HR Issues and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

Cissy Pau, Principal Consultant for Vancouver-based Clear HR Consulting, recently attended a human resources seminar on the HR issues that Vancouver businesses need to be prepared for the 2010 Olympics Games.

Some things to plan for:

• Transportation disruption – Road closures & 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 leaving before 2:00 pm.  With most Olympic events occurring in the afternoon, it’s anticipated that getting to work in the morning should be ok, but leaving work in the afternoon may be a problem.

• Employees working from home – Many employers are encouraging employees 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 they were 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.

Some things that companies are doing during the Olympics:

• Encouraging transit use and car pooling
• Allowing telecommuting so that employees can work from home rather than fight traffic to come to work
• Encouraging employees to take vacation during that time or to flex their hours
• Cross-training staff now so that unexpected or planned absences can be accommodated.
• Hosting Olympic-themed events for employees & clients
• Ensuring there is a TV at the office to watch highly coveted events and to cheer on the home team!
• Purchasing 6-week 2010 Transit Games Passes for employees during the Games