Got lazy security guards who are not working to their full potential? You need to do something about it. Now. For it could be significantly impacting your company’s output and damaging your bottom line. Dealing with performance issues regularly might not be your security manager’s favorite part of the job, but it is one of the most important. Here’s how they can get started and make a mark:
Keep Your Guards Engaged
One of the biggest reasons that often security guards give for being disengaged is lack of work. Well, that clearly isn’t the case, and we all know that, don’t we? However, it is possible that they aren’t getting notified of the updates in a timely manner, or they aren’t making the effort to check them themselves.
With GuardsPro guard tour system, you can share post orders with the security guards effectively. The moment any changes are made, the system automatically delivers them on their mobile patrol app in real-time.
To ensure they are aware of their duties and what’s expected of them to do on-site, you can enforce them to acknowledge post orders before their check-in on a client site and every time any changes are made to them.
Cut Short Unplanned Long Breaks
Every company irrespective of the industry has employees who go to the bathroom or for a lunch break and come back an hour or two later. If you have such security guards on your team, let them know that this type of attitude is unacceptable.
But the truth is it is hard to manage these kinds of security guards since they can easily lie their way out. The only way of dealing with these kinds of offenses is to set up strict time regulations and expectations.
Or you can also invest in GuardsPro guard tour system with a powerful scheduler. It has a feature called breaks that allows security managers to predefine paid/unpaid breaks within the same shift for security guards along with their duration and later to effortlessly track them. Since all the breaks are captured in detail, that further provides a secure and accurate record of break compliance.
Provide Additional Training
Laziness might not always be the reason behind unproductive security guards. Sometimes they actually might just not know how to go about carrying out their duties on client sites.
In such scenarios, it is usually not wise to let your security guards go since hiring is an expensive process. Instead, the better alternative is to train them.
Training security guards has a ton of benefits such as the creation of a competent internal source from which higher positions within the security guard company can be easily filled, productivity can be seamlessly improved, and accidents on client sites reduced.
Offer Lucrative Incentives
Just like your security guard company has its own goals to achieve, every security guard has a personal goal too – getting good pay, being in a respectable position, moving into a better house, etc.
But the truth is no matter how hard the manager tries, sometimes it is really hard to align the company’s goals with your employee’s personal goals. In such scenarios, your security managers can use incentives.
Incentives can be either non-financial such as co-ownership, employee appreciation programs, etc., or financial such as increased wages, bonuses, etc. Either way, incentives can truly motivate your security guards to work hard and increase productivity.
Give Guards Warning Notice
Issuing a warning notice to your security guards is a vital aspect of dealing with the lazy ones effectively. While doing so, all you need to remember to do is clearly define your expectations, as well as the consequences for non-compliance.
But before you do that, it is crucial that you document every single offense. It is one of the best and the safest ways that acts as proof and comes in handy if you ever decide to have a conversation with the lazy guard or you need to fire him.
Another benefit of documenting the bad behavior of your security guards is you can identify repeat offenders. Analyzing the patterns and what rules they are breaking can help you come up with measures to stop such behavior as well as help amend ineffective rules.
Schedule A Confidential Meeting
Despite all the warnings, if the security guards continue to constantly miss deadlines, show poor work ethic, and just be lazy overall, it is time to take action.
Schedule a confidential meeting with the security guards. Discuss their recent performance and find out exactly what’s going on. After that, continue to regularly check in on their work and if their performance improves. If it does, well, that’s great! Appreciate them for it.
If they don’t, bring out documented proof of them being lazy and get strict. Inform them that this kind of behavior isn’t acceptable. Tell them what they are doing wrong and how they can execute their duties better on client sites.
Throw Down A New Challenge
When your security guard company’s star performer begins to get lazy and thus unproductive, it could also mean they are simply bored. When you ask them to perform the same tasks every day, they may start to resent the repetition and begin to lose interest.
If you know that your underperforming security guard, even if he’s not the star performer of the company, has the ability to become productive, then assign them new client sites as per their skills to spur their interest.
With the help of GuardsPro scheduler, you can pre-define your guard’s skills. Later based on these skills they can be assigned to client sites that match their ability and keep them engaged. This will make them feel valued within the company and motivated to show that they can do more.
Conclusion:
Security guards who are lazy and unproductive can significantly impact your company’s output. Some of them may be lagging for understandable reasons, while others not. If all else fails, then you may have to call it a day and look for other options to replace the lazy security guards.
