Russ Willmon, CEO, Defencify highlights the enduring value of continuous training for the security sector.
Well-trained guards are a valuable asset to a firm, its clients and the public at large.
Any of you reading this already have a deep understanding of the issues in today’s security landscape beyond the perils.
Leaders are constantly battling high guard turnover, low retention rates, compliance concerns and burgeoning liability, resulting in a costly and high-risk recruiting environment.
If you can’t hire and train guards fast enough to meet the demand, how is growth even possible?
Online guard training addresses many of these issues and if you haven’t yet implemented an online training program at your firm, I’m here to explain why you need it, what benefits you and your firm will reap and how to get started.
With online training, all classes are online and on demand.
Why is this important? Classroom learning is neither cost-effective nor consistent.
You pay for a venue, travel and accommodation for the instructor, or you choose an off-the-shelf training program that ticks some of the boxes and accept that there will be gaps.
Either way, people must travel to the location to take the course, and chances are, many will miss classes due to scheduling or personal issues.
Plus, classroom learning is not as effective for most learning objectives.
Not everyone is suited to sit in a classroom for hours and absorb a large amount of information.
For the most part, they are adults who have been out of school for many years.
Traditional classroom learning often fails to accommodate diverse learning styles.
Attrition is high, learning outcomes aren’t always great and instructor bias can be an issue. If the learner and the instructor don’t click, there’s little chance of a good outcome.
Plus, in a classroom setting, there is no viable way to identify nascent leadership talent.
Hiring managers see the resulting scores, but that’s never the whole story.
Plain and simple, online learning is more effective. And you don’t have to take it from me – there’s good science to support that statement.
Studies show that online learners retain up to 60% more information and reduce study time by 40-60%.
More than 60% of students prefer online learning over classroom instruction because it removes barriers they would typically face because of distance and scheduling.
It’s also beneficial for the firm’s green initiative, as online learning uses 90% less energy and 85% less CO2 gas emissions per student compared to classroom learning, according to Upskillwise.
Let’s say you have a candidate who aspires to a career in security.
However, he’s not a college graduate and doesn’t have a lot of academic chops, so he’s already challenged out of the gate.
Our man has a young family, and he continues to work full-time at another job.
The classes are challenging for him and often inconvenient, as he has to take time off from his day gig, or maybe his child gets sick, and he has to miss a class or two.
He quickly falls behind.
The instructor thinks he’s unfocused and doesn’t give him the extra time and support he needs.
In the end, he scores poorly on the course but still manages to get his guard card.
He ends up in a minimum-wage job that doesn’t allow him to support his family.
Do you think he’ll stay in the industry? Not a chance.
Think of all that time and money wasted – not to mention a once-eager individual who was ready to commit to a career in security and work his way up the ladder to management and beyond.
Now, let’s equip our man with online training.
Courses are on demand, which means he can learn at his convenience and without disrupting his daily life.
Lesson modules are short and engaging, encouraging him to keep going and come back for more.
Once he obtains his certification, he knows he can upskill on his own and advance his career.
Employers appreciate his proactive approach and identify him as a self-starter with leadership potential.
He gets a great job, gets promoted quickly and becomes a manager in just a couple of years. Life is good!
The example we just provided reflects one individual’s experience of how he satisfied his personal ambitions through online training.
However, many firms are implementing tailored online training programs to help improve compliance, retention, reduce training costs and boost guard excellence.
With a customized curriculum, firms can train their teams in alignment with their business model and client base.
No time or resources are wasted and leaders have the real-time data they need to make critical staffing decisions and inform succession planning.
Here are some of the quantifiable benefits they experience:
Training scores can be monitored from the back end, enabling firm leaders to identify and nurture nascent talent.
Remote monitoring also provides visibility into where some guards may need a little extra help, informing the need for additional courses or one-on-one mentoring.
More guards will complete their courses successfully, as online training reduces attrition.
We can’t say it will eliminate your turnover problems, but it will certainly reduce them by a significant margin.
I genuinely believe that proper guard training is the solution to most of the problems plaguing our industry and that online training is the vehicle that will get us there.
If we can take training online, make it more accessible, engaging, scalable and cost-effective, why wouldn’t we do that?
Defencify Training is a provider of online, compliance-ready security guard training, offering a platform tailored to today’s evolving risk environment.
The Defencify platform is not just about reducing liability and improving guard performance, but also about equipping guards with the real-world skills they need to act decisively and lawfully.
From de-escalation and use-of-force protocols to report writing and emergency preparedness, the company’s training is not just theoretical, but practical and applicable.
This article was originally published in the October edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.
