From loss prevention to counter-terrorism and customer services, managing new risks and ‘protecting the guest experience’, the role of security in shopping centres is changing, writes Adam Baker, pictured, Marketing & Business Development Director of ABM UK, a facilities management services firm.
I started my career in security 18 years ago. Back then, there was a two-part job description and a one-part purpose: be in uniform and be visible, and deal with shoplifters. It was more of a job than a career, something that people did for a bit once they had left the military or the police and before they decided on long-term plans.
Staff turnover was high but it wasn’t a major issue because there were plenty of people who wanted the work and they didn’t need to be highly qualified. In any retail environment, there was a clear division of labour. Security was responsible for loss prevention, and the retail staff looked after sales and customer service.
To state the obvious, approaches to risk management must adapt to meet the changing nature of the threat.
After 9-11 the role of security in large retail environments was about more than just loss prevention and antisocial behaviour.
Security guards became security officers, responsible for managing the safety of thousands of people on a daily basis. The new role requires new skills. Companies employing security guards changed the way they hired and developed security staff. There’s now a basic licence to operate from the Security Industry Authority (SIA) that simply did not exist when I started.
Of course, that marks a positive step forward but security firms must do more than check and screen their security staff. Development programmes must be comprehensive and cover topics including bomb search, risk assessment and first response as well as crucial soft skills sessions on how to approach a suspect without making them feel uncomfortable. I’m proud to work for a company that has a history of self-delivery coupled with extensive technical training and development but I’m also conscious that it’s not enough.
The security profession and its people must also come to terms with another new aspect of their role.
The guest experience is now the responsibility of everyone, all the time. The pressures of financial performance mean that managing agents need more people to come to a shopping centre, more often.
These sites don’t just deal in retail anymore. You can shop, eat, drink, relax and play for most of the day with cinemas and bowling alleys keeping the doors open for longer. That gets more people in, but it’s the guest experience that keeps them coming back. Visitors to a shopping centre should expect security officers to be as helpful on daily offers or directions to shops as the people they speak to in-store.
At ABM UK, we’re following the lead of supermarkets and our security staff will actually take visitors to whatever it is they are trying to find. It’s one of the specific expectations that we set of our staff during their customer services training.
Making use of our diverse business portfolio, our approach to customer services is led by BlackJack promotions. As an experiential marketing company, they ensure all ABM UK staff play their part in protecting the guest experience.
For anyone in our business, customer services skills are as important as technical development.
Changes to the role of a security officer have been driven in part by necessity with the growing threat of terrorism, and in part by the desire of managing agents to improve financial performance.
Either way, security guards have become more rounded professionals with improved long-term career prospects that make a greater contribution to the businesses, the people and the experiences they protect. As far as I’m concerned that’s a good result, all round.
