Pilgrims Security – company’s strategic plan based on values |29 May 2010

The company continuously invests in training that boosts their confidence to do their best at work, while also relating with colleagues and customers as well as members of their own families in the most amicable manner possible.

Among the high-profile trainers has been visiting British police instructor Ron Bonnelame, who previously served in a similar capacity in the British army.

Giving the training themselves makes the Pilgrims staff familiar with their work so they are able to deal with situations as they arise in the field and they become better persons even when handling their personal – including family – matters.
 
In the words of supervisor Freda Gappy, a lesson like one on public relations that she gave to senior colleagues recently, builds the security officers’ skills and confidence, enabling them to give that vital positive first impression.

“All the company’s staff get similar training so when they go into the field they talk the same language and know exactly what is expected of them in various situations,” managing director Roy Fonseka said, after a practical “control and restraint techniques session” held on May 17.

Pilgrims’ staff – regardless of rank – get the chance to be trained right from the time they join the company and later say how their lives have been transformed and personal abilities boosted.

Among the first to give a presentation on May 19 was controller Marie-Michel Simeon, whose job is to supervise dispatchers. She told her colleagues how to prioritise when two or more situations needing attention occur at the same time.

“It is important to follow the correct procedure always,” she told her colleagues in an authoritative but friendly tone. She went on to say how best to react to alarms that have been activated at the same time. 

Presenters begin by telling the officers what they should expect to learn by the end of every session, each of which is followed by an analysis of lessons given. If loopholes are noted they are sealed in the team spirit.

The company has 130 staff, and although there is a big demand for its services and it would like to increase staff strength, maintaining standards limits its expansion “because the company recruits only the best”.

“Out of every 10 people interviewed we get only two or three, and once we start training them, some find they cannot meet our standards and drop out,” he said.

“Other companies also face the same problem and we are always faced with the question of whether to keep our standards and recruit fewer people or drop standards and get more people. We always choose to maintain our standards.

“We do not compare ourselves with others so as to stay at the top, we simply maintain our level irrespective of what others are doing.”

The company’s values are built on three pillars – “home” values, which describes how staff manage and behave among themselves, “customer’” values, which describe how each staff member responds to customers, and “growth” values, which set out the limitations to company growth. 

Therefore values come before and above profit margins, said Mr Fonseka, and the company’s vision shies away from self-praise. It wants outsiders like its customers and the public to evaluate and discover its competence and integrity.

Pilgrims Security believes in putting people first, both customers and staff in the best way possible and providing for character development right from their time of recruitment interviews, through training and promotion. In doing so, it demands a lot from its staff.

Feature sponsored by Pilgrims Security Ltd