Commercial Real Estate

Case Studies

Contract Security Treated Like Family at Nation's Leading Media Company

Situation

The Hearst Tower is Hearst Corporation’s new global headquarters and the first New York City landmark of the 21st century. The 850,000 square-foot tower has won global accolades for its innovative and environmentally sensitive design, and is New York City’s first occupied green office building granted the Gold LEED rating by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Hearst Tower, which had its grand opening October 2006, is home to over 2,000 employees. The Hearst Corporation is one of the largest diversified communications companies with nearly 200 magazines as well as daily newspapers, television stations, radio stations, and cable networks, and business publishing, internet businesses, televisions production, real estate and newspaper features distribution companies. Hearst Tower has a high volume of visitors, including many VIPs and celebrities. Keeping the building’s fashion-forward occupants safe and sound was a top priority of Brian Schwagerl, Vice President of Real Estate & Development, and Bernard Shaw, Vice President and Director of Corporate Security for the Hearst Corporation. In June 2006, the company issued a request for proposal from several leading contract security companies. “We were looking for a security firm that could provide well-trained officers who are committed to continual self-improvement via education and training,” said Brian Schwagerl. “Security officers are the very first people that our employees and visitors see when they enter the tower and it is of paramount importance that they are friendly and professional,” adds Schwagerl. Hearst Corporation quickly selected AlliedBarton Security Services as their contract security provider for the tower. “AlliedBarton’s commitment to training as demonstrated with the AlliedBarton Academy was a major reason they were selected,” said Ted Lotti, Deputy Director of Corporate Security and retired NYPD Captain. “They place primary importance on providing their security officers with up-to-date and comprehensive training in the physical security sector. By offering both virtual and classroom training programs, they can ensure our security officers are well-versed in a wide variety of tactical and strategic information.”

Challenge

Working closely with the Hearst Corporation, AlliedBarton’s challenge was ensuring that their 43 full- and part-time professional security officers could effectively deal with the glamorous media culture in a world-class, high-profile, iconic building. In addition to security being the first line of defense with officers on post assignments throughout the building and loading dock, the Hearst Tower hosts over 200 high-profile events a year.

“Ensuring that we deliver customer-centric, professionally attired and well-trained officers to the Hearst Tower is of paramount importance,” said Lawrence Loesch, Vice President and General Manager for AlliedBarton’s New York office and former NYPD Deputy Chief. “Our officers are interfacing with every level of management within the Hearst Corporation and are the first people employees and visitors see when they enter the building. Hearst has a respectful and inclusive culture where everyone cares about each other.

Solution

“We actively recruited the crème de la crème of security professionals,” said Loesch. “We seek career-minded security professionals who are customer service focused and committed to training and education.” “We created a specialized customer service training protocol for our officers. A commitment to training and education is important, and I expect these officers to want to continually improve themselves,” said Lotti. “I’m pleased to say that our officers are exceeding my expectations. Off-hour surprise inspections are conducted by independent and objective supervisors that perform quality assurance inspections. “These inspections help keep everyone on their toes to avoid becoming complacent,” adds Lotti. The Hearst Corporation has supplied a computer in the Security Command Center dedicated solely for the officers to access the AlliedBarton training website, AlliedBarton Academy. Additionally, The Hearst Corporation and AlliedBarton arranged for all of the security officers to attend the New York State Homeland Security Enhanced Security Officer 40-hour training course. Half of the staff completed the course in the spring, and the other half will attend in the fall. Not many companies can boast that their whole security team has received this type of training. “Prior to hiring AlliedBarton, our special event group hired outside consultants to handle security for events,” said Lotti. “Today all of our events, whether they are for internal or external audiences, are handled by our dedicated security team.” Special events at the Hearst Tower range from fund raising celebrations for non-profit organizations and museums such as The Whitney Museum, The Nature Conservancy and the Riverkeeper, to movie premieres and magazine events.

Result

“We think of the AlliedBarton Security Services staff as part of the Hearst Corporation family,” adds Shaw. “They are completely woven into the fabric of our company’s culture and we honor and respect the work they are doing.” In return, there is an evident sense of dedication and commitment to the Hearst Corporation. While high staff turnover is often a reality in the contract security services world, the Hearst Tower security force is stable, with less than 10% staff turnover in the past two years. “AlliedBarton keeps good people longer by enhancing the retention with training, promotions and career development opportunities,” adds Loesch. When VIPs ask to get the “grand tour” of the 44-floor tower, it’s an AlliedBarton officer who shows them the way. “Our officers love working here and appreciate our family culture. They took it upon themselves to learn the history of the company and enough information on the tower to become great guides. That’s reflected on every tour they give, and in all the rigorous work they perform for us 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Lotti.

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