Making your tourism business secure
December 2003
While most people are honest, unfortunately travel and tourism is a business like any other business. As such, there are always some people who seek to take advantage of other people’s goodwill and graciousness. This month’s issue is meant to remind you of some of the basics in making your business secure. As in past months Tourism Tidbits reminds you that it is not written by professional lawyers and as such it does NOT pretend to offer legal advice. Tourism Tidbits merely offers these suggestions as points of discussion for you to raise with your legal staff.
- Before hiring someone know what are your rights and duties are as an employer. Speak with your legal professionals as to if you need a waiver to access driver license records, how to do a credit check, and what type of drug screening can be required. You are not expected to be a legal expert in these areas, but it behooves you to review policies and applications with a qualified legal expert prior to beginning the legal process.
- Check with your legal staff as to what type of background investigation you should do and what liability releases you will need in order to conduct this investigation. Tourism entities get sued too. What are you liable to/for and what not? As many people in tourism have lived in more than one location, you may need to check employment records in other states/nations. Check with your legal staff to see if you can request previous employment information and know the laws of the locale in which the previous employment occurred. That way, if a former employer states that it is against the law to release previous employment information and it is not, you will be able to counter with facts rather than with suppositions.
- Do a full-interview. Interviews can tell you a lot about a person. Make sure to interview the perspective employee in a place that is quiet and in which you can give your full attention. Make sure to have all telephone calls held. If you are interviewing a person of the opposite sex, be sure to have two people in the room and one of these people should be the same sex as the applicant. Ask your attorney if you can tape interviews and if you need to inform the applicant that he/she is being taped. Always begin an interview with some “small talk/chit chat”. This warm-up period will put the interviewee at ease and give you time to judge body language. When interviewing use a combination of closed- and open-ended questions. Closed questions can be answered with a yes-no while open ended questions require explanations. Many interviewers prefer to alternate the type of question they ask. Closed answered questions should be answered in a strong and firm manner; open-ended questions should demonstrate the person’s pensive side.
- Do a physical security assessment of your premises or ask your local police department to do one with/for you. Many police departments are more than willing to do full security assessments of your premises. Police departments will examine the building’s parameter, give advice as to landscaping errors and check lighting and door locks. Have a specific list of questions ready for the officer who conducts the security assessment. For example, ask the officer where he/she believes your building is most vulnerable. Go over schedules with the officer. When are people in the building and when is the building vacant? How many people are in the building at any one time? Do employees have access to a panic button?
- In which areas are you most vulnerable to employee theft? If there is cash in the building, how much is kept on hand and what controls do you have in place to guarantee that this money will go to where it belongs? Are there administrative areas (bookkeeping, accounting) that are open to fraud? Make sure that you go over your accounting procedures with more than one specialist. In issues of money make sure that there are double checks on where money is spent and what happens to incoming money. Remember that tourism and travel are highly vulnerable to identity theft. Make sure that all documents are carefully disposed, shredded or stored. Back up all computer files and daily and keep a second back-up off site. It is also a good idea to have a hard copy of anything that has to do with finances.
- Review with your board and with your local police department if you need to hire private security. If the answer is yes, then make a list of the companies in your area. Whom else have they served? Do they understand the relationship between security, tourism and customer service? Are their policies flexible? Remember that security needs change as the times change. No security policy or procedure should ever be written in stone.
Make sure that all policies and procedures are written and known. For example to avoid problems you may want all employees to sign a form stating that they have read the disciplinary and termination procedures and understand them. These procedures should be check over by your legal team to make sure that nothing that is stated is illegal. Employees should be aware of their rights and obligations and in a like manner they should know what are management’s rights and obligations. Under no circumstances should work place violence ever be tolerated.
