Glen Bhimani has studied and worked in security and investigations throughout his career and is the founder of BPS Security Services.
BPS Security Services is based in Texas but already operates in over ten States. Glen is super bright, passionate about his team and what he does, and raising standards in the industry in delivering security services and how staff are treated.
Glen’s Background:
Before going to University, Glen worked in security for a year before spending six years in the Army. At the end of this period, Glen studied for three degrees at the University of Texas, one in public administration, one in psychology, and a degree in criminal justice and law enforcement administration. The psychology degree focussed on industrial psychology, while the criminal justice one focused on crime prevention. While they have all become vital pillars in his career and his company, at the time, they were simply subjects that interested Glen.
In addition, while studying at university, he held the position of Assistant Director of Security for the Simon Property Group via US Security Association Inc. When he left university, Glen worked as an investigator for the State of Texas while starting BPS Security Services in 2015.
He had always been determined to start his own business but prevaricated until his wife told him that there was no “right time,” and he was going to get too old to do it if he continued putting it off. The final push came when he was simultaneously passed over for promotion but challenged at the same time to train the person selected. It was the last straw. He knew he was not a “yes person,” and his own business beckoned.
BPS Security Services
With BPS, Glen’s mission is to re-write the security industries’ standards of customer care. They integrate technology with personal attention to create quality, reliability, and consistency of service. He wanted to do things better, quicker.
The security services they provide include on-site security officers and surveillance investigations, security training for others, private investigations, and executive protection officers. Their elite team deals with complex matters such as child custody investigations, infidelity investigations, and workers’ compensation claims.
Their state-of-the-art tech means their GPS tracking is part of their proprietary software, and all their clients have access to an online portal for 24/7 incident reports.
The Entrepreneurial Journey
Glen started with only $5,000. He bought a template website and some business cards. The insurance, however, was for a staggering $2900 the first year alone. But Glen says he was young and ignorant at that point, convinced that he assumed the work would flood in because he was offering better.
He won his first customer in 2016 but made a pittance, the following two years were a bit better, but by 2020 Glen was prepped for growth, knowing what he was doing, and having set up all his systems. The result was that business grew four times over and has kept growing since.
The BPS Security Services team
Glen’s individual stamp is evident both in the standards he expects of his team and in the way he treats them.
Their guards have a minimum of four years of security experience, but in addition, they also receive extensive psychological testing to achieve level 4 certification. Some of the training they BPS offer is online, which Glen has developed. The rest is outsourced to a trainer who has forty years of experience in the business. With BPS’s growth, it would be impossible for Glen to deliver it all personally, so he has taken care to select the best.
Glen wanted to do everything very differently from other companies in the security services. He has used some of his military experiences in performance psychology to develop their unique screening program and the training programs afterward. However, anyone who works in the security business has suffered various abuses, including name-calling. Part of the screening and training ensures that people are psychologically equipped to handle that. Unfortunately, too many stories abound in the industry of a security guard having reacted and attacked the name-caller, ending the security services in court. Glen has never had a lawsuit.
They also pay between 4-6 dollars more than their competitors, with a different structure. Glen had seen in the military docked pay for misbehavior. At first, people told him it wasn’t possible to do in the civilian world, but he talked to his lawyer, and they have a process where half the pay is set at base rate, and the rest is bonuses which can be deducted should anyone be in breach of his twenty-three rules. Being late for work is an immediate reduction to the base rate because it has such an extremely detrimental effect on clients and other team members as well.
If the rules sound strict, they are also tempered with humanity. Glen told me that one of his guards recently called in and said that he had battled with a late house move, hadn’t been to bed all night, but would still go to work. Glen covered the shift himself and told the guy to get some sleep.
The industry average retention rate is a staggering 200%-300% turnover. When Glen introduced his new policies, they attained 44% in the first year, which shrunk further to 27% in the second year. His team sees the benefit of the rules. For example, no security guard wants to be stuck at a post because no one comes to relieve them. It impacts their home life too much. When people turn up on time, they get to finish on time.
Glen also keeps the same team members of the same jobs as far as possible, giving security scheduling. To Glen, this makes sense – it requires less administration, the team members have more security and know where they are and so do the clients. And this combination brings in higher profits.
Glen may be strict on rules, but alongside that, he places a high value on every team member. He regularly reminds his operations manager that they wouldn’t have a company if it weren’t for the team. He wants them all to love working there and stay long-term. Glen argues that paying above average isn’t giving money away but investing in people who want to stay.
Initially, Glen had a hiring problem because of his higher wages. People didn’t apply because they didn’t believe the rate. When applicants started to trickle through, Glen heard stories about how they had been promised high rates elsewhere in the security services, which had never been forthcoming. Now his team post on social media that the rates are real, and they have a waiting list to join the company.
Glen of GPS Security Services
The Future
Glen is clear about where his company is headed, going national across the States. He sees that there is a massive opportunity at this time.
BPS’s phones are ringing all the time, with companies fed up by their security services supplier having cancelled at the last minute. This happens in part because their teams are leaving due to the pay. They also have thousands of vacancies and cannot fill them, hence their customers being let down.
Glen’s advice to others:
Glen says his advice is to be kind but fair: you have to know that if you are running a company, you have to be mean sometimes so that no one takes advantage. This applies not just to your team but to vendors too. He has had to get lawyers involved on more than one occasion to make his point.
On another occasion, one employee told the ops manager confidently, “I want to speak to Glen. He is nice. He won’t fire me”. However, when he rang Glen, Glen didn’t hesitate with what needed to happen and fired him. Security guards need to know there is someone fair but strong in charge.
Glen attributes much of his learning to the military. He took much of the culture away with him. They are not PC at BPS Security Services, and he is always clear that if people get offended, they probably shouldn’t be in security. Racism is a different matter and wholly banned. People recognize when a leader is honest and authentic, and it pays off in retention.
If you would like to know more about Allied where Glen once started working in security, you can read Steve Jones‘ journey in security services too.
