Our regular contributor Una Riley writes:
As a woman in security and company owner I have held many industry roles that had previously only been held by men. I was beginning to feel part of a historical security footprint! However, there are still roles which until now have never been held by a woman, and Jane Farrell of Sodexo is making her mark on the history of this profession.
Since I started my company in 1985 I have been championing women in security and it gives me great pleasure to see all the women that are now choosing our profession as their career of choice. Recently, Jane Farrell of Sodexo was appointed Head of Security for UK and Ireland. She has worked within the organisation for over 30 years. Like many other security professionals her career path finally led her to the wider world of security. However, she started in 1982 as a management trainee in hospitality. By 1983 Farrell took on the role as Hospitality Manager for the ‘Directors Table’ where she held various managerial roles before the ‘Directors Table’ was acquired by Sodexo in 1989. Her background was training and development, but after joining Sodexo there were many more opportunities open for her to choose from and she grabbed them with both hands. One of those roles was that of account manager, which she not only enjoyed but also provided her with a wealth of operational knowledge and experience. She continued with her customer facing roles up until 2007 when the opportunity arose to transfer her operational skills and experience into strategic improvement through project management.
In 2007 Jane was appointed FM Development Manager for the Centre of Excellence, run at that time by Kathy Ridgard. Now Jane sits in Phil Smith’s, Service Operations, Director of Soft Services leadership platform. She contributes towards Services Operations core services to segment colleagues, from bid support, mobilisation, optimisation and developing people through the Centre of Excellence. Kathy Ridgard – whilst Director of Centre of Excellence, won the industry category of the Professional Security Magazine – Woman in Security Awards 2012; but she has sadly since died. Simon Pears Now Global Head of Security for Sodexo and Kathy Ridgard were recognised for the start-up of Sodexo Security UK and were hailed for the quality and delivery of security services. They have achieved an assessment score from the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme that ranks in the top percentage of UK manned guarding companies. Sodexo Security is now a main player in the world of security and deliver a robust and effective commercial security service to meet their individual high-profile client requirements.
The security service is accredited to ISO 9001:2008, incorporating BS 7858 Employee Vetting, BS 7499 Manned Guarding and BS 7958 Management and Operation of CCTV. This foundation was achieved with a core team that Farrell was part of and now oversees in her new role as Head of Security. Last year when Jane was the FM Development Manager – Service Operations she won the Alan Tilley Award. Tilley worked for Sodexo for over 40 years and was awarded an OBE for his services to hospitality. This special award is given to an individual who exemplifies Alan’s qualities of dedication. The award is for someone who goes the extra mile not just for a year but over a long period of service. On receipt of the award Farrell said: “My mission is to develop and recognise, people at work and personally provide them with skills to reach their full potential to seek future career opportunities, success and recognition. I love the diversity of my role. It provides me access to reach many. I have a passion for bringing a gender balance to the security industry. I have enjoyed a fulfilling career within Sodexo who have provided me with opportunities and I feel lucky to be in a position where I can support others with their careers by giving back.”
Phil Smith, Service Operations, Director of Soft Services Platform Leadership Team commented: “Jane has been a member of my team for years. She is a respected and trustworthy leader not just amongst her peers but by others with whom she interacts. I am always receiving positive feedback about Jane’s contributions to support others. What I admire about her the most is her continuous involvement in extra activities around diversity and driving the security industry forward to a level playing field. She is passionate about talent and pays it forward in many ways.” Farrell’s journey cannot be described as an overnight sensation, she has worked hard to achieve her role as a woman in security. I asked; in 1982 when you set out in hospitality did you ever think you would be in the world of security as such a prominent figure by 2017?
She replied: “I felt comfortable in the hospitality world especially as it was the booming 1980s and it developed my forward thinking and planning skills but I then wanted more general management exposure to run groups of contracts. The business started to change as our clients became more facilities focused and we started winning other service lines but security didn’t feature much at that time and I never imagined myself as a prominent figure in the security industry.”
Farrell was a winner of the Professional Security Magazine – Women in Security Award in 2013. I asked how she felt when she won the award. What did it mean to her personally? She replied: “I felt incredibly proud when Roy Cooper phoned one Monday morning to tell me that I had won the award. I had no idea that I had even been considered for an award in the security industry. I had worked hard to develop my own Sodexo women in security group which was an internal project and I hadn’t realised that it was getting external coverage. Winning the award gave the stepping stone to share my experiences with other women and network groups to strengthen the focus of employing women in the security industry in meaningful roles. I personally felt that I had achieved a huge step forward in my career in up skilling men and women in skills necessary to deliver good security to our clients.”
She won the award for interest in promoting women in security within Sodexo by creating a network group in 2012 – Sodexo Women in Security. The objective for 2012 was to increase Sodexo’s Security’s female population from 10.5pc to 12% … they are at 17.3pc in 2017. I was witness to the formation of SWiS (Sodexo Women in Security) and am overjoyed at the success. Farrell has a core objective to promote personal and professional development opportunities for women within Sodexo to increase the confidence, awareness, and skills of female employees to consider a career in the security industry and she is doing a great job … the figures speak for themselves. Farrell went on: “There have been many times when I have had to step out of my comfort zone but each time it got a bit easier and my confidence grew. I hope my achievements help to inspire other women coming into the security industry to continue to grow the percentage of women working in security and work collaboratively with our male colleagues to define a career pathway to attract young people. Externally winning the PSM-WiS award in 2013 gave me huge confidence to attend other external groups through ASIS, Security Institute, the Worshipful Company of Security Professional (WCoSP) where I became a Freeman of the Company and a Freeman of the City of London this year.” The accolades just keep on coming for her. I was aware of other tributes and asked her to explain. She said: “Through Sodexo women in security I have mentored women to achieve their level three security operations award. Some of these women include Lisa Butters, Security Supervisor who was shortlisted for a First Shine award and Diane Gleeson, Security Coordinator who became a recipient of the ‘Sodexo Rising Star’ award last year. Diane was awarded for her work with security compliance, following the new SIA licensing processes. I also won the award for developing both men and women in security. I subsequently won the Sodexo, Northern Power Transformational leader award in March 2017 for my work mentoring our northern ladies in security.” It is unbelievable to see how many women are now working to champion other women within this profession. It is a dream come true for me. In the 1980s when I was on many occasions the only woman in the room it was a vision that one day females in the industry would be contributing and being recognised for all the good work they had done to shape this profession to what it has become. Farrell is on a roll and was elected the new Chairman of IPSA (International Professional Security Association) at the recent meeting of the International Council on July 27. I asked Farrell to how this came about.
She said: “I have been a member of the IPSA management board since July 2014. I became Deputy Chair in 2015. During the past two years, I have represented the association at many events and spoke at the 2015 Women in Security awards hosted by IPSA. I am looking forward to developing specialised sections within the membership, chaired by independent specialists to give our members greater value and shared experience. I would like to introduce a wider range of training and link to CPD points involving our members in more activities.”
Having been promoted to Head of UK Security for Sodexo and Chairman of IPSA it has been a busy time for Farrell. I asked her how has this affected her. She replied: “Last week was a tremendous week for me, having been promoted to Head of Security for Sodexo UK and Ireland and then becoming the first female chair of IPSA in its 59-year history. All this took place in the week where I celebrated 35 years’ service with Sodexo. I feel very proud and overwhelmed of what I have achieved but I couldn’t have done this without the support of my family and colleagues. I have met many like-minded women and was asked to speak at the first SIA diversity conference last year and the East-West conference in Paris in 2014 about my work with raising awareness of women in the security industry. I also continued my own personal development to be awarded a distinction in the level five Diploma in Security management.”
That sounds like one of those extra special times in life when everything just comes together. I asked her as the new Head of Security for UK and Ireland for Sodexo, what was her vision for the future?” Farrell replied: “My vision within Sodexo security is to position Sodexo as a total security solutions provider We are capable of bidding, winning and operating multi-country contracts within the Service Operations framework to improve margin, support growth, improve safety, ensure predictable quality whilst always chosen and rewarded for making everyday a better day. I can only achieve this with a strong team and support from colleagues in Sodexo and the great people I have met within the industry since winning the PSM-WiS award in 2013.”
