Business barometer: Olympic staff worries ease

Operators who plan to take on extra staff during the 2012 Olympics have had their fears over finding the right cali-bre of workers eased as a result of high unemployment.

Caterer and Hotelkeeper‘s exclusive research, as part of its Business Barometer in association with ACT Clean and People 1st, found that more than half of firms will find easy or very easy to take on the right quality of temporary staff.

Just 14% said it would be "very difficult", and 34% said it would be "fairly difficult". The situation is one of the very few beneficial effects of the difficult economic climate for businesses, with unemployment remaining stubbornly high in many areas of the country.

Most also felt confident over being able to offer a training plan to ensure staff were up to speed. Almost half (48%) said they had a plan in place already, with 23% expecting to have one in place by the time the Olympics started.

Those results echoed responses which showed that overall, companies feel increasingly confident about their level of preparedness for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Some 41% of respondents saying they feel sufficiently prepared for 2012 now, up from 37% in our last survey in July. The proportion of operators who claim they are not sufficiently prepared now but will be by the Olympics remained static at 36%.

WHY DO YOU EXPECT IT TO BE EASY TO FIND THE RIGHT QUALITY OF STAFF?
"The general state of the economy will provide plenty of people looking for work"
"The calibre of university students in the area is incredible. I also have a bank of very loyal staff"
"Due to the current climate there are many good staff without work at the moment"
"We are located in the city centre. It is straightforward to recruit good quality casual employees"