Q&A: Naz Dossa, CEO, Peoplesafe
Peoplesafe is the largest provider of employee safety technology in the world, protecting retail workers from store to door through a specialised technology service.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I have spent majority of my career in the IT, Telecoms, Cloud and Mobile sectors bringing software and technology solutions to businesses to solve problems. Since my appointment as Peoplesafe CEO in 2020, I have assumed the role as chair of the BSIA Lone Worker Section Committee, helping to drive innovation across the industry. Most recently, I have become part of the Retail Trust’s Ambassador program to raise the profile of personal safety in the retail sector.
What does your company do? / What is your USP?
Peoplesafe is the largest provider of employee safety technology in the world. We protect retail workers from store to door through our specialised technology service that can directly get police on scene in 4 minutes, on average. Using dedicated apps, devices and integrations with bodycams and dashcams, our technology connects to our in-house control centre to provide guaranteed Level 1 Police response 24/7 in threat-to-life situations, wherever or whenever you need it.
What’s special about the platform and your approach?
Our Nexus platform has been built to specifically address the needs of employee safety. Our service can protect colleagues outside of the traditional store environment as well as provide support during opening hours.
Retailers have invested heavily in crime prevention, spending £1.2 billion (up from £722 million the previous year) on measures such as CCTV, dedicated security personnel, and body worn cameras. Despite this, retail crime continues to rise with violence and abuse towards staff at their highest levels.
Through our own research into employee safety concerns[1], we found that despite investment across the sector, two in three employees say their employer could implement one or more additional safety measures. Typically, these included a buddy system or regular checking in protocols. Employees also tended to support the introduction of solutions that let other people know if they are at risk and alert an emergency response, such as an employee safety service.
What advantage does it add?
Our tech service can help whether staff face targeted abuse, harassment, stalking or domestic abuse. It’s a challenge for all retailers to recruit and retain staff in the current environment where they’re forced to experience record levels of abuse and aggression.
Providing a dedicated personal safety service tackles the issue of colleague safety and crime risk by offering 24/7 protection. Our specialised control centre triages every alarm to support colleagues feeling unsafe, escalate to appropriate contacts (e.g. store managers) and deliver a guaranteed Level 1 police response bypassing 999, where appropriate.
Feeling unsafe doesn’t exclusively sprout from experiencing an incident. Employees can regularly fear for their safety by feeling threatened which takes a toll on their mental health, productivity and morale. By investing in resources that improve feelings of safety and peace of mind, retailers can benefit from improved morale, increased productivity, reduced absenteeism and overall boosted business success.
We work closely with retailers to understand their unique challenges and tailor our solutions to meet their specific needs. As a result, service implementation will vary in how the deployment is completed, but it will follow a similar pattern:
- Discovery session – we’ll talk to different parts of the business to understand the risks you’re trying to mitigate and the problem you’re trying to solve.
- Solution recommendation – depending on the outcome of the discovery session, a single solution may be sufficient, or a blended approach might be the best option.
- Success criteria – we’ll work with retailers to define how we will measure success, for example, increased staff satisfaction and retention, lower absenteeism or increased incident reporting.
- Proof of concept – we’ll put you in contact with like minded peers within other retail organisations to give peace of mind and gain further tips on how to successfully deploy.
- Implementation – the chosen solution(s) are given to selected stores and/or employees with training completed so they understand when and how the service should be used.
- Review – each retailer will have a dedicated account manager to continuously monitor how the service is being used against the pre-defined success criteria
How are retailers using your systems to gain competitive advantage and what does best practice look like? Can you share a case study with us?
Peoplesafe technology delivers a tangible benefit in enhancing the safety and wellbeing of employees across the retail sector, both in the workplace and during their commutes.
Prêt a Manger has implemented Peoplesafe across all 450 stores. Mark Wood, UK security manager, commented, “The staff feel safer and reassured, and its introduction has had a very positive impact across the business—it is now our first line of defence, and I’m looking to build upon that success.” He added “The feedback I have had from across the whole business has been wholly positive because it is so simple to use. We’ve embedded a culture of wearing the device as a daily norm.”
The cost-saving potential of Peoplesafe technology has proved to be substantial. For example, it costs a similar amount to employ one manned guard for a week, or to implement five Peoplesafe devices for a whole year. By implementing Peoplesafe, retailers not only achieve significant cost savings but also ensure employee safety beyond the working day.
Similarly, Peoplesafe technology is also helping to reduce costs by allowing for single person operations as retailers can confidently operate stores with fewer staff during quieter periods. One retailer has implemented Peoplesafe across all its stores in response to the escalating incidents of violence, aggression, and verbal abuse. This technology ensures that employees have access to emergency help at the touch of a button throughout the day, eliminating the need for excessive staffing levels to ensure safety. By streamlining the number of employees working at certain times, retailers can meet operational requirements while ensuring employees have round-the-clock protection and making significant cost savings.
Retailers are also using personal safety technology as a retention tool. David Pardoe, Head of Profit Protection at The Works recounted a story of a deputy store manager who left the organisation due to safety concerns before a personal safety solution was implemented. With Peoplesafe technology in place, employee safety concerns are addressed and employees feel more confident in their roles. After implementing Peoplesafe, a member of staff was at risk of harassment from a customer who targeted them outside of work. They were given one of the store’s devices to take home with them to provide an increased level of protection.
Are there other companies you partner with?
Peoplesafe is aiming to drive change when it comes to employee safety. We are partnered with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to offer a holistic service to organisations combining expert advice on personal safety strategy with industry-leading safety technology. The Trust is widely recognised as a field expert in personal safety training with a keen focus on stalking and harassment.
Specifically, within retail, we work closely with the Retail Trust. I am part of their Ambassador programme and Peoplesafe sponsor the Trust’s work including the ‘Respect Retail’ campaign and Health in Retail Report. Our commitment to improving retail safety aligns seamlessly with the Retail Trust’s core values. Through our partnership, we strive to minimise the pressures that retail colleagues are increasingly facing.
From a technology standpoint, Peoplesafe is partnered with Reveal Media, the UK’s leading provider of body worn cameras. Our app is fully integrated with Reveal’s hardware so that when an SOS alarm is raised on the app, the camera is triggered via Bluetooth to begin recording.
Body worn cameras are increasing in popularity in the retail sector to act as a deterrent to abusive and threatening behaviour. The addition of the Peoplesafe personal safety app means that support can be summoned simultaneously if the incident escalates because the employee is connected to an alarm controller.
Peoplesafe is also partnered with SureCam who offer network-connected dashcams. Supply chain and logistics areas of the business can be protected with the integrated solution to ensure that drivers remain safe inside and outside their vehicle. When an alarm is raised, ARC Controllers have visibility of both the app user’s details, a GPS view showing where the app and dashcam are located on a map, plus dashcam footage leading up to the incident.
Retailers are constantly facing the challenge of recruitment and retention which is made more difficult in the climate of record levels of abuse and aggression. Thieves have become bolder and more aggressive, and the impact on retail workers is severe. As a result 2 out of 3 retail workers feel stressed or anxious about going to work which will impact morale and productivity.
According to Sue Parker-Tantush, Former Group Head of Safety at Co-op Group, “we are behind the curve with most of Europe where an employers duty of care to and from the workplace already exists. Recognising and addressing the safety concerns during employees’ commutes is a crucial step in ensuring their overall wellbeing and fostering a supportive work environment.”
Threats to staff are now being made outside of the traditional store environment, leading to increased risk of abuse, aggression, and stalking on public transport or when walking or waiting for lifts. Local authorities are recognising these risks by starting to enforce safer travel arrangements for staff in the hospitality sector within their liquor licensing renewal criteria. I would think it is only a matter of time before similar duties are placed upon retailers.
How will you address these challenges and turn them into successes?
Embedding a strong safety culture is more important than ever for retailers to be able to reverse the trend of talent quitting the sector. The first step may be for retail employers to acknowledge there is an issue with staff safety concerns; the second may be to consider a different solution to employee safety.
Personal safety technology can help whether staff face targeted abuse, harassment, stalking or domestic abuse. Retailers can tackle the issue of colleague safety and crime risk by providing dedicated personal safety devices and app technology.
Leveraging technology not only enhances safety but also offers a cost-effective solution compared to security guards. With this service, retail workers can respond to incidents of violence or abuse by activating the SOS Alarm function. Peoplesafe’s specialised control centre triages every alarm to support colleagues while filtering false alarms from being passed on to the emergency services.
This is a more effective solution than typical current measures. Stores usually rely on fixed panic alarms with no audio, only sending a silent alarm to the police. Unfortunately, this often leads to misuse and false alarms, risking the loss of URN access for three months. Reapplication is time-consuming and costly, as employers must implement a different security solution in the interim. With the Peoplesafe solution, we retain responsibility for the URN, something we have never lost.
What is on the horizon for you as a company?
At the start of 2024, we released a pioneering new app feature called Travelsafe. Similar to journey planners like Apple Maps and Google Maps, Travelsafe calculates an estimated journey time with the addition of setting a timed alarm. It also allows for welfare check to be set at agreed periods during travel. If the person doesn’t reach their destination by the ETA, an alarm is raised to our control centre.
Within the retail sector, many employees arrive or finish work during unsociable working hours and therefore commute to and from the place of work when it is quieter and darker. This makes protecting employees outside of the traditional store environment essential for fostering a sense of security and wellbeing. Employees deserve to feel safe not only during work hours but also when they are commuting to and from work and in their personal lives.
Unfortunately, instances of colleagues being targeted outside of the store environment where they feel vulnerable or threatened are not uncommon.
Using Travelsafe retailers can provide employees with expert protection whether they’re travelling for work, commuting or meeting friends after their shift. This tech service leverages our 24/7 professional call centre to respond to alarms within 6 seconds and make quick, informed decisions about what help is needed.
To find out how Peoplesafe can help your retail operation, you can visit them here or connect with them here.
