Reposted from Security Management Magazine

How do you hire from a distance? Office closures and social distancing measures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced the contract security guarding industry to change how it recruits, evaluates, and hires new personnel, and while many changes are temporary, others can present long-term opportunities for improvement.

Over the last decade, the contract security industry has seen marked changes in both the applicant pool and the officer skill sets required by customers. A more recent development has been interviewing and conducting applicant processing and onboarding remotely as much 
as possible.

In particular, the 2008 financial crisis changed the landscape for security talent management. While many industries faced setbacks, the recession presented unexpected benefits for contract security companies.

From 2008 to early 2017, hiring for security firms was a straightforward activity in the United States. Given the generally high but stable unemployment rate and slowly growing economy, the labor pool was both diverse and plentiful. It was not uncommon for a security officer applicant to have substantial life experience or college degrees. The stability of the security industry offered steady employment, albeit rarely at an individual’s prior salary range. Turnover—always an issue in most service industries—tended to be more manageable; keeping a job often trumped seeking a new job.

During this same period, technology finally found its way to contract security. Unprecedented industry consolidation, driven by a wave of retiring owners and uncertainty with the U.S. Affordable Care Act, led national and international firms to differentiate themselves through technology and service. This, however, required a different level of security officer skill set.

21st Century Skill Sets

One important area of service that has fundamentally never changed in the contract security field is that security personnel are expected to show up when and where they were supposed to, look the part through uniformity, understand their responsibilities, be prepared to document both the routine and the extraordinary, and know the right person to notify when necessary.

However, the sophistication level and visibility required of today’s security officer stands in stark contrast to what was needed just a few short years ago. Primarily, the evolution has centered on the demand for more extensive training and the ability of each officer to perform, communicate, and respond professionally in a seemingly ever-growing range of safety and customer service-related areas.

Customer expectations for proficiency have never been greater. Security officers must be prepared to control access, welcome important guests and escort each to their destination, interact with local law enforcement, lead evacuations, respond to medical emergencies, de-escalate tense situations, and mitigate risk.

Technology tools and the skills to use them efficiently have become the industry standard, with a goal of maximizing officer performance and collecting risk management data. Today’s security officer is searching for and locating potential threats, while controlling access using technologically advanced surveillance systems. Routine security officer functions now include electronic incident reporting, camera monitoring, and collecting patrol tour data, which is accessible in real time.

Security companies have also created online programs to make training more accessible, markedly enhancing the skills and knowledge of each officer. Professional security officers now actively pursue computer skills and additional training as a path to upward mobility.

Multigenerational Hiring

Between 2016 and 2018, numerous industries that had been idling during the recession reentered the hiring competition with gusto. For contract security firms, educated and experienced applicants seeking employment and stability evaporated. The trouble was: prospective and current clients’ service needs had not evaporated in the slightest.

Veteran hiring, long a panacea for security firms, was in vogue. As the Iraq War wound down, veteran recruitment became a highly publicized hiring initiative in multiple industries, substantially reducing a crucial and previously consistent security industry employee base. Compounding this challenge, many mature men and women retired or left the workforce. This senior applicant pool, a critical part of the infrastructure of a stable security company, couldn’t be replaced in anywhere near the numbers needed. Suddenly, almost every conversation between industry executives centered more around recruitment, hiring, and retention than any other managerial obstacle.

With this evaporation of veterans and mature candidates, the era of the millennial security officer arrived and with it would come a bushel full of new generational challenges.

Recruiters and talent management experts have devised many strategies for attracting and retaining highly educated millennials—an age range that generally includes people born between 1981 and 1996. Most of these recruitment efforts emphasize values alignment, flexible schedules, being tech savvy, and personal investment in the work. The true question for the private security industry, though, was how would the strata of entry-level, hourly millennial service workers fare?

Security hiring has commonalities and stereotypes. Previously, successful job applicants arrived on time or a few minutes early for an interview, were polite to the receptionist, dressed up for the opportunity, and seemed generally interested in the job for which they were applying.

However, the tight labor market changed the caliber of job applicants, especially for entry-level jobs. Suddenly the average applicant exuded an air of boredom and disinterest. Tattoos, piercings, and colored hair went from rare to common.

During interviews, staffing specialists faced conflicting demands—a need for officers and a group of applicants that refused to work for the rates offered. Pay and billing rates—many of which had remained unchanged or barely affected since late in 2008—now faced strong upward pressures. Heightened demand for frontline guarding services during the pandemic only made recruiting and training qualified candidates more challenging.

New Efficiencies

The mission during COVID-19 was to reduce time spent “in the office” during processing in every imaginable way possible, including while recruiting and hiring security personnel. Technology provided solutions.

The year 2020—due to more modern software, cost-effective access to video, and the need to minimize in-person interaction—will probably be seen as the inflection point when security officer processing became primarily remote. Fully remote processing may currently be a bridge too far, but the groundwork for continuing these trends lies before us. When necessity dictated the change to remote employee processing, the industry responded quickly.

Recruitment. Recruiting today barely resembles the version of just a decade prior. Long gone are the days of newspaper advertisements.

Advancements in job posting sites have seen many come and go, and sites are constantly jockeying for position. For example, Indeed.com is currently the “king of the hill” for security officer job listings, given that LinkedIn and Monster.com have generally focused on white collar applicants. Glassdoor is seeking to transition from a place for employees and applicants to complain about employers to a more well-rounded employment platform.

Social media advertising is inexpensive and can be targeted, but it comes with the vitriol that even seemingly random commenters care to tag ads with—editing comment sections is a new but essential task for human resources.

Remote interviewing. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations worldwide were almost immediately affected by the requirements of social distancing and limits to the number of people in an office. Human resources departments converted almost instantly to the various video platforms, and screeners sought to maximize video conferencing tools to visually observe applicants and their mannerisms.

As the author’s company pivoted to remote interviewing, Erica Montoya, the firm’s human resources director, found that the crucial components of an in-person interview, such as punctuality, attentiveness, and overall effort into being ready for a job interview were still applicable. Her team of staffing specialists readily agreed. Each had stories of exceptional applicants who interviewed well, along with funny tidbits—including an applicant who commenced baking brownies during the interview.

These changes may have implications beyond the duration of the pandemic. Several aspects of winnowing the applicant pool had already lent themselves to modernization, such as applying through an employee portal, often with a “screening” function in the process separating the potential successes from the likely failures. Other efficiencies, such as a secondary six to eight question screening phone call, will most likely fold into the video interview.

Dr. Benjamin Dobrin, dean of the D. Henry Watts School of Professional Studies at Virginia Wesleyan University, believes that wholesale commitment to distance interviewing—while born out of the necessities of the pandemic and associated social distancing precautions—will likely remain in effect long-term.

“This has been a jump start, if you will, for businesses still practicing traditional hiring techniques,” Dobrin says. “Those that have been slow to embrace interviewing technology were just forced to make a quantum leap. History tells us that once the waters recede, the pluses of non-present interviewing will lead to even more widespread adoption.”

Paperwork. In early March 2020, there were a few variations in how traditional hiring paperwork was completed. Across the United States, some security officer candidates arriving for processing started their day with a clipboard, a pen, and the usual suspects: I-9s, tax forms, and handbook acknowledgments.

Fast-forward a few short months, and the clipboard is all but obsolete. Software that captures digital signatures eliminates touching shared objects like pens, and it means paperwork can be completed in the safety and comfort of one’s home. Doing so reduces risk and potential exposure to both the processor and new employee, and it carries the inherent message that the organization cares about its employees and their health, which is definitely a sound message to have ring out loud and clear to people joining the team.

The transition was not without its challenges. Multigenerational employment pools communicate very differently. Montoya and the processing portion of her team found themselves revising flow charts to account for remote processing tasks. Email was the only effective method for detailing what items needed to be completed remotely, as well as what identification documents must be brought for the inter-office visit.

The trouble with email, though, is that not all applicants check it regularly, with reasons frequently split along generational lines. To mitigate the risk that essential tasks might go unread, mature candidates receive phone calls reminding them to look for emailed processing task lists, whereas younger applicants receive text message reminders.

Training videos. Across the security industry, the spectrum of pre-assignment training videos had often been limited to an office-provided terminal with a VHS tape, DVD, or Web link, usually supervised to ensure that materials were viewed and comprehended.

A mass migration towards providing pre-assignment subject matter remotely has been aided by two developments. First, content can be set up so that it cannot be fast-forwarded or skipped, but otherwise employees can learn at a pace that works for them. This eliminates the concern of “pencil whipping” information that is important for officers to know: attention to detail, customer service, daily and incident report writing, and the use of force continuum.

The second benefit of remote viewing is the ability to embed quiz questions throughout the subject matter or as a comprehensive final quiz. Failure—either because the applicant was unable to absorb the content sufficiently or not paying attention at all and winging it—is a strong indicator that a person is destined to fail in their role as a security officer. For these reasons, completing videos remotely easily passes the test for streamlining processing.

Orientation. Few things can match being welcomed in person with a clearly delineated list of expectations and responsibilities, the chance to meet coworkers, a comfortable environment that invites questions and feedback, and the opportunity to rub elbows with the company’s support staff.

Social distancing and infection mitigation pushed this type of orientation into the realm of “the way we used to do it.” Blessedly, with so many meeting software platforms, a combination of prerecorded and live orientation material can accomplish much of the same goals at a substantially reduced risk.

Uniforms. Paperwork, pre-assignment videos, and orientation lend themselves much more easily to software and remote technology than the age-old process of issuing uniforms. When an officer visits the office to pick up his or her uniforms, even after calling ahead to a uniform room manager with sizes, it makes the most sense to have the officer try the items on then and there.

If an in-person office visit is required, the employer can maximize the officer’s visit by completing any additional tasks—such as providing an actual copy of the Employment Handbook and the employee’s first weekly schedule, confirming healthcare choices or dependents on tax forms, and meeting the account manager in person—in one short, concise session.

History shows us that times of great strain and upheaval often end up being catalysts for marked change, and for the private security interview and hiring process that adage has proven true. It is doubtful that even a partial regression will occur after COVID-19, given the ease and efficiency of digital interviewing and the degree to which it highlights an applicant’s familiarity and comfort with technology. If someone cannot manage a Zoom or Webex interview, how effectively can they be expected to use a mobile device complete with accountability and reporting software? The transition to a more digital age arrives in time for the tech-savvy millennial generation, who won’t think twice about remote processing.

Clients’ expectations grow as the world becomes more complex and risks—both old and new—are added to the list of security officer tasks and concerns. Finding people who will be alert, attentive, pleasant, and professional in appearance has historically been the source of success for private security human resources staffing specialists. Their tasks are aided by technological advances, but complicated by generational tendencies and public health roadblocks.

“We are living through arguably the most accelerated amalgamation of technology and public health concepts in human history,” says Dobrin. One thing will always be for certain though: human resources staff must function in a constant state of urgency and innovation, given that the phone rarely stops ringing and the operations department’s “needs lists” will always be in the email inbox early each morning.

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Reposted from The Chicago Tribune

The Ruth Bader Ginsburg exhibition at the Illinois Holocaust Museum is likely to transform from a tribute to a memorial in the coming days, as Illinoisans take advantage of the local opportunity to spend time with the late Supreme Court justice’s story and personal effects.

For the rest of the exhibition’s run, scheduled through Jan. 3, tickets are available via the Holocaust Museum website and are included in the $15 general admission.

Wednesdays are free days through the end of the year at the museum, but tickets are required to attend on those days.

Demand for the “Notorious RBG” show, which I reviewed (favorably), when it opened in February, is expected to be high and compounded by the museum limiting attendance and opening hours due to COVID-19 restrictions. New, post-COVID hours see the museum only open Wednesdays-Sundays, and it will also close Sept. 28 for Yom Kippur.

The show was on track to be one of the most popular in the museum’s history when the pandemic forced its temporary closure in mid-March. Because of the closure, the institution was able to extend the show’s run through the Jan. 3 date.

“The exhibition is based on the hit 2015 book of the same title” and was developed by L.A.'s Skirball Cultural Center, I wrote in February. “It derived from a viral Tumblr account merging Ginsburg’s persona, especially her fierce Supreme Court dissents, with fragments from the late rapper the Notorious B.I.G.”

Despite how that may sound, it offers a respectful, enlightening treatment of her life and career as a pioneering feminist lawyer then Supreme Court Justice.

For those unfamiliar, the museum covers the mid-20th century Nazi mass murder of European Jews and others, along with other exhibits related to Jewish topics and to genocide. Its telling of the Holocaust story is one of the Chicago region’s most compelling and haunting museum exhibitions.

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Reposted from Security Management Magazine

The COVID-19 pandemic seems like an inflection point for the safety and security industry, and I can’t help but think back to past crises and the changes they precipitated—namely the 9/11 terror attacks.

Seemingly, out of nowhere, America was vulnerable. The security industry was at the forefront and had to keep up with sweeping U.S. federal changes, including the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, the Patriot Act, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, and the International Code Council’s post-9/11 building codes. Task forces sprang into action—groups such as state-led counterterrorism bureaus, federally mandated security consultants, and Joint Terrorism Task Forces. The security apparatus in America crossed its Rubicon and irrevocably committed to making the nation a harder target against domestic and international threats.

The security sector today faces a similar inflection point with COVID-19. Once again, urgency is forcing innovation. Security manufacturers are springing to market with incredible new ideas, disruptive technology, and equipment, similar to reactions in the post-9/11 world. Technology is rapidly propelling business transformation.

This time, however, businesses are looking to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for guidance on how to safely return to the office. Guidelines to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 are focused on stay-at-home initiatives, promoting social distancing, wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), and screening for elevated temperatures.

Upsettingly, however, these safety guidelines have begun taking on partisan division in today’s polarizing political climate. It was heartbreaking to hear about the murder of Family Dollar security officer Calvin Munerlyn in May 2020; Munerlyn was shot and killed while on duty for enforcing Michigan’s state-mandated face mask policy. Violent reactions to CDC guidelines are all too common.

The key to safely moving forward is striking the right balance between technology and humanity, and robots are uniquely positioned to respond. Robots are nonpartisan and unbiased, and they can accomplish all CDC-recommended critical tasks while reducing human exposure and breaking the chain of infection.

Robots can not only monitor people’s behaviors through machine learning algorithms, but they can also respond and correct issues as they happen. Utilizing two-way video and voice communications, robots can gently change people’s behavior in the workspace while limiting human exposure to COVID-19.

Elevated temperature is a primary symptom of COVID-19. Traditional methods for businesses to conduct temperature checks are difficult to scale, unreliable, and put those administering the tests at risk. Robots can be used to conduct reliable skin temperature scans through non-invasive measurement of skin temperature via tear duct scans. Using thermal imaging calibration from blackbody radiation (small devices capable of emitting a known constant temperature) paired with a thermal camera, robots can alert employers of anyone with a temperature exceeding 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Remote operators can then direct that person for secondary screening, without putting people in harm’s way.

Robots can screen for elevated temperature, verify PPE compliance, and enforce social distancing guidelines while avoiding additional exposure for security officers and other building occupants. Robots provide perfect recall, unlimited attention, and no bias. They are a solution to a difficult situation, and an ideal way to add automated solutions to an existing security program.

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Reposted from KTAR News

Swastikas and a racial slur were spray painted at the property of an African American history museum in downtown Phoenix over the weekend.

Authorities say the vandalism was found Sunday on the sidewalk and a column in front of the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.

The Phoenix Police Department is investigating the incident.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego condemned the vandalism in a tweet and said the city’s anti-graffiti program would work to remove it.

The venue at Grant and Fourth streets is currently closed because of the coronavirus pandemic but has several virtual exhibits on its website.

The Carver Museum’s mission is to preserve and share the stories of African American experience in Phoenix.

When open, the privately managed museum doesn’t charge admission but depends on donations from visitors and partners to operate.

A GoFundMe campaign has been started to raise money for enhanced security at the venue and to expand exhibits and programming.

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Reposted from Security Management Magazine

This has been a make-or-break year for physical security departments, and how they handle their response to the pandemic will pave the way for executive buy-in—or loss of credibility. From how people enter a building to how they interact with others onsite, physical security professionals have been tasked with mitigating risk and ensuring safety more than ever before.

To address emerging risks, many organizations are rushing to adopt security solutions to keep their businesses operational and compliant with newly established health and safety standards. According to recent research conducted by Traction Guest, the overwhelming majority (92 percent) of enterprise security and risk professionals report that physical security is of greater strategic importance to their organization now than it was before the pandemic. With onsite health and safety concerns at an all-time high, 87 percent of businesses plan to increase spending on physical security going forward.

While it’s encouraging to see businesses investing more in physical security programs, not all risk mitigation measures are made equal. When managers deploy countermeasures without first understanding and addressing the company’s own specific risk posture, they are contributing to “security theater”—a concept that refers to security measures that make people feel more secure without doing anything to actually improve their security.

In response to the pandemic, what steps should enterprises take to ensure they are truly securing their business and protecting employees and visitors versus simply participating in security theater?

Know the Risk

To provide value to the business without entering into security theater, a security leader must begin by understanding the risks his or her company is actually facing. Each company has its own unique physical security risks, and security professionals must allow those risks to inform how they implement new technologies and procedures.

While organizations should run risk assessments on a regular and ongoing basis, most risk assessments tend to take place after a specific event or incident. COVID-19 has created a point in time where all companies must reevaluate their physical security program to factor in both current and future pandemic-level threats. If you haven’t already, it’s time to dust off those risk evaluations and take a serious look at your security posture.

While there are certainly industry standards and best practices available as a framework for your program, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to physical security and protecting your business. In fact, the industry standard or buzzworthy solutions may not be the best fit for every organization.

Begin by assessing your company’s overall risk from a corporate, brand, and executive perspective. This high-level overview will provide you with a broad base of the most critical and potentially damaging risks your company faces.

Next, conduct risk assessments on a site- or location-specific level. While this task can be tedious depending on the size of your organization, this level of granularity is vital to an effective assessment. You will need to factor in location-based considerations, such as what type of facility you are securing, how much revenue the facility brings in, if there are irreplaceable assets or operations involved at this site, and any other facility-specific risks.

Once your location-specific assessment is complete, begin evaluating risk from a business unit perspective. Don’t forget to include the security department in this stage of the risk assessment; a worst-case scenario would be for your department to be the one that buckles in the event of an emergency situation.

Address the Risk

After completing a multifaceted risk assessment, you will be left with a comprehensive overview of all of the risks your organization faces. This assessment, however, does not include your company’s risk tolerance level.

Every company has a varying degree of risk it is willing to accept. Speak candidly with senior leadership, legal advisors, and other stakeholders about the level of risk your company is prepared to take on. Then you can begin to determine what the appropriate countermeasures are to address and mitigate your organization’s risk. These countermeasures can be both technological and procedural, but they must be tailored to meet the specific needs of the business.

For every countermeasure you put into place, you should determine how effective it is at eliminating your actual risk. For example, if you are trying to keep bad actors out of your facility, consider an access control system that can address that particular challenge. This step is critical in eliminating security theater, so as to not introduce systems that won’t have any substantive impact on the company’s risk posture.

Another strategy to tackle risk more effectively is to partner with your cybersecurity counterparts. Physical and cybersecurity leaders should focus on cooperation—whether that be through collaborating on response plans or conducting risk assessments together. This partnership creates a more comprehensive view of the organization’s overall risk posture and allows leaders to implement solutions that address risk from a unified security standpoint.

Enforce the Policy

Policy enforcement and governance are vital when establishing an effective risk management strategy. Many businesses today have great intentions when implementing new physical security technology. Without policies in place to govern and maintain these systems, enterprises are unfortunately unable to track whether the countermeasures they have put in place are effectively managing risk. Enter security theater.

Without managing systems properly, it’s easy to introduce new risks into the business. For example, a company may spend significant resources adopting a new access control system. But how many people at the company have multiple access badges? And how many employees lost a badge that might have fallen into the hands of a malicious actor? Improper management of countermeasures almost guarantees that there will be weak spots in the system. In fact, that shiny new access control system may be allowing more bad actors in than before.

As Physical Security Rises in Importance, Remain Focused on Risk

The pandemic has spurred the C-suite to recognize that ineffective health and safety protocols expose their people and their businesses to serious risk. As a result, senior leadership is more concerned with physical security than ever before, advancing many security and risk professionals into a strategic position within the business.

Physical security leaders must remain laser-focused on identifying risk, implementing measures with which to address that risk, and enforcing policies to keep those systems operational—only then can they provide true value for the business. We have entered into a new world order, in which effective physical security is of the utmost importance to the business. Security theater can place your company’s brand reputation on the line, not to mention lead to potential harm to employees and visitors. It is no longer about convenience or security theater, but instead about maintaining business operations and protecting the health and safety of everyone onsite.

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Reposted from AP News

The crypt under the plaza in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, spared during the 2019 fire that devastated the medieval edifice, reopened to the public Wednesday after a painstaking cleaning to remove traces of lead dust that spewed from the nearby blaze.

The Archeological Crypt of Notre Dame features an exhibition on two figures central to the cathedral, writer Victor Hugo, who brought the character of the hunchback, the bell ringer, to the world in 1831, and architect Eugene Viollet-Le_Duc, who designed the soaring spire felled in last year’s fire.

The crypt is not officially linked to the cathedral, which President Emmanuel Macron wants to see fully restored by 2024, in time for the Olympic Games to be held in the French capital. The cathedral is currently off-limits to visitors as work moves ahead.

But the crypt opened its doors after a painstaking cleansing. The April 15, 2019 fire spewed toxic led dust, notably from the cathedral’s melting spire, throughout the vicinity. There were numerous examinations of the underground crypt.

“Every time we thought it had worked, and in fact, no, it hadn’t,” said Anne de Moudenard, chief curator of the exhibit. “So, decontamination then the (coronavirus) pandemic. Actually, this exhibition was ready one year ago.”

The crypt contains remains from archaeological digs discovered underneath the Ile de la Cite, taking visitors back in time. What is left of ramparts and thermal baths can be seen in the middle of the space. The exhibition, mostly of photos, videos and digital screens, surrounds the old stones.

The exhibit pays tribute to Victor Hugo’s famous 1831 novel “Notre-Dame de Paris,” known in English as “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” and to Viollet-Le-Duc, who led the restoration of the medieval cathedral a few years later, including the building of its spire, which became a signature of the edifice just like its two Gothic towers. 

But it is Hugo’s novel that helped grow the global reputation of the cathedral, de Moudenard said. It “contributes to making this cathedral a national monument,” she said in an interview. 

At the time, the French Revolution did away with the cathedral’s statues of kings, the edifice was growing fragile and “Victor Hugo himself was upset by the state of this historical heritage.” He did battle with those demolishing edifices, “those who want to get their hands on old buildings to transform them into quarries.”

The exhibit is open to the public until the end of 2022.

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Reposted from OH&S

Employers have taken extraordinary steps to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Whatever role you play in these efforts as a safety manager, remember to continually evaluate actions you and your company are taking. Even while a crisis is ongoing, making notes about potential issues and challenges will better prepare you for a post-emergency response evaluation.

At some point, your company will likely meet to evaluate what was done well, what could have been done differently, and what plans are needed to prepare for the next event. This analysis should include individuals with a strong understanding of emergency response actions, which likely includes the safety manager.

The evaluation may involve having others examine your decisions, so expect to receive some constructive feedback. Analyzing how you made decisions will help prepare for this. In addition, you’ll likely provide feedback on how others performed, so plan to do so diplomatically.

Questions to consider

The format of a post-emergency evaluation will differ for each company, but some questions that might be asked will likely include the following:

• Was the scope of the situation understood, or did it continually develop? As new information became available, how quickly did the company respond?
• What steps were taken to evaluate the accuracy of available information? Was there a process for taking action based on incomplete data?
• Were delays caused by getting key decision makers together? What actions were managers below executive level authorized to take? Were requests considered in a timely manner?
• How quickly were decisions communicated throughout all levels and locations? Was key contact information available and current?
• Did the company look to existing plans or policies? Were the plans current and available to key individuals? What changes may be needed for greater flexibility (such as adding multiple response options based on severity)?
• Were resources allocated efficiently? Was anything critical overlooked? What resources are needed (or can be gathered) to prepare for the next event?
• What alternative suppliers were considered, and are there contingency plans if those alternatives are not available?
• Did the company seem to take a reactive approach, or was a long-term goal developed?

You cannot know the nature or severity of the next event, but you can be certain that another event will occur. Evaluating how well the company responded to this crisis, and evaluating what changes are needed, will better prepare the organization to get through the next situation.

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Reposted from Security Management Magazine

More employees are working from home, and more employers are keeping an eye on them through use of remote monitoring technologies. These tools perform multiple tasks, such as tracking keystrokes and measuring employees’ active and idle time in key applications and websites. Monitoring tools also help companies enforce data security policies, and even take photos to see whether workers are sitting at their laptops at home.

But tracking tools aren’t without risks. Workplace monitoring is subject to a variety of federal and state laws regarding when employees have a right to privacy and if and when they must be notified that they’re being monitored. From a legal perspective, disclosing surveillance is the smartest tactic. Letting employees know that they will be monitored removes their reasonable expectation of privacy—the element that often forms the basis for invasion-of-privacy lawsuits arising under common law.

And while being transparent about the use of such monitoring tools is essential to avoiding legal pitfalls, it’s also key to building trust in the workforce around privacy issues.

According to a June study by Gartner, 26 percent of HR leaders report having used some form of software or technology to track remote workers since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. That’s up from 16 percent in April, when the pandemic was taking hold. The tracking includes monitoring of work computer usage, employee emails or internal communications, work phone usage, and employee location or movement.

Many executives are eyeing the use of such technology because they understand that remote work is here to stay. Gartner projected that 47 percent of employers plan to let workers work remotely full time moving forward. In addition, 82 percent of business leaders across multiple industries plan to allow employees to work remotely at least some of the time as they reopen closed workplaces.

It’s important for organizations to be clear about their intentions when using employee monitoring tools, says Josh Bersin, HR industry analyst and founder of the Josh Bersin Academy in Oakland, California, a professional development organization for HR.

“Is the purpose to benefit employees, to evaluate them, or perhaps to penalize them?” Bersin says. “If the idea is to benefit employees, it’s good; if it’s to evaluate employees, it’s potentially dangerous; and if it’s to penalize them, it’s probably a bad idea.”

Multiple Monitoring Tools

Companies such as Teramind, ActivTrak, InterGuard, Sneek, and Hubstaff offer technologies that enable organizations to monitor their employees at home. “These are tools that many companies weren’t buying before,” says Brian Kropp, chief of research in the HR practice at Gartner.

Teramind’s technology can track employee time spent on apps, websites, or email; gauge team productivity levels; and help enforce data security policies. Teramind has seen three times the normal amount of sales leads arriving to its website since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, says Eli Sutton, vice president of global operations for the Miami-based company.

One way organizations use the technology is to track the time remote employees spend in productive versus unproductive or “nonwork-related” applications or websites, Sutton says. The tools have the ability to gauge active versus idle time spent in targeted areas.

Teramind’s tool gives workers an option to periodically log out of the monitoring software to briefly complete nonwork tasks, such as checking personal email. “It allows them to regain their full privacy, which is well-suited for today’s work-at-home environment,” Sutton says. The technology also can be automatically disabled if employees access sensitive websites, Sutton says, such as a healthcare portal or a personal bank account.

ActivTrak is another company offering technology that can give HR and line leaders greater visibility into how employees spend their time at home.

“A growing interest of our clients is looking for ways to improve the productivity and work habits of remote employees and teams,” says Javier Aldrete, vice president of products for Austin, Texas-based ActivTrak. “The technology also can indicate signs of potential disengagement or burnout, since it provides reports on when and how long employees are working on specific tasks each day.”

ActivTrak also helps ensure remote employees are using good data security practices. For example, if workers are saving files to storage areas not authorized by the company or using apps not approved by the organization, automatic alerts can be sent to managers who can follow up on such practices.

Legal Implications of Monitoring

Employers using monitoring technology for remote workers face the same legal guidelines as when using such technology in the workplace, legal experts say. But there are special considerations when employees use personal devices for work purposes at home.

“In most instances state laws require you to protect employees’ privacy rights by giving them advance notice of your monitoring,” says Jennifer Betts, an employment attorney for Ogletree Deakins in Pittsburgh. “The best practice is to get employees’ consent for monitoring in writing.”

Such transparency is not only good legal practice but also good management practice. “We’ve consistently found that when employees are surprised by the use of monitoring technologies, they get very frustrated” and it impacts their morale, Kropp says. “The word will always get out that these tools are being used, so the question is whether you want employees to learn about it from management or from another source.”

When organizations install monitoring technology, they need to consider that remote employees may be using personal devices for work tasks, says Usama Kahf, a partner with law firm Fisher Phillips in Irvine, California. “Employees generally have an expectation of privacy in their use of personal computers and phones unless a different company policy has been communicated to them in writing,” he says. If you’re using any form of monitoring technology that affects employees’ personal devices and retaining information from that monitoring—beyond information gathered when an employee’s device is interacting with a corporate network—there should be a written privacy policy disclosing what the company is doing and why it’s doing it, Kahf says.

“That policy should detail those situations and uses where employees won't have a reasonable expectation of privacy,” he says.

When an employee’s personal device is connected to a corporate network or virtual private network (VPN), Kahf says companies do have a legal right to require employees to agree to data security monitoring measures in those situations.

Legal issues also are arising around the use of videoconferencing to conduct business, Betts says, specifically related to the recording of the images and voices of employees without their permission. Organizations, for example, might use such video recordings to create transcripts or to document calls or for future training purposes.

“Some states have wiretapping laws that restrict employers from recording their employees’ voices or images without their consent,” Betts says.

Forward-Thinking Uses of Monitoring

Some organizations are using the data they gather from monitoring not only to keep tabs on remote employees but also to help plan for an eventual return to the workplace.

Kropp says one financial services company measures the performance of its front-line employees in two key ways: the number of insurance claims they process in an hour and the error rate associated with those claims. As the company analyzed the performance of remote workers during COVID-19, it discovered something of interest: Various employees were operating at peak productivity and efficiency levels at very different times of the day.

“They found that some people had a faster claims-processing speed and lower error rate earlier in the morning and others performed better on those metrics in the afternoon,” Kropp says. “Some also were doing their best work later at night.”

He says such findings may prove useful as the company begins to transition employees back to the workplace. “Many organizations will have to do social distancing in the workplace, and they may ‘time shift’ when employees work,” he says. “To the extent they can schedule worker shifts when people have proven to be their most productive at home may be beneficial.”

Whether business leaders are anticipating a return to the office, a fully remote workforce or something in between, monitoring tools can provide valuable insights into how work gets done and how organizations can support their frontline workers.

When Monitoring, Know Your Objective

Business leaders have a wealth of technology options to choose from when monitoring the activities of remote employees. Experts say the decision on what type of software to use—or even to monitor at all—comes down to a few fundamental questions: Why are you tracking your workers? Is your primary motivation improving the productivity and working conditions of your remote workforce? Or are you applying greater oversight and policing to ensure work-at-home time isn’t abused?

While some technologies can address both goals, it’s important to be clear about your objectives, says David Johnson, an analyst with Forrester who specializes in workforce productivity issues. On its own, the knowledge of being watched usually improves human behavior, experts say. But when used in draconian fashion, surveillance can damage worker trust and reduce employees’ willingness to go the extra mile for their organizations.

Some companies in heavily regulated industries, such as finance or healthcare, may have a need to monitor workers for compliance reasons, Johnson says. But he encourages other organizations to use monitoring software with the idea of gaining a deeper understanding of the behaviors and challenges of remote workers, not to keep eyes on their every keyboard stroke.

“The software can give you good insight into how people are spending their time at home and whether they might have too much or too little on their plates,” Johnson says. “The primary goal of a leadership team should be figuring out how to support the needs of their remote workforce. That might require changes like more automation or better technical support. Companies that excel at creating a good employee experience look at the data created by monitoring software from a place of curiosity, not punishment.”

Know What’s Being Measured

While monitoring software can gauge how often remote employees use work-related applications such as email, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint—as opposed to time spent on nonwork websites or apps—those metrics can sometimes be deceptive.

“Trying to draw conclusions about people’s productivity from software use can be a slippery slope,” Johnson says. “Does more activity mean that employees are being more productive? Not necessarily, especially where it involves knowledge work.”

The highest-performing, most productive employees don’t always log the longest hours, Johnson says. “Top employees might work fewer hours in a day but are far more efficient and effective in how they use that time.”

Transparency and Intent

Transparency is key to effective use of monitoring software.

“If employees aren't told they’re being monitored by management but find out in another way, it becomes highly uncomfortable,” says Stacey Harris, chief research officer for Sapient Insights Group, an Atlanta-based HR technology research and advisory firm. “You not only need to be transparent about the technology's use, but employees also should know why they're being monitored.”

Intent makes all the difference in the use of monitoring tools, Harris believes. “It’s very easy to make policy based on the lowest common denominator, or the people who break the rules most in companies,” she says. “But the organizations who excel at this make policies not based only on those outliers but on employees who get their jobs done in the most productive fashion, to ensure those people have the support and resources they need to keep performing at the highest levels.”

While monitoring software has its place, it shouldn’t be viewed as a panacea. “There's no substitute for managers staying in frequent touch with their people, even in remote environments,” Johnson says. “That’s simply good leadership practice that can’t be replaced with a productivity tracking tool.”

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Reposted from Artnet News

The de Young Museum in San Francisco will reopen for members on September 22 and to the public on September 25, making it the first major art institution in the city, and one of the first in the state, to do so since US museums abruptly shuttered in March.

“We are thrilled that we will soon reopen our doors and resume engagement with our friends and communities, especially when California is still undergoing so many hardships,” Thomas P. Campbell, director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, told Artnet News in an email. “Our air-conditioned galleries are ready to provide succor to those who are weary of the smoky skies and bad air caused by the terrible fires across the state.”

When it opens its doors, the de Young will offer free general admission and discounted special exhibition tickets through December 2021 to essential workers. Advanced reservations are recommended, but a limited of number of tickets will be available each day at the door.

The city of San Francisco announced on Friday that it was giving museums and galleries the green light to reopen beginning September 21, pending approval of their health and safety plans. The de Young, having already devised its reopening procedures in anticipation of the day it would be able to implement them, was ready to act on these new permissions right away.

“The uncertainty of the reopening date has definitely been a great challenge, and we’ve had to pivot on many occasions!” said Campbell. “A task force with employees across museum departments has been hard at work over the summer, liaising with city authorities and planning and replanning the reopening of the de Young and Legion of Honor.

Other institutions are beginning to announce their plans as well. The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, will have member preview days on October 1 and 2 before reopening to the public on October 3. The de Young’s sister museum, the Legion of Honor, is looking toward a mid-October reopening.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the city’s Contemporary Jewish Museum have yet to announce opening dates, but are likely feeling pressure to get visitors back inside the museum. Without revenue from admissions, ticketed events, and gift shop and restaurants sales, cultural organizations across the world have been hard hit financially by the year’s extended closures, leading to widespread layoffs in the field.

“We’re an institution that is heavily dependent on earned revenue, so extended closure has had a huge financial impact on our bottom line,” said Campbell. “We were fortunate to receive a federal loan in the late spring and our board and community responded very generously to our recovery fund appeal. Even with these contributions, we were still compelled to make the painful decision to reduce staff a few months into the closure. This was a very hard blow and we are thrilled to be able to bring furloughed staff members back to the museums after reopening.”

The state saw a limited wave of openings in June, but those institutions, including the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, the Laguna Art Museum, and the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, were soon forced to shut down once again, when Governor Gavin Newsom issued an order reinstating statewide bans on indoor business activities effective July 13.

After spiking in July and August, infection rates have dropped across California over the last month. Business restrictions will be loosened based on the number of new cases in a county and the percentage of positive coronavirus tests. Museums can operate at 25 percent capacity in counties that are in tier two, designated red for “substantial” risk levels.

Under the new reopening plan, some institutions in San Diego’s Balboa Park museum complex began welcoming the public on Labor Day weekend, including the San Diego Museum of Art on September 5. Other art institutions that have followed suit include the Laguna Art Museum (September 10) and the Bowers Museum (September 12). The grounds at the Huntington Library, Art, Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino have been open since July 1, but the art galleries and other indoor facilities still remain closed.

At the de Young, returning visitors can catch “Uncanny Valley: Being Human in the Age of AI,” the group show featuring artist interpretations of the implications of artificial intelligence, which was open for less than a month before lockdown, and “Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving,” which was supposed to debut in March after a blockbuster run at the Brooklyn Museum.

“Our Frida Kahlo exhibition closed before it opened,” Campbell said. “The paintings, costumes and artifacts that comprise this show have been hanging in darkness for six months. Frida is dear to the heart of many Bay Area residents and we are happy that our visitors will finally be able to enjoy this beautiful exhibition.”

But the closure also meant postponing the museum’s highly anticipated Judy Chicago retrospective. Originally slated to open in May, it will now bow in summer 2021, leaving the de Young scrambling to come up with a placeholder. The result is the “de Young Open,” featuring over 800 works by local artists.

“With our loan exhibition schedule up in the air, we decided to focus on the community by issuing an open call to all Bay Area artists,” Campbell said. “Anticipating perhaps a few hundred submissions, it was mind-blowing to see 12,000 works from almost 6,000 artists come through.”

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Reposted from BBC

The works include first editions of Galileo and Isaac Newton.

They were taken by thieves in January 2017 who cut holes in the roof of a warehouse in Feltham then abseiled in, dodging sensors.

The men were identified as being part of a Romanian organised crime gang.

The gang is responsible for a series of high-value warehouse burglaries across the UK, London's Metropolitan police said in a statement.

Officers discovered the books underground during a search of a house in the region of Neamț, in north-eastern Romania, on Wednesday.

The find follows raids on 45 addresses across the UK, Romania and Italy in June 2019, investigators say. Thirteen people have been charged, 12 of whom have already pleaded guilty.

The hoard includes rare versions of Dante and sketches by the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, as well as the titles by Galileo and Isaac Newton dating back to the 16th and 17th Centuries. 

"These books are extremely valuable, but more importantly they are irreplaceable and are of great importance to international cultural heritage," said Det Insp Andy Durham, from the Metropolitan police's Specialist Crime South command. 

The works were being stored in a warehouse ahead of being transported to a specialist book auction in Las Vegas, in the US, when they were stolen. 

The thieves cut through the roof of the warehouse in Feltham, near Heathrow airport, and abseiled 12m (40ft) to the ground, dodging movement sensors, according to AFP news agency.

They then spent hours rummaging through bags before making off with their haul by the same route.

Investigators say the Romanian gang flies members into the UK to commit specific offences, then flies them out shortly afterwards, with different members taking the stolen property out of the country by alternative transport methods. 

The group is said to be linked to a number of prominent Romanian crime families who form part of the Clamparu crime group.

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