Media Coverage
Updated Sat. Jan. 19 2008 12:09 PM ET
The Canadian Press
 VICTORIA
-- The organizing committee for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver could have trouble recruiting and keeping the key staff it will need in the tight labour market of British Columbia, warns an audit by the B.C. Comptroller General.
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games says it has dealt with what the confidential audit deemed a "significant'' risk.
But the review, completed last spring and recently released, identified a potential problem in keeping up to "40 highly qualified staff to fill specialized positions across the organization in a tight labour market.''
The audit acknowledged that VANOC -- as the organizing committee is known -- had established unidentified "mitigating strategies,'' but warned the "residual risk remains significant.''
Donna Wilson, the executive in charge of human resources, said VANOC has addressed those concerns.
"(The auditors' warning) didn't set off any alarm bells at all,'' she said. "We feel very comfortable that we've got our key people in place and they're happy.''
Wilson, the executive vice-president of work force and sustainability, said organizers have just completed an employee engagement survey that indicated 81 per cent of the staff were very happy in their jobs.
"Things are settling in and we're feeling very much like we've taken care of any of those risks,'' she said, adding that they are continuing to monitor the situation to ensure that they are "staying on top of game.''
Last spring's audit was ordered by the provincial government's 2010 Games Secretariat.
The Comptroller General's office was asked to review the way VANOC had prepared a draft version of its business plan, completed last March. The audit included a search for risks to the province that could be incorporated in the scheme.
That may explain why, in late June when the final business plan was revealed, the plan included a $44.5 million employee fund that had been set aside to allow for annual salary increases to keep pace with inflation and an employee-retention plan that would pay bonuses, but only after the Games were over.
VANOC cited problems faced by the organizers of the Sydney Games, which lost six to 10 people a week in the year before the Olympics began. The average Olympics organizing committee loses about eight people a month in that lead up period.
While some people are enticed to leave, others fear not having a job the day after the competition ends.
Dave Cobb, executive vice-president for revenue, marketing and communications, said about one quarter of the fund would be directed to salary hikes. The remainder, about $33 million, is earmarked for bonuses and employee-retention.
When the audit was completed in April, VANOC had about 370 employees.
Wilson said their own tracking indicated employee turnover at the time was "very low'' -- about four per cent.
She said the staff now totals about 550 and is growing at a rate of about 30 new employees a month. The current turnover has dropped to below two per cent.
Wilson said VANOC's benefits and compensation package offers "middle of the market'' salaries, but also includes the additional completion incentive to reward those who see the job through.
It's a move that is wholeheartedly endorsed by the B.C. minister responsible for the 2010 games, Colin Hansen.
"I think (VANOC) is wise to recognize this as a risk and to make sure it's built right into the program, instead of scrambling,'' he said Friday. "They don't want to get into a situation where they're losing key staff at a key time in the countdown to February 2010.''
Hansen also noted the fund is not public money, but part of VANOC's $1.7 billion operating budget made up primarily from the sales of TV rights, domestic sponsorships and ticket sales.
Despite B.C.'s heated job market, Wilson said the committee is having good luck on the recruiting side of the equation.
"I think a lot of people want to be able to have said that they were part of this great event when its here and we have that in our favour,'' she said.
One Vancouver job recruiter agrees.
Henry Goldbeck believes there's a bit of the "wow'' factor to working for the organizing committee.
"A lot of people are working at VANOC because they want to be involved in it,'' he said in an interview. "They know it was a short term contract when they got into it, but they went into it because they want to be involved in a world class venture and it's exciting and there's a lot of benefits.''
Goldbeck said that feeling is actually likely to build as 2010 nears.
He said the same thing happened when Vancouver hosted EXPO 86 and people from all levels of the business community took jobs just to be part of the action.
Goldbeck also speculated that Vancouver and B.C.'s hot job market, a corollary of the province's labour shortage, could actually help VANOC if employees know there are plenty of equivalent positions available when the Olympics jobs inevitably comes to an end.
Sourced from CTV News, The Canadian Press
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