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Human Resource Legacy in the Olympics - Learning from London and Rio〔2016.10.17〕
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics ended last month. In Tokyo, various preparations are in fullswing for hosting the next Olympics, four years from now. Through to 2020, 815,000 new
jobs related to the Tokyo Olympics are expected to appear in the labor market, as
estimated by the Recruit Works Institute. How should we manage this need for humanresources, and what can we expect from it?
This report discusses how the Olympic Games typically affect the labor market, on thebasis of research into the London 2012 Olympics and the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Table 1 Estimated need for human resources for the Tokyo Olympics

Source: "Impact of the Tokyo Olympics on Employment," Recruit Works Institute

Olympic legacies - long-lasting positive effects brought about by the Olympics
Before reviewing the previous Olympic Games, it may be appropriate to introduce theconcept of ‘Olympic legacy.’ Olympic legacies are long-lasting positive effects felt by nations
and cities that host the Olympics. Since 2002, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
has asked Olympic venues to develop legacy plans; and London, which was elected as ahost city in 2005, became the first city to officially plan for the creation of legacies.
In developing nations and cities, significant legacies are created by hosting the Olympics,
due to the associated economic benefits and infrastructure development. A typical example
is the Tokyo 1964 Olympics, which involved development of transportation infrastructuresuch as Shinkansen (hi-speed) train lines and expressways, and construction of the Tokyo
National Stadium. More than ever before, Japan made its presence felt in the world
through the Olympics, and gained critical momentum for subsequent economic growth.
However, this kind of legacy, aimed at economic growth, is more to be expected inhttp://www.works-i.com/column/olympic/
developing, than in mature, nations and cities. What kind of legacy, then, did London seek
to create as a typical mature city?

The London Olympics as an opportunity to solve social issues
London's strategy was to use the Olympics as an opportunity to solve social issues, astrategy well reflected in the locations of venues. The Olympic villages and main venues ofthe London Olympics were located in the eastern part of the city, which had the largest
population of people in poverty; and after the Olympics, many of the newly constructedfacilities were converted into houses, schools, or business centers where jobs are created,
and these have contributed to improving the quality of life of the local citizens.
In London, more focus was given to intangible legacies such as human resources, thantangible legacies such as buildings. The London city government directed the need forhuman resources generated by the Olympics toward those in the labor market most in
need of employment opportunities. For example, the government offered training and job
opportunities to 70,000 unemployed people in the city, and helped 68,900 people become
employed. The London Organising Committee also worked to create a human resource
legacy by directly employing about 8,300 staff members and recruiting about 70,000
volunteers. One of the Committee's informing aims was diversity and social inclusion. As
shown in Table 2, the Committee established targets for employing disabled and LGBTindividuals, worked toward creating comfortable working environments, and achieved all
the targets set for the diversity items.
Table 2 Employment targets established by the London Organising Committee of theOlympic and Paralympic Games

Source: "Olympic Jobs Evaluation," SQW, Mayor of London (2013)
Diversity targets were also applied to the construction sites of the main stadium and otherfacilities, to enhance this human resource legacy. While, before the Olympics, the vast
majority of construction workers in London had traditionally been male workers, theimage of the construction workplace has since changed dramatically, with increased
participation of female workers in the workplace. And with more female workers handlingheavy equipment, which had been considered exclusively suited to male workers, thehttp://www.works-i.com/column/olympic/
awareness and attitude of construction companies, with respect to recruitment, haschanged substantially. Another legacy is improved safety standards. Fatal accidents werecompletely avoided by applying high safety standards to the construction sites, including
the attention-grabbing main stadium site; and this also contributed to an improved imageof the construction industry.
The so-called Games Makers, who were volunteers for the Olympics, represent anothersignificant human resource legacy of the London Games. Although there is a wellestablished culture of volunteer activity in the UK, the population of volunteers had been
decreasing year by year. After the London Olympics, however, the number of volunteers
has begun to increase, and it is said that former Olympic volunteers are actively
participating in sports and other regional events. In the London Olympics, it wasguaranteed that the opportunities for volunteer activity, like the broader employment
opportunities, were open to all people; and support volunteers were recruited to help
disabled persons participate in the volunteer work.
After the Olympics, a database called Team London, consisting of data on about 70,000volunteers, was put under the management of the London city government; and thisdatabase now enhances the civil society of London by providing an on-line function tomatch regional needs for volunteers with potential volunteers.
It appears that such efforts are being appreciated by London’s citizens. According to asurvey conducted by the BBC after the Olympics, nearly 70% of the citizens thought theOlympic Games had no economic impact; but at the same time, nearly 70% thought theOlympic Games had been worth the investment of public money ("BBC Olympics Legacy
Survey" by ComRes). While the high satisfaction level may partly reflect the high level ofathletic performance, it appears that the citizens in the mature city appreciated the social
significance more than the economic impact of holding the Olympic Games.

Human resource legacy emphasized also in the developing city of Rio
As in the case of London, emphasis was placed on legacies in the recently ended Rio deJaneiro Olympics; however, greater focus was placed on economic growth and developmentin the legacy plans of Rio, which is less developed than London or Tokyo. A typical legacy
in the case of Rio is transportation infrastructure, such as the city’s bus rapid transit(BRT) system and new subway line; but many new hotels and shopping malls have also
been built, especially in the areas near the main venues.
In addition to these prominent tangible legacies, however, Rio worked on developing ahuman resource legacy, and here the primary issue in the city was security. There arenumerous depressed areas called favelas, which are regarded as a hotbed of crime; andefforts are required in such areas to break the chain of poverty and prevent crime. Interms of industry, though living in a heavily touristed city, the people of Rio have not beenaccustomed to hearing multiple languages, including English. To promote their equalopportunity inclusion in the labor market, and their acquisition of advanced skills, related
efforts have been made, such as offering vocational training to young people in favelas,and offering English-conversation lessons to taxi drivers, who are on the front line of thehttp://www.works-i.com/column/olympic/
hospitality business.
As in the case of London, volunteers may also be a significant legacy of the Rio Olympics.
As most Brazilians are not familiar with volunteer work, other than religious activity, it
was expected to be difficult to recruit volunteers. In reality, however, more than 250,000
people applied for the planned 70,000 volunteer jobs, within three months of the beginningof temporary registration of volunteers in 2014. The number of mobilized volunteers was
eventually reduced to about 50,000 due to subsequent revisions of the project, and about
15,000 volunteers did not show up when the Olympics actually commenced. Nonetheless,the volunteers who took advantage of the valuable opportunity to participate in this worldclass event are expected to participate again in various events in the future.
As exemplified in London and Rio, intangible legacies are receiving increasing attention in
the recent Olympics. The significance of hosting the Olympic Games in mature, developed
countries is often a matter of debate, because it is difficult to expect economic growth fromthe Olympics in such countries. The London 2012 Olympics initiated a new trend ofcreating legacies aimed at solving social issues. Against this backdrop, what kind of
human resource legacy can we create in Japan, with its population aging and declining ata rate unequalled in the world?
Koumei Ishikawa (Visiting Researcher, Recruit Works Institute)