Olympics stress test: Londoners to practise for the Games this week by working from home
LONDONERS will this week stress test the capital’s readiness for this summer’s Olympics, with just over two months to go until the Games begin.
Organised by Deloitte and Canary Wharf Group, up to 100 London firms will today and tomorrow perform a trial run of their plans for the Olympics, “to warm up for the big event”.
Staff at London companies, nearly half of which are in the financial services sector, will take measures including working from home, changing travel plans and varying work hours.
Deloitte, the official professional services provider to London 2012, said its research in January showed that 42 per cent of companies are worried about staff unavailability during the Olympics – the same proportion that had this concern when asked last May.
Thirty-two per cent cited transport disruption as a worry, a slight improvement on last May’s 35 per cent.
Mark Naysmith, Games readiness director at Deloitte, said: “On the busiest days of London 2012, there are expected to be an extra three million journeys on the public transport system. It is essential that companies across the city, large and small, have thought through how their business and their people will cope with this period.”
But even if the measures to test travel and staff availability go according to plan, London businesses could find themselves facing a heap of new issues.
Kathryn Hurt, head of Olympics at flexible office space provider MWB Business Exchange, said: “It could be too little to late.
“We’ve been calling on companies to stress test their systems for months. Now with just 80 days to go until the start of the Olympics, businesses are slowly waking up to the fact that they need to prepare,” she said.
Hurt warned that this week’s stress tests are likely to highlight additional concerns about costs, contracts and reliability, even if the transport and logistics tests go smoothly.
She added that only 11 per cent of firms are allowing their staff to work from home, less than a third are allowing employees to work flexible hours and 30 per cent have not made any contingency plans for the Olympics even though a staggering 89 per cent believe the Games will affect them.
“Many London businesses are sleepwalking into a potential work nightmare.
“During snowday in February 2009, £1bn was lost from the economy. Now times that by the 17 days of the Olympics and you can see the potential hit UK PLC could take,” Hurt said.
Research from SunGard points to a similar concern, revealing that only 22 per cent of staff feel their employer is prepared for the inevitable organisation disruption this summer.
A similar number, 21 per cent, admit they would be willing to skive work to watch a live Olympics event.
And the chances are they will get away with it, with 38 per cent of UK employers saying they will not discipline staff if they take unauthorised leave during the Games.
OLYMPIC STRESS
■ 42 per cent of companies are worried about staff unavaibility during the Olympics
■ There could be an extra 20m train and Tube journeys during the Games
■ 80 per cent of spectators visiting London this summer will travel by train and Tube
■ 89 per cent of firms believe the Olympics will affect them
■ Yet 30 per cent of companies have not made any contingency plans for the Games
■ 22 per cent of staff feel their employer is prepared for the disruption from the Olympics
■ 21 per cent of employees are willing to skive work to watch a live Olympics event