Important Factors to Consider When Employing Security Companies

September 14, 2017

You’ve taken the decision to hire a security company to protect your property, but how do you find the right people to look after your home or business? Here are some important factors to consider when employing security personnel.

Local or National Provider?

Begin by learning a little about the companies you’re considering and their origins. This will help you assess how reliable the organisation is and how they’ll look at your property. A small local firm may be easier to deal with, but less well resourced for dealing with anything out of the ordinary. A large national chain may view your contract as just another number.

Think about what else they do. Are they solely concerned with security, or are there any additional services you might wish to take advantage of? Are they likely to look at a security contract as a sideline to their core business?

Level of Professionalism

Good security companies are very protective of their reputations, so you should hear good things if you ask around (if you don’t, run for the hills!). Most will be happy to give you a client reference, but internet searches will throw up plenty of useful information too.

Another aspect of professionalism is shown through presentation. Take a look at the uniforms their security personnel wear. Smartly turned out staff are a good indicator of the way the company is run. It can also be good to see different styles of uniforms to reflect different types of work. After all, a smart police-style security uniform isn’t appropriate in every situation.

Staff Training and Recruitment

Staff are the real key when it comes to security contracts. These are the guys who’ll have your keys and access to your property, so you want to be absolutely sure they’re completely honest and know what they’re doing.

As ever, the rule of thumb is that a good security company with the right motivations is unlikely to object to you asking these questions. So find out the level of training they deliver and any professional certification they have.

Registration, Insurance and Licencing

Another vital subject to discuss with your security provider is paperwork. The Home Office maintains a register of approved contractors and this would be a good place to start when checking out a company’s reliability. Make sure they’re licenced to deploy security personnel, and also that they’re properly insured. The last thing you want is to lose money because your insurance company refuses to pay out as a consequence of your employing cowboy security guards.

What About the Money?

As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. A top quality, reliable company will always cost that bit more because they’re less likely to cut corners. It’s also important to ask how they pay their staff. If the operatives might consider themselves short changed, part of the risk will be carried by you, the customer.

For a local security firm you can rely on, Hallmark Security offers a full range of security services, with a team of highly trained and carefully vetted staff.

Call us today on 0151 257 9996 and find out more.