SCHEDULING, TIMEKEEPING & WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

REDUCING THE IMPACT OF ABSENTEEISM ON YOUR SECURITY BUSINESS

WITH MARKO CABRIC & INTIME

Marko Cabric is a globally operating freelance security

manager, consultant, lecturer and author based in Tel

Aviv, Israel and Belgrade, Serbia. He has more than 20

years of top-ranking security experience from Europe,

Middle East and Africa including the Israeli military and

Homeland Security and as a corporate security manager

in several industries. Marko manages, teaches, consults,

and trains corporate security clients and business teams

on various security matters such as corporate security

management, physical security, supply chain security,

fraud prevention and investigations, crisis management,

business continuity, disaster recovery, and information

security. He has established corporate security programs

for numerous multinational corporations, especially

throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Marko

Cabric is the author of two books published by Elsevier

Science - Corporate Security Management (2015) and

From Corporate Security to Commercial Force (2017).

Affiliations and Expertise

Head of training curriculum for Protect – Israeli Training

Solutions, Tel Aviv, Israel

CO-AUTHORED BY MARKO CABRIC

Globally recognised security expert, author and consultant

EDITED BY INTIME

Workforce management & scheduling designed specifically for security

InTime are the Workforce Management and Scheduling

providers specialised in supporting complex staffing

situations. InTime removes manual processes, relieves

the admin burden and improves back office efficiencies.

The solution makes the most of your human resource, so

you can make the most of your budgets. From 50 person

to 10,000 employee private security companies, InTime

has your workforce management covered.

There are plenty of generic scheduling solutions that

work great for organisations with simple shift patterns or

your typical 9-5. InTime’s mission is to provide advanced

scheduling and workforce management tools for

organistions that don’t fit that mold.

InTime was built for security businesses, by security

professionals, so you can rest assured that we

understand your advanced employee scheduling and

workforce requirements. We have your complex

rotation patterns, departmental rules and coverage

levels covered, you only have to manage exceptions and

approvals. Scheduling really doesn’t have to be a full-time

job!

SECURITY, ABSENTEEISM & SERVICE CONTINUITY

Dependency on human resource = high risk

Service that is dependent on continuity + continuity

that is dependent on human resource = high risk

Keeping your business running on an ‘all time’ basis can

be a challenge, especially when the service you deliver

depends on human resource.

Since the security industry is one of these HR dependent

businesses, ensuring continuity is a significant challenge

and often, when something goes wrong, it is incredibly

costly.

Why do you need business continuity in a security

organisation?

•To deliver a true security service for your client

•To be able to standardise procedures that will boost

your business’s bottom line and avoid unplanned issues

that cost a lot to rectify

Viewing and managing your security service as a process

can help to limit the amount of times things go wrong,

as well as reducing the consequential cost if things go

wrong. There is, however, one common issue that will

affect each stage of the process – absenteeism.

A security solution or process is built by incorporating

five different stages: Assess, Design, Implement,

Manage and Control.

The absence of staff responsible for each stage of

security delivery can put immense strain on the process,

causing breaks and affecting the level of service

delivered. Absenteeism affects every stage in the process

and every stage affects the level of service. The impact

of absenteeism on the implement stage is high and it is

obvious how not having the resource to physically ‘man’

the job effects the output, but we must also consider

the impact on every other stage, as each needs to be

resourced with the right numbers, skills and expertise.

SECURITY AS A PROCESS

Five phases

CONTROL

ASSESS

DESIGN

IMPLEMENT

MANAGE

HOW BIG IS THE PROBLEM?

How much does absenteeism effect security businesses?

Absenteeism is simply defined as unjustified absence

from work. Unfortunately, dealing with absenteeism

and the risks caused by it are far more complex than the

short definition of the phenomenon.

According to the Well-Being Index survey (published by

Forbes) encompassing 94,000 workers across 14 major

occupations in the U.S, the total annual costs related to

lost productivity totalled up to $84 billion.

According to the same article in Forbes, unscheduled

absenteeism costs roughly $3200 per year for each

employee. The costs can be attributed to many factors

including:

·Wages paid to absent employees

·High-cost replacement workers (overtime pay for other

employees and/or temporary workers)

·Administrative costs of managing absenteeism

Other indirect costs and effects of absenteeism include:

·Poor quality of goods/services resulting from overtime

fatigue or understaffing

·Reduced productivity

·Excess manager time (dealing with discipline and finding

suitable employee replacements)

·Safety issues (inadequately trained employees filling

in for others, rushing to catch up after arriving as a

replacement, etc.)

·Poor morale among employees who must “fill in” or do

extra work to cover absent co-workers1

With such a loss of productivity and loss of profit,

why isn’t there a systematic approach to dealing with

absenteeism? The answer is simple - It is just too

complicated.

THE SEVEN PILLARS OF SECURITY

Delivering continuity despite absenteeism

In order to deliver true security, the security process you

are selling must incorporate the seven pillars of security,

however, it is people who are creating and using all the

pillars and uniting them into a system. Basically, if one of

the pillars was missing, security wouldn’t work properly,

while, if people were missing, there would be no security.

Let’s look back in time for a moment. As the way people lived

in prehistory is often used as justification for how people live

now. Taking a quick look at the historical perspective of security

would probably be the best way to start. While we can mostly

only guess, as we actually do not really know all that much about

ancient communities, security was certainly one of the primary

concerns of our distant ancestors. Although we often tend to

forget it, the principles of security at the time of our distant

ancestors did not really change. Then, as well as now, we had the

seven pillars of security:

• Physical

• Technology

• Human

• Information

• Communication

• Procedures

• Management

CONTROL

ASSESS

DESIGN

IMPLEMENT

MANAGE

1. PHYSICAL2. TECHNICAL3. HUMAN4. INFORMATION5. COMMUNICATION6. PROCEDURES7. MANAGEMENT

THE SEVEN PILLARS OF SECURITY

Delivering continuity despite absenteeism

We have the cave as the physical element of security, the

spear as technology, information about the proximate

danger, communication among community members,

all members of the community as the human element,

procedures (routine and emergency), and the community

chief as the management.

Whether hunting or fighting battles, the community

chief would have had to properly divide tasks and

allocate people to ensure the mission is effectively

executed, while simultaneously preserving the continuity

of other key processes. The success of strategies and

the existence of the community would have greatly

depended on how precisely and efficiently resources had

been allocated to ensure there was a sufficient number

of people fighting, hunting, protecting the settlement,

making tools, farming and collecting food and supplies,

being on the lookout for approaching threats, or being on

standby in case other threats would emerge.

In order to efficiently allocate human resources, the

leader of the settlement had to clearly set the goals

based on the needs of the community. On top of action,

THE SEVEN PILLARS EXPLAINED

Taking it back to ancient civilisation

he had to also plan prevention, continuity, and recovery,

while matching them against probable risks, their severity

and potential impact. He also had to consider numerous

other factors, such as the season, weather conditions,

terrain, etc. Furthermore, he had to have planned human

resources based on opportunities and risks and matching

strategies and tactics while dividing tasks according to

abilities, skills, experience, age and gender. Solving such

complex equations would have probably been some of

the most demanding tasks our ancestors had to deal

with.

Most of the elements of security have changed beyond

recognition. Also, the multidimensional and multi-layered

nature of processes, the growing complexity of risks, and

the number of particulars, and changing variables that we

must consider now, when planning practically anything

have surpassed human skills and abilities.

Each of the seven pillars are related to one another – if

there is a weak or broken link, the rest of the pillars are

affected.

What can cause a break in the chain?

• A technical issue or a problem with systems - having

systems that are not fit for purpose that allocate your

staff will result in a negative impact on your ’human’

pillar

• A breakdown in the human pillar will result in a lack of

information skills and experience

• Poor information (and lack of human resource) will

result in a breakdown of communication

• Procedures will be negatively impacted by a breakdown

of communication

• And the ability to manage effectively will deteriorate

due to the impact on the preceding pillars.

THE SEVEN PILLARS & CONTINUITY

Effects of a weak or broken pillar

One of the best known examples of the broken human pillar in security was the failure of the G4S security guards to show up at venues during the London Olympics in 2012.

London-based G4S is one of the largest security firms in the world with more than 600,000 employees. The company has been under intense criticism for failing to train and

supply the required 10,400 guards for the Olympics. Less than a month before the opening ceremony, G4S announced that it would not be able to provide the staff it had said

it would, falling short by over 3,500 personnel. The BBC reported that even those staff who had accepted offers with G4S have been dumbfounded by a lack of contact with the

company, and many of them had not turned up to their shifts leaving a number of venues completely unmanned or undermanned. There were also serious concerns about

the training and accountability of G4S employees. The fiasco eventually lead to the resignation of G4S chief Nick Buckles and left a deep scar in the reputation of the company.2

REAL WORLD EXAMPLE

We do have Business Continuity Management and

Disaster Recovery which is a framework intended to

protect key business processes from being interrupted.

Unfortunately, BCM & DR is now almost exclusively

associated with information and communication

technologies and completely focused on protecting the

crucial technical infrastructure, not ideal for a security

business who need continuity across human resource.

Traditional business continuity solutions

PHYSICAL

TECHNICAL

HUMAN

INFORMATION

COMMUNICATION

PROCEDURES

MANAGEMENT

THE SEVEN PILLARS - CAUSE & EFFECT

How does a weak or broken pillar affect continuity?

We often say that our security is as good as its weakest link. People are not only the

element that links all the aspects of a security system together and its most important

part, they are also its weakest part. It is the exact same thing that makes people so

valuable that makes them vulnerable – the ability to make their own decisions.

Every part of security boils down to people. In a nutshell, security is about people

protecting people from other people. Most security failures are indeed the result of

the weak human element of security, and not the result of technology failures. To be

more precise, they are often caused by overreliance on technology and neglecting the

overwhelming importance of human intuition and decision-making.

Bruce Schneier has said “If you think technology can solve your security problems, then

you don’t understand the problems and you don’t understand the technology.”

Israel owes one of the world’s highest percentages of foiled terrorist attacks to its belief

that nothing can replace human skills. So even this country that is one of the global

leaders when it comes to technological inventions and automatization of processes, still

puts people first when it comes to security.

We often say that the weak human pillar of security weakens the entire system. The

truth is that without people in the chain, we actually don’t have any security at all. This

is factual even in systems where people were intentionally marginalised and made

redundant due to the erroneous over-reliance on other elements of security.

During my courses on Security Economics for hotel

managers, I usually perform a budgeting exercise.

During the initial brainstorming prior to the exercise,

the participants voice their opinions on investing in

security and overwhelmingly speak in favor of investing

in security technology. When the actual exercise starts,

participants are asked to create a sustainable security

set-up for a hotel based on the budget that they receive.

I usually divide the participants into three groups where

all the participants receive the same detailed description

of the hotel and a list of all possible security measures

that they could implement, however, each of the groups

receives a different budget that they are allowed to

spend on it. Naturally, one group receives a very small

budget, one receives optimal budget, while the third

one is awarded a very high budget. Each of the security

measures that they could use is realistically priced and

described in terms of its actual possibilities and limits,

and what additional spending might be required in

order to use it (e.g., when installing video surveillance, it

requires people that will operate it). It is very interesting

that, as opposed to the initial points of view on security

measures, all three groups always end up “investing” the

biggest part of the budget in people, especially in training,

drills, and exercises, improved routine and emergency

communication and security awareness rewards for staff,

etc.

BUDGETING EXERCISES

Real world example

The way we allocate our resources, especially people as our main

one, depends on the combination of numerous dimensions. The first

dimension is the volumes (traffic) and needs of our client, regardless

of whether the client is internal or external and whether we are a

security organisation in an enterprise, provider of manned guarding

services or a police department.

The second dimension is the announced, predicted, anticipated and

sudden risks that our resources should mitigate. The third dimension

is locations and specific positions. In summary, needs and risks

constantly change and move. Just for a second, to understand the

complexity, imagine a company providing manned guarding services

with tens of clients and thousands of positions!

The fourth dimension is time, which is a multidimensional category of

its own. We have different staffing needs in different seasons, days of

the month and week, and times of day. On top of that we must plan

backup and relief staff and arrange logistics to get people where we

need them to be and provide them with everything they must have

in order to be efficient, just to mention a few. Basically, security is

composed of variables. It is about successfully competing against an

unknown number of people whom you probably never met or heard

of, who could be motivated by practically anything to use virtually

any means to do practically anything against you, something and

someone you care about, when you least expect it.

Absenteeism affects a lot more than profits

Saying that absenteeism only affects our profit would be a severe

understatement, especially when we talk about security and policing.

Lets take the example of the terrorist attack in the Bataclan Theatre

in Paris, France in November 2015.

On November 13, 2015, a mass shooting and hostage situation took

place at the Bataclan theatre. There were around 1,500 audience

members in the venue, watching a sold-out concert by Californian

rock band Eagles of Death Metal. Around an hour after the concert

began, gunmen entered the building and opened fire on the crowd

from the mezzanine. The attackers also took 100 music fans hostage.

That evening, ninety people were killed.

Now, let’s discuss the best kept secret of security. It is actually

the two most important security inventions that deserve the

credit for preventing and stopping the highest number of security

incidents. And no, we are not talking about alarms, CCTV, weapons,

sophisticated access control systems, x-rays or metal detectors. In

an overwhelming number of cases, perpetrators decided to back

away because the door was locked or because there was a guard

at the entrance. In many cases, also, it was the simple guard at the

entrance that noticed the approaching threat and closed the door or

managed to timely alert others and prevent the tragedy. That evening

in Bataclan, six security guards simply failed to show up. If they did,

the outcome could have been very different.

REAL WORLD IMPACT OF ABSENTEEISM

In security & policing, the equation is complex

Technology cannot replace people but it can help to

reduce absenteeism.

There are many misconceptions related to the extensive

use of technology and the fact that technological

solutions tend to replace people while completely

disregarding the crucial part of every asymmetric process

– the marvel of human reasoning, instincts, creativity,

skills, and abilities.

Here is an example:

The case of the former US Army General and Secretary

of State, Mr. Collin Powell is a classic, but not unusual

example of how technology killed the logic and

established itself as the decision maker. During his

speech to the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan

at Lake Michigan College in May 2006, Mr. Powell

recalled one of his traveling experiences during which he

underwent a thorough airport security body check. As he

explained, following a sudden decision to travel, he made

three crucial mistakes: He paid for the ticket in cash,

he was traveling without a luggage, and was running

late. As the airport security software pointed him out as

suspicious, he was taken aside and thoroughly physically

examined by a security officer. As technology decided,

even the fact that the security officers immediately

recognised him did not make a difference. (Cabric, 2017)3

Why implement a scheduling solution to fix

absenteeism?

Good scheduling tools can help lower costs and change

the type of expense security is marked as, from fixed to

variable, especially in case of predicted longer lasting

change of circumstances. For instance, a predicted drop

in productivity or its growth which is expected to last for a

longer period of time will justify the proportionally lower

or higher spending on security. Also, a seaside resort will

naturally recurrently increase its security during summer

months and decrease it during winter.

We said earlier that such complex equations surpass

human abilities. So, while technology cannot

completely replace people, it can serve as a necessary

aid to people. Time scheduling solutions certainly fit that

description and are absolutely necessary. We can regard

InTime’s solution as a sophisticated Business Continuity

Management tool and time and cost saving tool that is

devoted to our most important resource – people.

FIXING ABSENTEEISM AT THE ROOT

Can a scheduling solution reduce the cost of absenteeism?

Removing cumbersome processes and inefficient

spreadsheets, InTime provides a bird’s eye view of your

workforce. As well as providing an intelligent scheduling

and workforce management solution, InTime allows

your resourcing team to understand common patterns

in absence, plan for disaster and quickly and effectively

communicate with staff in an emergency. Hailed by

Marko Cabric as:

‘A business continuity tool necessary for any security

business,’

InTime will help you to reduce the impact of absenteeism

on your business.

InTime’s scheduling solution is not only the most effective

and easy to use system for private security staffing, but

it’s the only system that actually enables you to provide a

better customer service.

You can view your schedule in terms of your contracts

and locations using tools that will help keep your costs

low, service high and boost your bottom line.

INTIME:BRIDGING THE GAP

How can a scheduling solution reduce the cost of absenteeism?

MAXIMISE YOUR HUMAN RESOURCEMinimise your risksInTime ensures your organisation is prepared for unexpected staffing issues and allows you to build intelligent resource plans.

REDUCE YOUR STAFFING COSTSMake better use of your budgetsThrough empowering organisations to build staffing and operational efficiencies, InTime helps you to make better use of your budget.

ENABLE COMMERCIAL DECISION MAKINGBuild an effective workforceWith a 360-degree view of your workforce, your organisation can utilise detailed workforce insight to make informed commercial decisions.

RESPOND TO ENHANCED DEMANDCounter staffing challengesIncreasing demand for your organisation’s services presents both an opportunity and challenge. InTime will help you to negotiate these.

1. Enable powerful collaboration and visibility between

various stakeholders.

2. Understand where staffing gaps and problems are and

fix them in real-time

3. Build a detailed data picture to show you where to

break the cycle.

4. Get to grips with the long-term and recurring impact of

leave and absenteeism

FAQs

1.Collaboration - How does the system involve numerous

stakeholders and increase visibility over ongoing issues/

situations?

Forget manual sharing and amendments, InTime will

ensure all stakeholders are in the know regarding staffing

plans, patterns and challenges. Improving back office

efficiency and saving time will also have a positive effect

on the front line force.

Everything about the design of InTime is extremely visual.

All administrators can determine where changes need to

be made by simply viewing the work schedule. To ensure

that the right staff are collaborating on the schedule,

each stakeholder will have specific permissions/access

in the program. Appropriate levels of cyber and physical

security measures are built into the system.

2. Clarity and views - How does the system allow for

multiple stakeholders to see and understand the staffing

situation?

Using InTime will not only help you to plan shifts and

staffing numbers, but it will also provide the ability for

you to quickly be made aware of any imminent issues,

avoiding unnecessary pressure on working officers.

Set minimum staffing requirements down to the

minute and get a quick visual of where you are over or

understaffed. InTime allows you to plan accordingly for

peak-time staffing with ease and provides alerts if you

are below or above minimum staffing. InTime’s audit trail

WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT & SCHEDULING

How can this technology break the cycle?

feature allows you to see who is making shift changes

and approving overtime; making everyone in your

organisation accountable.

3. Reporting and tracking - How reporting and tracking

allows for issue identification and fixes?

Collecting the right data is half the job, collating it into

meaningful insight is the other. InTime gives you first

hand access to a detailed useable data picture of your

workforce and this will give you the evidence you need to

take action.

With more than 85 standard pre-loaded reports, you

can quickly measure the impact of staff leaves, overtime

reasons and special events against budget and staffing

expectations and take corrective action immediately.

Know exactly where your budget is being spent and why.

4. Issue identification - How can the system help to spot

repeating problems e.g. problem areas for absences?

Breaking the cycle means breaking the repeating nature

of these workforce issues. The InTime system allows

you to adopt full control over the recurring issues on

individual and force wide levels.

The complete work history of an individual employee can

be viewed in the system, this allows for absence trends

to be quickly identified. In addition, specific leave types

can be reported on over any date range, to determine

problem areas.

1 Forbes.com. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/investopedia/2013/07/10/the-causes-and-costs-of-absenteeism-in-the-workplace/#280d42703eb6 [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].

2 Taylor, A. (2018). How The Plan To Privatize London’s Olympic Security Turned Into A Disaster. [online] Business Insider. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/g4s-olympic-security-disaster-2012-7 [Accessed 10 Jun. 2018].

3 Cabric, M. (2017). From Corporate Security to Commercial Force. 1st ed. Oxford, United Kingdom: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp.8-9.

REFERENCES

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