Santa Ana-based Allied Universal, the nation’s largest security guard company, is at the forefront of the battle against the coronavirus.
Its guards are at hospitals in hard-hit cities like New York and New Orleans, where they help ensure the people with symptoms are screened and given the right instructions before healthcare workers take over. Some of its employees have in turn caught the coronavirus.
“Before you get into (the) hospital, a security officer is asking you questions, sometimes taking temperatures,” Chief Executive Steve Jones told the Business Journal in an April 10 interview.
“It’s been [incredibly] challenging for us because our employees are on the front lines.”
A few days after the interview, Allied issued a press release saying it intends to hire 30,000 in the next two months.
Jones has built Allied Universal into a firm with 235,000 employees securing 42,000 sites and annual revenue around $8.5 billion. It provides security for about a quarter of the Fortune 500 companies, CEOs and their families. It’s positioning itself as more than merely a provider of security guards by using technology, including artificial intelligence, in its operations.
In January, the Business Journal named Jones as its executive of the year in the services category after a busy 2019 that saw the firm make acquisitions and get a new lead investor, Canada’s second-largest pension fund, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Allied Universal earlier this year had a valuation around $8.4 billion.
2020 is shaping up to be an even more eventful year for Jones and the firm, as its personnel deals with effects of the coronavirus on its corporate clients, a customer base that include numerous large office and retail owners in Orange County.
Reopening?
Jones says he’s often talking to his customers about when they’ll reopen, which will probably begin at the end of April in various parts of the country, he said.
He noted some states, such as Wyoming where he has operations, haven’t been locked down at all.
The hardest-hit cities probably won’t reopen until 30 days later, or around the end of May, he said.
“The question on everyone’s mind is how do you start to reopen?” he said.
Businesses are discussing whether they should take temperatures of staff and clients. Restaurants are wondering how many tables they should have available.
To keep abreast of the pandemic’s status, Jones is reading reports from his company executives and from Homeland Security. He’s following leading metrics such as the number of people entering hospitals with the virus.
“New York is starting to bend the curve,” he said on April 10, a few days before it became public news.
“We can see it in our data.”
Upside Down
Allied Universal, which operates in all 50 states as well as Canada and the United Kingdom, is deemed essential business. In addition to hospitals and other locations still providing services, it also provides security to malls and universities, many of which are shut down and the security is on a skeleton staff.
“Since mid-March, our lives have been turned upside down,” Jones said.
Change, and opportunity for more work, comes rapidly. Allied is picking up new business, such as a major national cellphone company that wants a security guard in every retail outlet.
Likewise, executives at commercial office buildings are considering temperature checks of everyone walking in the door.
Its business guarding healthcare, biotech and pharmaceuticals companies “is exploding,” he said.
“We’ve got major manufacturers in biotech, biomed—we take the temperature of every worker before they get into the facility,” Jones said.
The company, which has made dozens of acquisitions in the past decade, has put on hold three pending acquisitions.
“We’re conserving all of our cash to make sure our business stays stable,” he said.
Supply Chain
The company has bought 1,000s of disposable clothes, as well as well over 100,000 hand sanitizers.
In the initial days of the crisis, Jones said the company “got gouged” during one purchase of 60,000 masks at $10 each.
In the last two weeks, it’s been able to send about 350,000 face masks to its employees. It’s now supplying permanent nylon washable masks with the company logo on them.
Last week, Allied partnered with the Irvine Police Department to help deliver 7,000 masks to 57 Irvine businesses, beginning with pharmacies and grocery stores. The face masks were donated by local and international sources.
The company is working with its employees to address the personal impacts the outbreak is having on their specific situations. Allied Universal said it will be investing up to $50 million in its security and janitorial professionals over the next five years. It’s also providing 401(k) match contributions up to $10 million annually in the next five years.
Typically, the company, which is in an industry with high turnover, would hire about 10,000 to 15,000 new employees a month.
Nowadays, with fears of massive layoffs, that turnover is down to about 5,000 to 7,500 monthly, Jones said.
During the 2008 recession, which wasn’t as bad as the business environment he is now seeing, Allied was able to hire talented employees.
“In 2008, we were able to attract so many folks into our industry. Many escalated into management. We’re hoping the same thing happens now.”
Jones wants to hire those who have been laid off in other industries, but getting licenses for them can be difficult when government offices may be closed.
“Some states are completely shut down and we literally cannot hire,” Jones said. “In those states, we have to go to 12-hour shifts.
“We’re still hiring. We’re looking for people. I’m incredibly proud how they stood up through this unprecedented time.”
