Security professionals have been given a lot of names, from “bouncers” to “the eyes in the sky”. Their jobs may vary but ensuring safety is their main objective.
Sometimes to make security sound more “customer-oriented”, many sites opt to called their security “guest service officers”. Even though, in theory, it’s a good idea, there is a lot of damage that this can do to both the reputation of the client but also the staff welfare.
Within the context of the Security Profession, throughout this post, we are going to be referring to the SIA Licensed security professionals. Even though you do not need a SIA license to work in house (being employed by a company directly instead of a agency), we recommend & advocate for all security professionals to be licensed as this strengthens the security industry and ensures better regulated security staff.
Diminished Authority & Lack of Clarity
Security professionals are licensed to perform a job, which is security, by calling them “Guest Services” this undermines and diminishes their role. Security staff are trained to deal with both incidents which require de-escalation but also first aid. We have found that a percentage of incidents with “Guest/ Visitor Service Officers” are harder to manage due the softer terminology confusing both customers & giving security staff diminished roles.
Undermining Professionalism
Security professionals are critical to everyday life, with an estimated 432,282 license holders in the United Kingdom, they are trained and licensed professionals. We spoke to 100 security professionals and 73% of them said that they would work as a "guest services officer" based on the name. Many comments we received from them were
"But we are security, that is our job, it is downplaying the importance of our job"
"We are security officers, we are licensed as security officers, yes we do have to be customer centered but security is the job we do"
"Wouldn't that be confusing though, I would have thought that a Guest Service Officer would be one of thoes people at the customer help desks"
Credibility Issues
Clients might lose credibility if stakeholders feel that important security measures are being downplayed or disguised as mere customer service functions. By using euphemistic language, it may lead to concerns over the commitment of security. This could also lead to confusion, making clients appear unprepared and disorganized.
Brand Image
The perceived downplaying of security can impact the brand image, making your site appear more focused on image management that on genuinely ensuring safety and security of their customers.
At SafeDuty, we are a professional security firm, meaning that we dedicate our efforts to security & safety for all, we have previously been requested to provide "Guest Service Officers" we have spoken with our clients and 100% of our clients have agreed to brand our security staff as either "Security Officer" or "Business Support Officer".
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