G4S Group 4 Securicor

Yeah, so one that like I, so I'm going to cheat and there's two answers.

One is G4S because the history of G4S as a company is really fascinating, like founded in Copenhagen at the turn of the 20th century as a night watchman group and has now proliferated to the point of where it's involved in kind of every level of securitization of our lives from the security guards in the supermarket wearing body cams to, you know, private security contractors, people on the southern coasts of Europe defending Fortress Europe.

And it's, I think, through G4S and how it has developed over the intervening 114 years, It tells an interesting story about securitization and what has happened in the intervening years in our daily lives that now, you know, you're going to get put in a Camorra hold on the floor of Sainsbury's because you forgot to pay for an apple.

And there's going to be grainy footage uploaded to YouTube like you're watching a version of Observe and Report.

Yeah, I've been thinking a lot about the American company Brinks at the moment for reasons which I shan't be disclosing at this current moment.

But no, I think the G4S story is really pertinent.

And I'm not as aware of how these sort of companies function on the American continent.

But growing up, for me, in the 90s...

That becomes the baddie in these stories.

Before Palantir, it was G4S, if I remember well.

And before that, it was Capita.

And so I just think we need to balance between big contractors extracting taxpayer value from the government without giving enough of a product and sort of constructing straw men, these baddies, these boogeymen, every time we hear a particular company's name, which is the fashion for government contracts that decade.

So it's cheaper, it's not the best.

If you want to rent a car, go to G4S.

It's not

even G4S

anywhere.

What is it? Securicore? Securefocal.

who

just now are in quite close proximity, they're separated by about three seats.

I developed an acronym, which was Fun Achievement Recognition Money, so FARM.

And what I figured out early on, particularly recruiting guys, so I was recruiting guys who'd worked at KPMG, they'd worked at Securicor or G4S, They'd worked in banks, Woolwich Bank.

So Lloyd's, yeah, Lloyd's the owner, I can't remember.

Anyway, Woolwich and HBoss, people like that.

Looking at the week ahead, early voting accelerates across battleground states, including Michigan, Texas, and Florida, as the United States enters the final two-week countdown to the November 3rd midterm elections.

Finally, did you know? Allied Universal became the world's largest private security contractor in 2021 after acquiring British rival G4S.

This gave the combined company a global workforce of roughly 800,000, which is larger than the active-duty military of nearly every NATO member state.

If you're finding these mornings useful, hit subscribe so you don't miss tomorrow's brief.

In today's episode, we're going to look at one of the most complex workforce challenges any employer can face, building an entire workforce where none previously existed.

I'm joined by Alistair McBride, Nuclear Services Director from G4S, who's going to share how his team has tackled that challenge, not through recruitment alone, but through leadership, partnership, and a commitment to removing barriers that prevent people from succeeding.

Rather than viewing social value as a contractual requirement, G4S has embraced social value as a strategic need, a business tool to solve workforce challenges and to develop local talent and create a lasting opportunity for individuals and communities.

Alistair, thank you for joining us today on Take Five.

No problem at all.

G4S has faced the challenge of recruiting hundreds of people into some of the UK's most hard to reach places.

Um, there hasn't necessarily been a ready workforce, uh, and there's certainly been, uh, remote locations, I think, to say the least.

Um, rather than seeing these as reasons why something couldn't be done, uh, I'm really interested in exploring how they became the catalyst for doing things differently.

This was a measure intended to reduce the risk of somebody using their clothing to injure themselves, but it also gives us an indication of how seriously his behaviour has been treated inside the station.

A healthcare technician employed by G4S Health Services, the private company providing healthcare services in custody, dealt with Lewis Ranwell during this period and later described aspects of his presentation as bizarre.

He wasn't cooperative enough for the technician to carry out a full conventional assessment of things such as his orientation and memory.

Yet despite those difficulties, the initial judgment was that he was fit to remain in detention and continue through the criminal custody process.

At 4.11pm, a police inspector formally reviewed Lewis Ranwell's detention.

The inspector recorded that it was making very little sense and that he potentially presented as a serious risk to the public if released.

Custody staff subsequently sought the attendance of a forensic medical examiner employed by G4S.

The intention was for a doctor to examine Lewis Ranwell and help determine the appropriate next steps.

Yeah, I, I don't see why not.

Uh, you know, th- there's a lot of activity that people don't know anything about, and of course, Erik Prince has, uh, always been at the center of it, as are many government contracting companies, United Defense, Halliburton, uh, Saber, G4S.

You know, for the audience, I worked as a government contractor years ago.

Uh, was deployed into 41 different countries.

Um, and, um, Yeah, just did mail shots and I'd send out thousands of applications.

I remember I worked for Group 4 Security and at the weekends you'd basically babysit empty offices.

You know, I'd be there, I'd take a wad of paper, you know, and I would just be doing these letters, you know.

Um, but yeah, facing like repeated rejections and questioning whether my dream was realistic, you know, wondering whether, you know, I was ever going to make it, you know, and I think probably, probably the lowest point was when I was thinking about, should I anglicize my name? That was really hard.