With just one month to go until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, businesses should be looking at the final priorities and steps to be taken to ensure operations remain productive, while employees also enjoy the Games.

As we near the start of the Games, Keith Tilley, managing director UK & executive vice-president Europe, SunGard Availability Services suggests that measures to keep workers content should be high on the priority list. “Over one in five adults are willing to take unauthorised time off to watch high profile events this summer, making a HR headache a good deal worse for managers and businesses. It’s a hugely exciting time, and there’s no reason employees have to abandon ship to enjoy it. Rather, an appropriate flexible working approach will help minimise employee absenteeism and increase engagement amongst employees,” says Tilley.

Offering guidance on proactive things that employees will need to manage (different routes to work, for example) and identifying the likely impact of these on daily routines will be crucial, he adds. “Simple ideas such as installing communal TVs and allowing employees’ time to view high profile events, alongside the more basic (but often overlooked) stock of sundry items, will also help minimise employee absenteeism and avoid damaging office morale. Underpinning these measures is the need to be respectful of different nationalities and specific circumstances of each employee. There’s no one size fits all approach here – actions must be tailored to your workers, to maintain productivity levels and ensure good spirits are kept high across teams.

“The benefits don’t stop there. While the Olympics provide a great opportunity to put flexible working plans into practice, it’s important organisations think beyond the Games and how continuity planning can create a strategic advantage for the business. Encouragingly, research from SunGard Availability Services shows British businesses are taking this message on board. Over half of those that have taken steps to mitigate Olympics-related disruption believe that adopting these practices longer-term will make their businesses more efficient. Almost half say it will make them more resilient, over a third more competitive and one fifth a better place to work, while almost a fifth believe it will give them greater operating capacity,” he concludes.


Further research findings

The following is taken from SunGard-conducted research on what companies are doing to prepare for the Games, one with 250 directors in senior level operational, IT and HR roles among UK organisations, the other with over 1,200 adults working UK adults across the country.

• Four out of five businesses claim to have made plans for the Olympics – with 55% claiming to have communicated them across the organisation
• Yet, an overwhelming 88% of employees are in the dark on working policies during the Games
• 59% of organisations are now factoring in more disruptions into operational plans
• 40% of UK businesses feel less resilient to major organisational disruptions due to JIT - the pressure to retain a lean and ultra-efficient operational model
• 43% are expecting supply chains to break down during the Olympics
• More than 1 in 5 UK adults would skive off work to watch a live event
• Over a third (38%) of employers in UK organisations admit they will not, or are unsure as to whether or not they will, discipline staff if they take unauthorised leave during this summer’s Games
•Less than a quarter (22%) of staff feel their employer is prepared for possible organisation disruption during the Olympics

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