Protecting your digital work in an increasingly online world is important, but keep in mind that physical security is also just as necessary as ever. The employees who come to work in your office every day should have the peace of mind that they’re safe to do their jobs in a secure environment.
Workplace security is essential for businesses of all sizes, whether your small business has a few employees at one location or you run a large corporation with several offices.
What Is Workplace Security?
Workplace security is an umbrella term for everything that impacts any layer of your business’s safety. These factors can include digital security measures that protect your files, financials and other important documents, as well as physical safety methods, such as locked doors, access control and video surveillance.
Weak security leaves you vulnerable to intruders, theft and other malicious attacks, both in person at your office and in cyberspace.
The Benefits of Office Security
Implementing strong security measures can keep your office safe and will bring several benefits to your company:
- Productivity: Employees who feel safe and protected tend to be more productive.
- Low turnover: In addition to being better workers, your employees will be satisfied with your company and more eager to stay on with you rather than seeking work elsewhere.
- Higher standards: When you make it clear that you expect only the best from your security team to keep everyone safe, you raise the bar and set higher standards for every other department of your company.
- Reduced costs: A protected workplace can see fewer insurance claims, cut back on disruptions and downtime and lower unexpected costs, such as replacing broken locks or cleaning up after a break-in.
- Retained clients: When clients see you can be trusted to protect their data and care about your employees, they’re more likely to remain loyal and work with you in the long term.
Office Security Measures to Keep Employees Safe
It’s clear why workplace safety is important, but how can you actually keep your office safe from the threats out there? Explore what your office security system needs so you can continue your work with peace of mind and minimal disruption. Our workplace security best practices include strategic access control to buildings and facilities, adequate lighting around high-traffic areas, investing in proper employee training, and implementing purpose-driven video security solutions. Let’s start at the front door, with proper access control for employees.
Access Control
The ability to walk into any building and get around freely is a thing of the past. Workplace safety demands more stringent security, and access control is at the frontline. This field of security is all about who can get into your building or certain areas of your office. You’ll want to keep track of who is there — including employees, customers and clients and all other visitors — why they’re there, where they can go and when they leave.
You can grant different levels of access to different people. For example, an ID check is a simple and straightforward way to welcome anyone into your office’s lobby or meeting areas. However, a client or lower-level employee shouldn’t have access to all of your most sensitive data. Use identification checks, access cards and passwords to protect certain areas and determine entry on a need-to-know basis.
Access control can be as simple as exterior gates and locks on windows and doors. But it can also go beyond the physical, putting restrictions on who can access your digital systems and computer networks. Cybersecurity solutions can let you use permissioning to decide who can and can’t get into your systems, keeping data secure. Using physical and digital access controls creates a comprehensive security system for your company to protect your employees.
Lighting
Don’t overlook the importance of lighting when it comes to your building’s security. There’s a reason so many security experts recommend keeping your office space well-lit, both inside and out — intruders are typically less likely to target a place that is visible and looks occupied.
Motion-sensing lights outside your doors and around the building or interior emergency lights remind everyone, including potential threats, that your building is monitored. Even at night, after typical working hours, burglars will probably focus on dark and poorly lit locations rather than illuminated ones.
Employee Training
All the technology and security techniques don’t mean much if your employees can’t use them. You should develop an overall security plan that addresses all possible contingencies. Providing upfront training for new hires and regular refresher courses for all employees will ensure everyone knows what to do — both on a daily basis to prevent security breaches and in the more rare case of an emergency.
For some industries, employee security training may even be a requirement. You can work with a security expert to create a detailed plan for your office’s unique security needs.
Video Security Solutions for Your Office
Video security is a mainstay of the workforce safety industry — and for good reasons. You can implement a wide range of video security solutions throughout your office, all of which are dedicated to keeping your workplace and valuable employees safe at all times.
The field of video security includes interior and exterior security cameras and all related processes, such as video surveillance and analytics, necessary hardware and software, data storage and third-party support.
With video surveillance, you can keep an eye on every part of your business at once. You’ll have a record of who visits your office and attempts to gain entry at any time of day. As long as you have a legitimate reason to film, such as safety, and notify your employees and visitors, you can also monitor the public areas of your business to prevent theft and violence and track performance.
Having video surveillance capabilities in place is also a deterrent against crime. Like installing locks and ensuring your office is well-lit, using video surveillance lets potential intruders know your office is not an easy target. They’re more likely to give up before even attempting to break in, preventing significant stress and costs.
Network Video Recorder
A network video recorder (NVR) is an all-in-one video security tool that’s especially well-suited for small businesses. Paired with an internet protocol (IP) camera, NVRs record, store and display video footage to fulfill all of your surveillance needs. You’ll see who comes in and out of the office at all times and you can even set up alerts that let you know about any unexpected activity.
These plug-and-play devices are easy to install so you can integrate them into your security plan right away. Many NVRs also feature innovative technology that lets you watch footage remotely or monitor the feed in real time so you’re never in the dark.
Learn About Video Security Solutions From BCD
If you’re looking to implement workplace security measures that keep your employees safe, speak to your security integrator about BCD and our integrated video surveillance systems. We work with the world’s top technology partners and distributors to get you the video security hardware and software necessary to stay protected.
Learn more about our professional solutions or get in touch with us to learn how we can keep your employees and your business protected today.