Different? Use it to your advantage
Promoting gender and diversity in Security
W
hen I started in Security, it was very unusual to see a woman in a top
position and other types of diversity weren’t well represented either. Though it’s changing, it’s changing slowly.
I believe that my team here at Guy’s and St Thomas’ is one of the exceptions to the rule, and it’s something I know makes our service better. When I’ve had to defend a woman’s ability to do this type of work, I remind them that in dealing with incidents with female members of the public, we can have a distinct advantage. Better diversity means having a real connection with the local area and the people you’re there to protect – in Southwark, for example, there are more than 100 languages spoken locally! This means that we can help safeguard our patients better too, as there have been cases of members of my team being able to understand and report concerning conversations that they’ve overheard in other languages. Remembering and celebrating that people bring their full selves to work is really important as a manager. This also means you should try to accommodate differences – last year, I made sure that team members observing Ramadan weren’t working anywhere too hot, for example, as they sometimes weren’t able to drink water during their shifts.
When speaking to young women interested in going into security, I’d give three key pieces of advice. Firstly, that it really is a promising career these days, especially in the NHS - and not just a second career after the military or policing. I’d recommend that they look at university courses in risk and security management, and get a really good qualification behind them. Secondly, aim to excel – we’re consistently one of the safest acute trusts to work at in the country, but that doesn’t just happen. We give access to conflict resolution training, and we liaise with staff after any incident to really understand why it happened. Finally, you need to ‘be the change that you want to see’ – be visible, get involved in events and conferences, and help inspire and develop the next generation of women in Security.
Jayne King
Head of Security, Receptions & Portering, Essentia, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
14 © CI TY S ECURI TY MAGAZ INE – SUMME R 2014
The security industry: its perception & eradica
T
he private security industry is continually evolving to address the
demands of future markets in relation to workforce requirements, skills, knowledge, training and the ability to develop and respond to the risks and threats we are presented with, particularly from the fast paced world of technology.
Meeting workforce requirements is an area which presents a continual challenge for the industry to address. Research carried out on behalf of Skills for Security in 2011 highlighted the issue of an ageing workforce and that, to meet the expansion demand from the fast paced growth of the industry and replace those individuals who retire or leave the sector over time, between 100,000 and 160,000 new staff would need to be recruited between then and the year 2020.
This statistic alone highlights the vast challenge the industry faces, but, alongside this, there are other areas that still need to be addressed. In particular,
the perception of the industry both internally and externally, and the continued topic of gender representation, is a concern which is widely recognised and discussed. In 2010 the SIA reported that only 8% of their licence holders were female, and in 2011 Skills for Security reported that only 22% of the workforce, at that time, was female against the 78% males. This was not news, nor was it something that surprised many people, both inside and outside the industry, as this perception already existed and was perhaps influenced by historic anecdotal reporting coupled with a reflection of the image that the industry once had.
Industry culture and outside perception – gender driven?
The culture of the modern industry today is one which, due to historical perception, is not realistically recognised. Over 30 years ago perception was that a security guard was a man who was poorly educated, lacked training and was paid badly. This was, in recent years, replaced by a view that the industry’s culture was one of machismo and
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