7 Tips For Conducting A Security Officer Performance
Conducting performance reviews for your security officers is a necessity for promoting good morale and ensuring that your officers know what is expected of them. Unfortunately, many managers and supervisors dread conducting employee reviews. This reluctance often stems from not being able to find the right words to describe the employee or fear of a confrontation during the review. I’ve put together this short list of tips to aid you in conducting a security officer performance review, which I hope will help ease some anxiety.
Going into a performance review, you and the officer might have a good idea the type of information that will be discussed regarding where their strengths and weaknesses lie. However, the performance review should have the greater goal of providing the officer with actionable steps that they can take to help them master some specific skill. That skill could be something that helps them perform their job better or possibly prepare them for a promotion.
Both you and your officer should have a formal performance review document to help guide the review. This document should cover the various responsibilities that the officer has while on duty.
When evaluating the officer’s performance, you should be basing the review on quantifiable data. That data might include the number of times that the officer was late, the quality of reports submitted, or the number of completed patrols at their site. If you are using security guard management software, this information should be readily available.
Additionally, remember to avoid using subjective terminology such as “bad attitude” and “polite” or “rude” or “nice.” If you use terms such as “nice” in employee appraisals, other employees could say that you simply like that employee more or are discriminating based on some personal prejudice. You must also be aware that employment lawyers may seize on an opportunity to say that such subjective words are a secret code that shows discrimination.
When starting your performance review, it’s always best to start by telling your officers how you value them as part of the team and discuss the things that they are doing well. By starting off with the positive aspects of their performance, you are less likely to put your officers on the defensive.
When it is time to discuss the negative aspects of the officer’s performance, be sure to be clear and concise and refrain from using judgmental language. Remember: use specific examples and back those examples up with quantifiable proof—see tip #3.
Most importantly, you must remember to avoid confrontation. Although performance reviews can be tense, the purpose of the review is to help the officer improve their performance. Using the performance review as an opportunity to attack the officer will only lower morale and worsen job performance.
In addition to taking the opportunity to inform the officer of how you view her performance, ensure that you also give the officer an opportunity to voice her opinion about her own performance. In fact, many organizations will ask their employees to do a selfassessment. What you will find is that employees will often times be harder on themselves than you would ever be.
Finish the review by recapping the key points discussed and any follow-ups that have been agreed upon. Also, don’t forget to thank the employee for their participation and also ask how you can be more supportive or a better manager.
This list should provide a great foundation for conducting security officer performance reviews. Remember that the goal is not to criticize your employee but to provide them with constructive feedback and actionable steps that they can take to improve their performance and even work toward a promotion. Expressing your appreciation for what your officer is doing well and helping them set goals will motivate them to provide better service for your customers.
Unfortunately, even with encouragement, some officers will simply fail to perform as you need them to, possibly damaging your relationships with your customers and costing you money. Next, we’ll discuss what you need to think about before you take the step of terminating an officer.