Dear Reader,

In my years of heading a security and housekeeping agency, I have heard clients complaining to us about a lot of things related to security and housekeeping services. Most complaints seem to be correct and logical from their point of view.

But when there is manpower involved, there are two kinds of mistakes that can happen. Let me try to explain the two with the help of some examples.

1. Mistakes related to Knowledge & Skill of Manpower: If a security guard lacks the knowledge/skill of how and when to frisk the people while entering/exiting the premise or housekeeping staff does not know what chemicals to use it is a mistake on the company’s part for not training it’s personnel properly. You may consider changing the service provider for repeated violations.

2. Mistakes related to Attitude: If a security guard is found sleeping during the duty hours, it is a mistake on the security guard’s part not the company assuming he is on single shift and the company has a robust checking / auditing process. So, it may not be appropriate to blame the company for issues related to attitude including that of stealing assuming police verification has been done.

Changing the manpower service provider is not going to help you in case of these attitude issues assuming the service provider has robust processes to check the manpower. Solution lies in changing manpower provided, not the manpower services provider.

I hope the above information helps you and provides an understanding as to when a manpower services company can be held liable for. If you have any queries related to this, feel free to ask me.

Regards,

Ravi Kapur