The province’s largest security companies grew an average of 4.4% in 2019 from 2018, according to data from Business in Vancouver’s Biggest Security Companies in B.C. list (page 16). Employing a total of 15,205 people in the province, the top 20 security companies increased their average B.C. employee base by 14.6% to 760.3 employees in 2019 from 663.3 in 2015. The median employee base grew faster than the average, increasing 17.7% to 340 in 2019 from 289 in 2015, suggesting that smaller security companies lower on the list grew faster than larger companies higher on the list.
The largest security company in the province, Paladin Security, employs 4,403 British Columbians and had the largest five-year growth of the top five, increasing its employee count by 97.9% from 2,225 in 2015. However, Paladin’s one-year growth was overshadowed by third-ranked Securiguard Services Ltd., which grew its employee base by 14.5% this past year compared with Paladin’s 13.1% growth. Despite growing at a slower rate, Paladin added significantly more B.C. employees in 2019 than did Securiguard, increasing its employment by 2,178 people compared with Securiguard’s 278-employee increase.
Only one company in the top five had its B.C. employee base decline since 2015. Houle Electric Ltd. reported a provincial employee decrease of 16.3% to 921 employees in 2019 from 1,100 in 2015. However, the company has recovered since bottoming out at 806 employees in 2016, growing by 14.3% since that time.
