UGS Private Security

Key Takeaways:

With over 35 years of experience, UGS Private Security Inc. is based in California and offers the highest quality security services in the industry. From unarmed security to armed security, patrol security services, loss prevention, off duty police officers, security consulting, and more. In addition, the company operates an accredited training program that provides specialized security training and produces industry-recognized qualifications and licenses. To effectively run and manage its operations, UGS employs about 150 employees. 

In order for UGS to effectively manage its growing business, they must be able to provide immediate and professional guard teams and security services. This means they need a robust roster with the right security professional scheduled, they need to communicate in real-time, training must be maintained, and time tracking is a must. 

Before Parfait Vandi, President and Qualify Manager of UGS Private Security Inc. turned to Connecteam for daily operations, he used many other solutions.

“We have tried so many other applications but nothing comes close to Connecteam. Connecteam by far has been the best.”

Parfait continued on to say, “Connecteam is a true all-in-one solution compared to all the other apps. The previous apps that we used didn’t have communication tools as Connecteam does. The scheduling, time clock, and communication features also aren’t available on other apps but Connecteam has it all.” 

We spoke to Parfait in further detail about how Connecteam helps him meet his business needs, here’s what he had to say:

Tell us about the key challenge you faced before Connecteam.

Among the problems we were facing, onboarding was a big one. Prior to Connecteam, our biggest issue was physical space because we had to bring people into the office for training and we could only fit four people in a room at a time. 

Traditional onboarding takes time but with Connecteam, they don’t have to come to the office, instead, they can do it all from their mobile device at home or in their car, we don’t have to supervise them. That proved to be a very big advantage during the COVID-19 outbreak: if we didn’t have Connecteam it would have been a disaster, as we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish training from afar.

Tell us about your top use cases for Connecteam and how they are helpful to your company and employees.

Job scheduling:

With Connecteam, scheduling shifts are so much easier as we can easily create single, multiple, or team shifts and we can even copy last week’s schedule. We’re able to dispatch teams to multiple locations quickly and easily. I really love being able to use it to let my guards know where they need to be, it’s the easiest way to communicate. And I can even easily add any information to the shift. 

Policies and resources:

I have been sharing our policies on Connecteam because employees used to physically be in the office in order to sign it and learn what the policy is. But with Connecteam, this can be done on-the-go and no one has to come into the office. To have certain paperwork on file is one of the features I have been working with which I love so much, as employees can sign everything on their phone. I created sexual harassment policies, medical policies including a sheet to gather the team’s benefits preference, safety policies, and more. Employees acknowledge it and sign on the app without having to be physically in the office. This saves us a lot of time and we avoid the back-and-forth follow-up hassle.

Employee development content:

We are creating employee development on Connecteam by uploading the training manual we have in our office. This was a problem for us in the past because employees used to come into the office, some 80-100 employees with limited space, to read through this manual, now they don’t have to come to the office anymore. We love this feature, the team can just do it through Connecteam now.

Guard training:

Second, we host a guard training course in our offices and are credential holders for security guard training. Initially, people used to come to the office and be there for hours. With the COVID-19 outbreak, we had to do things differently. I consulted with  Noam, my customer success manager at Connecteam, and together we created a system – these people can now train from anywhere. People can access Connecteam and get their security training license. I used to use CDs to get people licensed for this training course but these CDs are not required anymore. Having everything on Connecteam is a real breakthrough for my business. We are no longer limited by physical space – if before we could only train 4 people a day, now we can train dozens without bringing anyone to the office, it’s a real game-changer for us. All of us like to work smart and not hard. Connecteam is helping everyone work smart from their mobile devices to get the training they need to be done. They don’t have to deal with traffic or worry about COVID-19 because they do it from their own home at their own time.

Chat groups

We have put in place group chats where the employees and supervisors can chat – from new shifts to policies. It’s saved us time from having to call people and everyone automatically knows if a shift is open and who took it on. We are working on making this more effective with our employees. 

What were your impressions regarding the implementation process?

I think that it’s pretty easy and there are so many more things I can do on the app that I don’t even know yet. I just clicked around and it’s not hard to figure out. It’s user-friendly and self-explanatory for beginners. Even some employees who were hesitant to download the app, once they did, they seemed to be able to get started pretty easily.

Working on Connecteam, I thought I needed to pay money to get someone from Connecteam to train my employees on how to use it. However, I spoke to customer support, Noam, and he said there was no need to pay anything. Together, we did a training session and from home, I also played around with it myself and found it so easy. I could teach my own team how to use Connecteam without needing to pay anyone to do it for me. 

About how long does it take a new employee to get up to speed with Connecteam?

Maybe two weeks tops. Or maybe even less than that, some employees can get up to speed in a day! A user takes a week, like a non-tech user, and an admin maybe a day or so as they are more tech-savvy. 

Would you recommend Connecteam to your peers? Why?

I would recommend it to security guard companies because one thing I really liked that I think is good for security companies is the chat. For example, when it comes to scheduling, there are a lot of openings at the last minute and it’s convenient on the chat to be able to talk about this and pick up shifts right up from the app. I also like how Connecteam allows us to enhance employee communication when planning and scheduling ahead of time, and even during our team’s workday, we can get live feedback by clicking on the in-app chat that is integrated directly to our scheduler.

In addition, onboarding is the killer in this app. Because a lot of companies, small and big businesses, deal with space problems within their offices but with Connecteam, it gives flexibility to many companies to accomplish the onboarding process from a distance. I love it. I love the onboarding feature. 

What surprised you about Connecteam?

It’s the all-in-one aspect of Connecteam. Whatever we are doing in the office, from onboarding to literally payroll, you can do it all on Connecteam. Timesheets, clocking in, training, I mean I can’t say more. Literally.

Going forward, what would you like to achieve with Connecteam?

I think our goal going forward is to get everyone on the app so that all employees can effectively clock in, are onboarded effectively and smartly, and that all company policies are read and signed on-the-go.

Anything else you’d like to add about your experience with Connecteam?

Connecteam saves us money. Connecteam is changing my business by saving money and streamlining all processes. I just log onto my Connecteam app and everything is done right then and there. From communication to training to scheduling, I don’t need to jump to another app to get my job done. Connecteam helps us work smart, bottom line. I am also very happy with the customer support – Noam is so helpful with anything I need.