HR OLYMPICS SPECIAL


communities local to the Olympic Park and Jobcentre Plus,” she explains. “We have engaged with the six host boroughs, facilitated by LOCOG, to recruit people who may be long- term unemployed and who are being made ‘work-ready’ by local agencies. We have engaged with the DeVere Academy of Hospitality and a number of London universities, with open recruitment days for students on full-time academic courses looking to gain work experience during the summer.” BaxterStorey has committed to ensuring all its new recruits


will be put through an induction and training process to equip them with skills in basic cooking, food preparation, health and safety and customer service. Graham adds: “We are making the same investment in


training employees for the Olympics as we do with anyone joining us. Given our growth plans, we hope to provide per- manent opportunities for a large number of those we recruit. “This isn’t about altruism, it is about us taking advantage


of the opportunity the Olympics presents our business to create a pool of trained, motivated people who understand our values and who can be first in line as permanent positions become available in London or beyond. “This is particularly important in the current climate and


we take our responsibilities seriously,” she added. But in a wider sense, Octavius Black, CEO of consultancy,


the Mind Gym, believes the lasting legacy depends on the “magic” employees do or don’t create during the Olympic period. “This is our chance to be shiny and considerate,” he explains. “The way we greet visitors at the airport when they


Sydney (2000)


go through customs and the way waiters treat tourists will be important for where the UK ranks for its customer service.” When investigating the legacy of previous Olympic Games,


commentators talk about the ‘curse’ of the last 11 summer Olympic cities – that they have not been able to generate the economic legacies they hoped for [see boxes]. But it is said, as athletes remain athletes for their whole life, so a host city will forever be thought of as ‘Olympic’, long after its Olympiad ends – and that has to be a positive for UK tourism. BT’s research in January found 63% of private firms expect


Sydney smashed its 2000 Olympics budget – its AUS$6 billion expenditure is thought to be three times what it originally estimated. But while the city staged a successful games, Sue Halliday, former


chief planner for the Sydney Olympics, has said: “Sydney is now paying the price,” on account of its lack of legacy. It took five years for the decision to be made to regenerate the


Olympic quarter and in that time tourism in New South Wales, where Sydney is situated, increased at a slower rate than the rest of the country. A KPMG report prepared for the games bid in 1993 predicted it


would add AUS$7.3 billion to the economy and create 156,000 new jobs. But an analysis by Melbourne’s Monash University found the Olympics had a negative effect on New South Wales and Australia as a whole, in measurable terms.


28 HR March 2012


to prosper as a result of London 2012, but 34% believe the games are irrelevant and will have no impact on them. But in overwhelming agreement, the commentators predict the real success of the Olympic Games’ legacy will come to employers that put the effort in to find it. The opportunities are there. Girdler asks: “Will the Olympics be an economic panacea?


No. But we have demonstrated that we can build world-class facilities on time and within budget in preparation for the games – we are thriving and the UK needs to keep up the momentum to grow its business after the games.” But Black draws on the example of Heathrow Terminal 5,


which was forced to cancel 500 flights during its opening fortnight, which British Airways, the only carrier to operate out of the terminal, put down to “staff familiarisation”. Black adds: “Terminal 5 was delivered on time and on budget – the engineering was fantastic, but the people bit had not been properly considered. HR directors have to make the effort with their people to ensure a lasting legacy.” HR


hrmagazine.co.uk Atlanta (1996)


Atlanta’s Olympics didn’t run as smoothly as its successor, Sydney, or its predecessor, Barcelona. After facing controversy for being “too commercial”, matters grew worse during Atlanta’s Olympic Games in 1996, when a lone bomber set off a device in a park, killing two people. But in 2006, the City of Atlanta hosted a massive outdoor party in


its Centennial Olympic Park to celebrate 10 years of Olympic legacy. The success of this came in the regeneration of the city following the Games – with 20% spent on maintaining the poorer areas of Atlanta. Before the Olympics, Atlanta was associated with the modern civil


rights movement, Gone with the Wind and the American Civil War, but Atlantans believe the stage the Olympics gave their city allowed it to rejuvenate, placing it in the international arena for the first time.


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