The Case For Fair Compensation

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, LARRY ANDERSON, Editor

How much do America's companies value their security employees and how well do they show it?

It's a timely question given the higher profile that security is taking in our everyday lives — but what about in the corporate environment? We hear stories about how the status of security in the corporate world is higher than ever — but there seem to be only a few real-world examples. More commonly, after an initial interest in security issues after Sept. 11, most corporations' attention deficit disorder has kicked in and their interest has been redirected to new issues-of-the-moment not related to security. In the wake of waning interest, the corporate security director finds himself again begging for attention — and too often not getting enough of it. The problem is that corporations in the year 2004 put security on the back burner at their own peril.

But if the interest in security at the corporate level is waning — or worse, if it never peaked to begin with except in the sense of lip-service — how does that translate into how well security personnel are valued? If protecting a company's people, facilities and assets is all-important to its bottom line, why do too many companies try to get away with underpaying their security personnel?

Too often security is looked at as an expense to be minimized, rather than a valuable resource to be maximized. Too many companies undermine their security professionals' efforts by under-providing needed resources. In some cases they even elect to outsource the security function to the lowest bidder — with little or no attention to the quality of the service offered.

With security as with other professions, the truth is you get what you pay for. The same principle that applies to the under-trained security guard making minimum wage also applies to the top security professional at an organization. In both cases, companies should be willing to pay top dollar in exchange for the best possible service. Putting aside the fact that most of our readers would be happy to get a pay raise, can we also agree that paying a security professional fairly — maybe even generously — is a smart business decision and money well spent?

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