Serco is a services company which is based in Hook, in United Kingdom’s North Hampshire. The company is arguably one of the biggest companies in the world, having a touch in almost all sectors of life.
Serco believes in bringing a robust portfolio of services to the society through a number of key interventions focused on technology, management and professional needs.
Some of the company’s vast services include aviation, private and public transport and traffic control, prisons and detention centers, schools, health, leisure, and contracts for military and nuclear weapons1.
Through these vast interventions, the company aims at improving services through the management of people, technology, assets and technology. However, just like any other successful companies in the world, Serco has been fraught with both strengths and weaknesses in their mission to fulfill social needs in the society.
Serco Group’s achievements
As an international company that aims at improving the quality as well as the efficiency of important services to people allover the world, Serco has succeeded enormously in making a difference in the international society2.
For instance, through its constant commitments in technology, the company plays a significant role in helping to improve services to the people.
One of those major areas where Serco has had great impact in fulfilling social needs in the community is through its massive workforce constituting of over 48, 000 people from allover the world. By acknowledging people as its important resource in operation, the company invests widely on its workforce across the spectrum3.
The idea of involving talented and driven personnel in its operation to the society has always made work in Serco smart. Ever since its inception, the company has been active in numerous key activities, such as running and managing health care facilities, prisons and detention facilities, and leisure centers.
More importantly, they have also been successful in their mission to provide support to military bases, operating trains, as well as managing education services and air traffic services.
The company’s major achievements with regards to fulfilling social needs in the society can be observed through those sectors it has bigger involvement, such as defense, science, transport, health, education and justice.
The Defense sector
Serco Company has successfully held defense contract from allover the world. This would include UK’s first outsourced contract for the maintenance of their Ballistic Missile Early Warning System.
Other successful commitments of the company in this sector include infrastructure and asset maintenance and management. The company also offers multi-site support services and training and technological support to defense.
Science
Science is another sector through which Serco Manifests its achievements in making a difference in the society. The company manages the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. Moreover, it also offers industrial support, IT services, and Cryogenic Operations Maintenance and Support at CERN. The company is also in full control of the National Nuclear Laboratory.
Transport
The company operates Woolwich Free Ferry, Barclays Cycle Hire scheme and Docklands Light Railway. Apart from this massive involvement in London’ transport sector, Serco has also been active in transport activities of other countries such as Australia, where it manages the Great Southern Railways4.
These involvements in the transport sector ranges from transport information technology management to the traffic control system development, maintenance and design.
Health
Serco are known for their active and wide involvement in the provision of facility management services to health facilities. Among their vast services in this setting would include service integration and hospital management. It is also in the duties of the company to assemble and supply medical kits to health care facilities.
Education
The company is in an expansive contract plan with Bradford City Council to operate and manage the local education authority, where it offers support services in education. Moreover, Serco are also the providers of an important facility applied in learning institutions in several countries known as the Student information system.
Justice
In matters regarding justice, Serco plays a number of key roles which include providing custodial and management services, offender management, prison accommodation and the development of the special needs management programme among other responsibilities5.
Serco Group’s Weaknesses/ disadvantages
Serco is a company having a wide range of potential services to the society; however, the company’s goals are often not in line with its social, economic and environmental concerns, owing to a number of internal and external challenges.
The major weaknesses with Serco Group mainly affect its workforce and they include lack of opportunities that can facilitate career development, poor salary and benefits6.
Even though the employees, most of whom are highly skilled and intelligent, are the main force behind the company’s huge success their personal benefits are not seriously addressed by the company. This, as it would be expected, ends up lowering the employees’ morale at work, thus placing serious implications to the company’s productivity levels.
Most employees in the company have always complained of being underpaid, despite of them working for long hours. Moreover, the company has never done anything so far, to develop the careers of its massive workforce as one way of motivating them.
If there is one area that requires immediate improvements as far as Serco Group is concerned, it is the company’s employment sector. Instead of coming up with excuses over benefits and salaries, the management should try to resolve this problem once and for all by considering the needs of their employees.
It is time the company introduced decent incentive schemes to its employees by trying to pay them something comparable to what is offered by other similar organizations. This plan will strategically ensure that the company continues with its holistic mission to the society more efficiently.
Serco has continued to offer excellent consulting, management and operational expertise in various fields of operation7. However, through it’s socially and ethically responsible business activities, the company has brought many impacts and implications to its stakeholders and the society in general.
The company’s stakeholders have benefited a lot from the company’s success in its vast areas of accountability. The company’s capabilities to bring important services to the people have been accepted universally and this has placed the company among other major firms with similar objectives towards the society.
This great success has seen the stakeholders through a constant wave of success and profitability. More importantly, the society has also benefited greatly through the many programs and services provided by the company, which are aimed at shaping and improving peoples’ lives.
However, one major implication of the company’s actions is that, through its defense and military facilities, it has contributed largely to great insecurity in the society for this has encouraged the manufacture and maintenance of deadly weapons.
Serco is not only there as an implementer, but also an advisor, and it offers hands-on experience to its target organizations allover the world8. Apart from designing innovative solutions and integrating useful systems, Serco is known to offer excellent services that are certain to make a difference to communities.
This massive involvement in social activities brings positive changes to the public, through a number of sectors that are directly aligned to humanity9. However, the company should try to address the needs of its workforce, who normally plays a key role in its success in numerous areas of accountability.
More importantly, the company should also try to adopt ways of dealing with the serious implications that some of its actions pose to the society.
Bibliography
English, Linda. Accountability in private prisons? A Case study of the effectiveness of dialogic evaluation. Sydney: APIRA, 2010.
Herson, Michael. “The changing dynamics evident in the UK traffic control systems market.” Traffic engineering & control 45, no. 11 (2004): 402-404.
Lethbridge, Jane. Municipal services: organisations, companies and alternatives. United Kingdom: Public Services International Research Unit, 2008.
Milanovic, Stanislav. “Building the enterprise-wide storage area network.” Trends in Communications, International Conference 1, no. 9 (2001): 136-139.
Painter, Chris. “Operating Codes in the Emerging System of Local Governance: From ‘Top-Down State’ to ‘Disciplined Pluralism’?” Public Money and Management 25, no. 2 (2005): 89-98.
Preuss, Lutz. “Business Policies on Human Rights: An Analysis of Their Content and Prevalence Among FTSE 100 Firms.” Journal of Business Ethics 11, no. 8 (2011): 1-11.
Spence, Crawford. “Resonance tropes in corporate philanthropy discourse.” Business Ethics: A European Review 18, no. 4 (2009): 372-388.
Suff, Rachel. “Promoting diversity in public services (Serco).” Human Resource Management International Digest 15, no. 2 (2007): 122-127.
Watson, Bronwyn. “Managing Diversity: A Twenty-First Century Agenda.” New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations 34, no. 2 (2009): 61.
Footnotes
1 Rachel Suff. “Promoting diversity in public services (Serco).” Human Resource Management International Digest 15, no. 2 (2007): 125.
2 Linda English. Accountability in private prisons? A Case study of the effectiveness of dialogic evaluation. (Sydney: APIRA, 2010), 27.
3 Bronwyn Watson,. “Managing Diversity: A Twenty-First Century Agenda.” New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations 34, no. 2 (2009): 61.
4 Lutz Preuss. “Business Policies on Human Rights: An Analysis of Their Content and Prevalence Among FTSE 100 Firms.” Journal of Business Ethics 11, no. 8 (2011): 8.
5 Chris Painter. “Operating Codes in the Emerging System of Local Governance: From ‘Top-Down State’ to ‘Disciplined Pluralism’?” Public Money and Management 25, no. 2 (2005): 93.
6 Crawford Spence. “Resonance tropes in corporate philanthropy discourse.” Business Ethics: A European Review 18, no. 4 (2009): 379.
7 Stanislav Milanovic. “Building the enterprise-wide storage area network.” Trends in Communications, International Conference 1, no. 9 (2001): 137.
8 Jane Lethbridge. Municipal services: organisations, companies and alternatives. (United Kingdom: Public Services International Research Unit, 2008), 78.
9 Michael Herson. “The changing dynamics evident in the UK traffic control systems market.” Traffic engineering & control 45, no. 11 (2004): 402.