2012 OLYMPICS SET TO BOOST UK BUSINESS AND SKILL SET OF UK WORKFORCE, ACCORDING TO NEW RESEARCH
With the London Olympics only four years away, job creation opportunities are booming as contracts for the Olympics are filled. Of the work placed so far by the Olympics Delivery Authority (ODA), 98% has gone to UK companies and 50% to companies outside London.
Adecco surveyed over 1,000 FTSE and non-FTSE employees to see to what extent the Olympics are already impacting businesses in terms of creating employment opportunities and the foreseeable benefits the event will provide in the next four years include:
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15% of business are involved in working with the Olympics in some capacity, with a further 15% speculating that they will be involved at some point
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Corporate sponsorship (9%) and marketing/promotion (5%) are the activities most commonly undertaken to date
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Half of the companies surveyed can see some benefit to their business from the 2012 Olympics
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24% see the potential for marketing opportunities as a result of the Olympics.
Commenting on the research results, Adecco Group UK & Ireland CEO, Rene Schuster, said: “The 2012 Olympics will be an exciting time for the UK and the lead up to the event will create a number of diverse job opportunities for a range of different workers. The Olympics should hopefully encourage resurgence in trades where the skills deficit has been quite large in the UK and encourage more apprenticeships and vocational training schemes. Additional revenue opportunities for businesses should also be created as a result of the 2012 Games.”
In 2007 Ken Livingstone, mayor of London announced an £11m package to provide training and jobs ahead of the 2012 Olympics. Three-year grants will fund skills training, employment advice and work placements and new sports coaches, cooks and builders needed for the Games are expected to be trained as part of the project.
