Value-Based Compensation

Security Officers are heroes, first responders, and life safety resources. They are professionals who deserve to be compensated commensurate with their contributions.

These highly trained men and women are required to protect our places of business, data centers, educational facilities, hospitals, and public gatherings. According to Metro One's President Joe Arwady, "If you can ignore the fictitious Hollywood stereotype of the bumbling, comical and inattentive security guard and instead picture real-life security personnel who daily protect lives and property, respond to emergencies, and keep us safe, it is logical to also recognize that these licensed, trained, and essential workers earn what we refer to as a "Living Wage," which in this case is synonymous with 'Value-Based Compensation'."

Consider the following numerical estimates from the U.S. Labor Department: Adult workers= 128.6 million; Law enforcement personnel = 696.6 thousand; and Private security officers = 1.2 million. In other words, one of every 100 workers in the United States is a private security officer, which in total represents roughly twice the number of public law enforcement personnel. Bottom Line: Private security officers are an essential commercial resource on which we rely for everything from directions inside a large office complex to saving a child's life by performing CPR.

As part of its ongoing commitment to corporate social responsibility, Metro One Loss Prevention Services Group has pledged to work with its partners to provide security employees with a living wage - - not based on government legislation but instead resulting from the value they generate for our society, institutions, and organizations.

The term "living wage" is often used to denote a wage that is enough to maintain a "viable" standard of living, in other words - - "the minimum." Metro One relies on Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and its Living Wage Calculator as one of several key measurement tools to establish viable wages for its security professionals. The Calculator is not a "security industry tool," but is universal, based on family size and the corresponding minimum levels of compensation needed to provide housing, food, clothing, health care, transportation, and childcare.

According to Arwady, the MIT relationship has helped position Metro One to advocate for compensation bench­ marks that reflect the jobs and tasks assigned to its security personnel, a departure from the security industry's historical practice of "placing a guard for the lowest possible cost."

"Our service model recognizes the full value of our security personnel, starting with a living wage, but expanding total compensation, including health care and other benefits, to levels consistent with job requirements, risk and employee qualifications. Arwady says, "We believe it has brought us higher quality partnerships with our clients that stand the test of time and set a standard others can evaluate and hopefully embrace."