G4S top brass going the extra mile to take care of clients’ needs

David Stockton spent the whole day performing duties as a security officer to get first-hand information to evolve ‘effective policies’ to take the company forward. — KT photo

Leading from the front is not an easy task in today’s competitive and challenging corporate environment as top leadership has no choice but to think out of the box and go the extra mile to take care of customers’ needs and staff problems to stay ahead of the competition.

This is exactly what David Stockton, chief executive for the UAE of the world’s leading international security solutions group, G4S, did at the Mall of the Emirates on Thursday; like other shoppers and visitors, it was surprising to see someone like Stockton — personally known to this scribe — in uniform as a security officer, but he requested not to reveal his identity in public.

Stockton spent the whole day performing duties as a security officer to get first-hand information to evolve “effective policies” to take the company forward.

“Firstly, it is a fantastic and rewarding experience that will help us understand our customer needs,” Stockton, who assumed his responsibilities last month, told Khaleej Times.

G4S, which began its UAE venture in 1994, is the only security company today with a complete national footprint with 11 offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Al Ain, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, and Umm Al Quwain. It has 10,000 employees who are providing services to almost all industry sectors including government, retail, banking, shopping malls, events and airports.

“I’m going to spend the whole day as a security officer at the site starting from David’s Village [the G4S camp] where I boarded the staff bus and now follow the same routine as other officials do,” he said.

“Look at the end-to-end service from the bus ride to breaks to the end of duty. Real-life experience is easy to think, you know, but until you do it, you don’t [feel the] passion and drive from the staff to deliver outstanding service and security,” he said.

Stockton said his act is not a one-off show and the whole senior management of G4S would spend a day out on various jobs as “we do and see how the direct staff feels and undergo the job seen, be it be few challenges, and deal with different profiles of customers”

“This will give motivation to the direct staff when they see the senior management getting involved along with them at the job,” he added.

Elaborating, he said the human resource director will work as a trolley boy at Dubai International Airport, the company’s finance director will act as a welfare officer at the camp and more senior officials including director events, director of facility and outsourcing, etc, will go through different roles in due course of time.”

“The cash managing director recently did an operations coordinators job while another director performed a cashier role at the cash centre,” he said. Stockton said this policy move will reflect on what else “we can do and improve and augment to support the guys and ladies that deliver our services”.

G4S is headquartered in the UK and operates in more than 120 countries and over 625,000 employees. Dubbed as the largest employer by the London Stock Exchange, it has an additional stock exchange listing in Copenhagen. The company services 11 countries across the Middle East by providing manned security solutions, security systems, cash solutions and facilities management, offering a trusted service to thousands of international, regional and local customers.