The rift between the property managers and the security guards is now an age old story. Amongst the plethora of simple and complex factors that lead to the problems are the company that the security guard works for, the rules and regulations being abided by the security guards, the need of security belt at the property at stake, the budget, the clients that the property manager deals with, and finally the processes and procedures followed by the property managers. As an individual the property manager could only get hold of some of the above mentioned factors while the other factors rely heavily on mutual coordination between the manager and the security guards. The process, procedures and the guidelines established for the company lay the most easily controlled roadmap for the property managers.

Property managers generally hold on to the notion that it is the responsibility of the security management company to provide high level services to their clients. But the harsh truth is most of the problems persist because of this very error prone belief nurtured by the property managers. The nature of the services provided by the security companies stands uniquely apart, as they are not to be confused with every other vendor services. Most of the vendor services are easily crosschecked and verified once the job is completed and well done. For example, if you hire a dishwasher and you realize that the dishes are not nicely done, then the dishwasher is not doing the job up to the mark. But in reality it is the level of the services provided by the security companies which is not easily measured. The important questions that arise here is: are the company hiring qualified employees? Are the employees being given adequate training? What kind of surveillance and supervision do they provide? But to the good luck of the property managers and their clients, the security company provides them with good services. The fruitful facts say that the most of the guard company meet and exceed the property manager’s expectations in the initial phase of the contract. But the trend doesn’t continue till the end of the contract as unfortunately the managers find a gradual decrease in the quality of the services provided by the security company. The companies hide away from this fact saying that the decrease in the services should be expected from all the guard companies, but in reality it should not be expected.

Here we are magnifying the four major reasons that propel the security companies to decline in the services provided by them:-

1. Lack of quality feedback by the clients which in turn doesn’t help the security companies to figure out its bottlenecks.
2. The guard companies are not held responsible for the poor performance which takes away the onus from them.
3. The poor training given to the guards which leads to less responsiveness by them in the grave situations. Compiled with the poor communication between the guards and their manager counterparts, the working becomes much monotonous.
4. Inadequate surveillance of the guards and their performance which provides them with the leverage to take work for granted as they are not being under the monitor radar.

Of the above reasons it is easiest to rectify the first one that is to give a regular feedback to the security company. Untimely feedbacks take away the opportunity from the clients to improve the efficiency of their projects. The feedback along with the proper monitoring of the guards could yield fruitful results. For example, if you are a property manager working at the property site, you could keep a check on the individual performance and attitude of the guards, whether the guards are abiding the uniform and dress code, if the guards know their jobs, the guard’s customer handling skills and communication with the subordinates. An interesting question that pops up is how to monitor the guards after the manager’s work hour are completed, say after 5 days or at the weekends, or during the span of time that you are not there? Are the services provided and the guard’s alertness levels still the same? This question becomes more imperative to the property manager who is not available at the property site on daily basis.

In most of the cases the property managers depend on the work inputs they receive from their clients at the work site. Generally, the feedback given by the clients is considered to be more concrete than the manager himself. As the client feedback is taken on periodic basis and is normally the part and parcel of the huge client surveys being conducted by the companies. For the betterment of the work, the client survey plays a crucial role for both the security company as well as the property manager. Additionally the guard companies could hire on-field supervisors to guide the proper conduct of the guards and note down regular feedback. They should be in regular talking terms with the clients to take their suggestions and plan how to incorporate them to improve the functioning of the security guards working at the site. These comments and suggestions should be well formalized and recorded whereas corrections and improvements should be noted down in a report.

So when the service quality begins to take a dip, the clients notice the difference and try to rectify the change. If the poor performances of the guards could be noted and corrected timely, it could help in completion of the project and yielding better results. Thus, your clients should be your eyes to monitor and ears to listen. Utilizing them rightly, would provide you with a timely feedback and suggestions about your strengths and weaknesses and how to eliminate the future problems. The more the feedback received by the clients, the more the improvements made by the company. Therefore keep the clients involved and keep the level of your security up to the mark.