. A quick response shows the employer cares. Other examples: how can officers report faulty equipment, or that kit is not right for the task? Even if there is a canteen, if it is far from the checkpoint, an officer will lose much of their rest time travelling there and back. Improve the working surrounds, often at modest cost, and you get pay-back, the document suggests. Training may help, but staff can become de-motivated if they ask for or are required to have training to do their job properly, and it does not happen. The document also goes over rostering, suggesting some flexibility, and that rosters should be published early; and that working time regulations are not breached. Some things, the document argues, are fundamentals, such as being paid on time. If officers are not, they will feel let down. Besides a contract guarding service level agreement, there is besides a ‘psychological contract’ of unwritten expectations between security officer and employer. The document here suggests benchmarking – so the organisation can see how it compares on pay and other ‘job fundamentals’ with competitors. Other things include putting across to all officers what their role is, exactly, and how significant it is. Suggested is a ‘team charter’, in the form of a poster, giving for example a ‘mission statement’. Or a wall chart in the staff room, with the team key performance indicators (KPIs) tells people where they are now, and where they need to improve. Another idea is an awards night (but if it’s company-wide, can all your staff attend and feel part of it?) Or, newsletters may produce a sense of ‘team’ among isolated officers. Other ‘interventions’ by managers may be low-cost or no-cost; a hall of fame of pictures of staff; a thank-you note; allowing an outstanding member of staff to mentor others; informal coffee and cakes; or flowers. And as for personal pride in the job, the paper suggests you identify ‘pride-builders’, good front line people who ‘create emotional connections between the work and what matters most at a personal level to their team’.
Other case studies are from Cable and Wireless and their contractor, MITIE; Tesco; and Enterprise rent-a-car; and Sydney Airport and SNP Security. To download, visit www.cpni.gov.uk or the NACTSO website www.nactso.gov.uk.
Many guarding companies and managers of guard forces do many if not all of the things set out in the NaCTSO guide, to keep guards motivated or to raise their motivation. And as NaCTSO pointed out, it need not cost much, or anything, to make a difference, except a little thought and time. For example, social media websites can link people from your company even if widespread and otherwise not able to meet, often or at all. The G4S Linkedin group has more than 1200 members, present and past employees. The Securitas group, likewise, numbers more than 1200. This year G4S finished its staff survey which the multi-national company described as a mammoth task – as it has 630,000 members of staff. As even G4S admits, as it’s such a huge business it can be hard for people to understand exactly what it does. ,Much of the company’s work is in what the company termed ‘low infrastructure countries’ with little or no internet access. Also making the survey difficult was the large numbers of staff on clients’ sites, or on remote sites, or in volatile places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Most responses came in on paper. Some 245,000 responses came in. G4S released two main findings; that 81 per cent of staff said they were happy in their role; and 84pc of staff said that they intended to still be in their current job in 12 months.
An example of a newsletter is from VSG; edited by Leon Barwell. The Northampton-based contractor, acquired by FM company Compass last year, began its 24-page newsletter in May with its officers (with certificates) honoured in the BSIA security officer of the year awards. Included was a long ‘question and answer’ article explaining that acquisition, after a welcome from MD Keith Francis and praise for staff who got to work in the snow in the winter (’A very big thank you to everyone who contributed to this remarkable show of unity and commitment to our customers’). Also writing were Martin Wainman, business development director; Nick Reed, MD of VSG Systems, the electronic side of the company; and Phil Taylor, the company’s health and safety manager. Introduced were new starters such as Greg Morganti, regional operations director – London. To sum up, the online newsletter was a way of the company celebrating its charity good deeds, and training and other news, light-hearted and serious, for example hailing new contract wins (with coffee shop chain Starbucks for instance) and new accounts (such as Nationwide Building Society switching from an in-house alarm receiving centre to VSG’s ARC). Listed are staff who get ‘loyalty gifts’ for service of five, ten and 20 years with the company.
