Dear Colleagues,

I recently attended an HR seminar on what companies need to do to prepare for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. We thought the findings were interesting and thought we'd share them with our readers.

In this edition of HR Smalltalk, we discuss HR contingency plans which companies need to develop to deal with possible disruptions during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

As always, if you have any questions or for more information, feel free to contact us at 604.688.3879.

Warm regards,

Cissy Pau
Principal Consultant
Clear HR Consulting Inc.


HR Issues and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

In a previous newsletter over a year ago, we discussed the need for businesses to prepare for the human resources issues that would arise out of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Well, the Winter Games are just around the corner, and it's critical for businesses to be ready.

A recent human resources seminar hosted by the BC Human Resources Management Association and the Business Council of BC highlighted some HR issues that Vancouver businesses need to be prepared for during the 2010 Olympic Games:

• Transportation disruption
  
  
  • Road closures and parking bans will make it potentially difficult for employees, customers and suppliers to get to your office and vice versa. VANOC is hoping to reduce traffic on our city roads by 30% to lessen traffic congestion.
  
  
• Rush hour
  
  
  • Businesses can expect rush hour conditions 24 hours a day in Downtown Vancouver and rush hour to start at 2:00 pm elsewhere around town. VANOC is encouraging employees to start work prior to 7:00 am and leave before 2:00 pm. With most Olympic events occurring in the afternoon, it's anticipated that getting to work in the morning should be manageable, but leaving work in the afternoon may be a problem.
  
  
• Employees working from home
  
  
  • Many employers are encouraging employes to work from home during the Olympics. If you do this, please be aware that the home office would be considered an alternate work location and would be subject to WorkSafeBC rules and regulations.
  
  
• Internet access
  
  
  • With over 15,000 journalists and hundreds of thousands of people in Vancouver who will be accessing the internet, there may not be enough band width to handle the increased volume. Companies need to have a contingency plan in place in case internet or email access is hampered.
  
  
• Cell phone access
  
  
  • As with internet access, the huge volume of people accessing the cell phone network in Vancouver could negatively affect our cell networks. Contingency plans may be needed in case data devices such as Blackberries do not function properly and to ensure that employees can be contacted if cell phones don't work.
  
  
• Staff training
  
  
  • With many planned and unexpected absences which will occur during the Olympics, companies need to start cross-training staff now so that these absences can be accommodated.
  
  
• Time Off / Absence Policies
  
  
  • At this point, it is unknown how difficult it will be for employees to get to work. Policies may need to be developed to deal with unexpected absences (e.g. if an employee shows up to work 3 hours late because she was using public transit, will this be considered paid time or unpaid time?).
  
  
• Communication
  
  
  • Be sure to advise employees, customers and suppliers of your plans for business during the Olympics so that they know what they can expect. Those who are outside of Vancouver may not realize that service could be impacted.

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