What is your work worth?

I would have very little of what I have today if I had never been a security guard. That job taught me accountability, responsibility and ownership. People relied on me. I took that seriously.

So it bothers me when security officers see themselves as doing a lesser job. It also bothers me when the people employing them think that way.

We attach a lot of status to money. Money gives us choices. It can buy time, comfort, experiences and access to things we want. So we look at someone earning more and often assume they must be more capable, more successful or more important.

But income has many causes. Skills, scarcity, negotiating power, ownership, inheritance and luck all play a part. A person’s contribution to society deserves its own assessment.

Imagine security officers earned £100 an hour and becoming one took years. Would people look at the role differently? I suspect they would. Yet the responsibility of protecting a building and the people inside it would still be there.

Think about the people who keep a city running. Nurses, teachers, care workers, security officers, train drivers. We depend on their work every day.

Their training requirements and pay differ considerably. Nursing requires substantial education. Driving a train requires specialist training and assessment. Even in an occupation with a shorter entry course, becoming excellent takes experience, judgement and practice.

A qualification gets you through the door. What you do when someone becomes aggressive, a vulnerable person needs help or an emergency develops reveals much more about your competence.

So why does essential work sometimes pay relatively little?

Part of the answer is how many suitable people are available compared with the number of jobs. Employers’ budgets, competition for contracts and workers’ ability to negotiate also affect pay. The importance of the service is only one part of that system.

An entire city can depend on a service while the person delivering it has very little bargaining power.

That is something employers and customers need to take responsibility for. If we expect good judgement, we need to invest in training, support and pay. Pride in the role belongs alongside decent working conditions.

There is also a question for the person doing the work: how do you see yourself?

You might have entered security because you needed an income. You might be studying, supporting your family or working towards something else. While you are doing the job, people are relying on you.

For me, that mattered. I decided I wanted to be the best security officer I could be. I owned the role. I learnt how to speak to people, handle difficult situations and take responsibility for what happened on my shift.

Those lessons stayed with me when I started my business.

You can take your work seriously, ask for better pay and decide to move on. Each of those choices involves taking responsibility for your life.

I think we lose something when we allow a pay rate to determine how we see ourselves. A nurse should be able to recognise the importance of her work. A care worker should feel the weight of being trusted with another person’s wellbeing. A security officer should understand what their presence contributes.

When you put that badge on, someone is trusting you with something that matters. Own it.