RMC Events, a local events management and staffing company, is trimming its security services personnel as a contract with VCU comes to an end. (Courtesy RMC Events)
Locally based RMC Events, known for providing yellow-jacketed workers at events around the state, will have a smaller presence on VCU’s campus by the time the university’s students start their fall semester.
The events management and staffing company is in the final weeks of a security contract with Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health, which has decided to end the contract and instead go with Sentry Force Security to handle the job starting in mid-August.
RMC stated that 280 of its employees are affected by the impending end of the contract, according to a layoff notice filed with the state last month. While terminations come with the contract’s expiration, there are employees transitioning to work with Sentry Force while others are being reassigned to new roles at RMC.
The contract involves unarmed RMC employees staffing sign-in desks in buildings and conducting patrols. RMC Vice President and CEO Dan Schmitt said that with the VCU contract coming to an end, RMC will be able to focus more on existing clients and consider adding new clients to its roster.
“While I will miss working as closely as we did in this world with VCU, we will move on to the other clients we have,” Schmitt said in an interview.
RMC’s contract to staff events for VCU Athletics continues despite the loss of the security contract. The company continues to provide security services to about 20 clients, including the University of Richmond, the Virginia War Memorial and Christopher Newport University.
Sentry Force’s contract is essentially the same scope as RMC’s agreement, a VCU spokeswoman said. She didn’t provide a specific reason why VCU decided to change contractors, but that VCU as a standard practice puts out a request for proposals as a contract comes to a close and decided to award the upcoming contract to Sentry Force.
Sentry Force’s initial two-year contract is anticipated to cost VCU $8 million, and has three two-year extension options.
RMC’s security contract was a five-year agreement that started in 2018. The initial term ended in 2023, and a one-year option was exercised. Between fiscal years 2018 to 2024, VCU paid RMC a total of $20.7 million for security services, according to a university spokesman.
Dan Schmitt
Schmitt, who also serves as a member of the Henrico Board of Supervisors, wasn’t concerned about the end of the security agreement with VCU. He said in the staffing business, contracts tend to come and go with a high level of frequency.
“It turns over a bunch. It’s fairly normal and not at all unexpected,” he said.
Schmitt expected to see the company’s workforce decrease from more than 2,200 employees to a little north of 2,000 workers by the time the VCU security contract ends next month. RMC’s security division is a smaller piece of the business compared to the events side, which employs 1,800 people.
RMC sent four written notices to affected workers about the end of the contract and future employment options, the first of which came April 11.
Out of the total 280 people affected by the contract ending, there were 69 people expected to transition to employment with the new security contractor as of this week, and 56 people had left the organization because they were fired or for another reason since April. Fifty-one employees hadn’t responded to RMC’s communications.
There were 70 employees able to secure new roles with RMC. More than 30 additional people also want to remain in the organization, and work was still underway this week to find them new RMC positions.
“These (employees) are family members for us,” Schmitt said. “We worked with them to find employment for four months.”
RMC was founded by Schmitt and his wife, Sharon, the company’s president and CFO, in 1999. The company added security service in 2016. RMC’s employees are a fixture at local events, where they check tickets, park cars and handle other tasks. RMC works about 11,000 events annually.
When the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 caused a widespread cancellation of events, RMC shifted into staffing COVID-19 screening and vaccination sites.
Schmitt said RMC has improved its online hiring efforts after the pandemic led to the cancellation of events, which were a recruitment tool for the company.
“Before COVID, they came to us. We have an attractive job working concerts and festivals and we’re visible,” he said. “We are probably more nimble in our recruiting, we still rely on a virtual platform to hire applicants and we’re probably better at it.”
Schmitt said RMC came out of the pandemic in a strong position, though he declined to share financials, and the company was able to avoid layoffs and continued hiring during the period.
“The value placed upon good people never wavered,” he said.
RMC Events, a local events management and staffing company, is trimming its security services personnel as a contract with VCU comes to an end. (Courtesy RMC Events)
Locally based RMC Events, known for providing yellow-jacketed workers at events around the state, will have a smaller presence on VCU’s campus by the time the university’s students start their fall semester.
The events management and staffing company is in the final weeks of a security contract with Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health, which has decided to end the contract and instead go with Sentry Force Security to handle the job starting in mid-August.
RMC stated that 280 of its employees are affected by the impending end of the contract, according to a layoff notice filed with the state last month. While terminations come with the contract’s expiration, there are employees transitioning to work with Sentry Force while others are being reassigned to new roles at RMC.
The contract involves unarmed RMC employees staffing sign-in desks in buildings and conducting patrols. RMC Vice President and CEO Dan Schmitt said that with the VCU contract coming to an end, RMC will be able to focus more on existing clients and consider adding new clients to its roster.
“While I will miss working as closely as we did in this world with VCU, we will move on to the other clients we have,” Schmitt said in an interview.
RMC’s contract to staff events for VCU Athletics continues despite the loss of the security contract. The company continues to provide security services to about 20 clients, including the University of Richmond, the Virginia War Memorial and Christopher Newport University.
Sentry Force’s contract is essentially the same scope as RMC’s agreement, a VCU spokeswoman said. She didn’t provide a specific reason why VCU decided to change contractors, but that VCU as a standard practice puts out a request for proposals as a contract comes to a close and decided to award the upcoming contract to Sentry Force.
Sentry Force’s initial two-year contract is anticipated to cost VCU $8 million, and has three two-year extension options.
RMC’s security contract was a five-year agreement that started in 2018. The initial term ended in 2023, and a one-year option was exercised. Between fiscal years 2018 to 2024, VCU paid RMC a total of $20.7 million for security services, according to a university spokesman.
Dan Schmitt
Schmitt, who also serves as a member of the Henrico Board of Supervisors, wasn’t concerned about the end of the security agreement with VCU. He said in the staffing business, contracts tend to come and go with a high level of frequency.
“It turns over a bunch. It’s fairly normal and not at all unexpected,” he said.
Schmitt expected to see the company’s workforce decrease from more than 2,200 employees to a little north of 2,000 workers by the time the VCU security contract ends next month. RMC’s security division is a smaller piece of the business compared to the events side, which employs 1,800 people.
RMC sent four written notices to affected workers about the end of the contract and future employment options, the first of which came April 11.
Out of the total 280 people affected by the contract ending, there were 69 people expected to transition to employment with the new security contractor as of this week, and 56 people had left the organization because they were fired or for another reason since April. Fifty-one employees hadn’t responded to RMC’s communications.
There were 70 employees able to secure new roles with RMC. More than 30 additional people also want to remain in the organization, and work was still underway this week to find them new RMC positions.
“These (employees) are family members for us,” Schmitt said. “We worked with them to find employment for four months.”
RMC was founded by Schmitt and his wife, Sharon, the company’s president and CFO, in 1999. The company added security service in 2016. RMC’s employees are a fixture at local events, where they check tickets, park cars and handle other tasks. RMC works about 11,000 events annually.
When the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 caused a widespread cancellation of events, RMC shifted into staffing COVID-19 screening and vaccination sites.
Schmitt said RMC has improved its online hiring efforts after the pandemic led to the cancellation of events, which were a recruitment tool for the company.
“Before COVID, they came to us. We have an attractive job working concerts and festivals and we’re visible,” he said. “We are probably more nimble in our recruiting, we still rely on a virtual platform to hire applicants and we’re probably better at it.”
Schmitt said RMC came out of the pandemic in a strong position, though he declined to share financials, and the company was able to avoid layoffs and continued hiring during the period.
“The value placed upon good people never wavered,” he said.