OREANDA-NEWS. November 13, 2012. The sixth meeting of the Sochi 2014 HR club hosted by PwC, brought together HR professionals from partner companies and representatives of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee to provide an update on activities, share best practice on HR projects and take stock of lessons-learned and what has been achieved through the club to date, reported the press-centre of PwC.   

When asked what members felt was the biggest HR issue regarding the Games, responses were varied. Some noted the complexity of the mass recruitment while others were concerned with lack of experience of the workers/volunteers and their lack of foreign language skills.

The most useful insight gained from the HR Club for most respondents was the shared experience from other companies particularly in regard to promoting corporate volunteerism. Some respondents also noted the issue of hiring people with disabilities as a key take-away. Partners have called for future events to look at issues such as staff motivation, travel and accommodation of employees, and to hear from more companies about their volunteer policies.

Sochi 2014 Organising Committee representatives provided a detailed overview of lessons learned from London 2012 in everything from logistics and infrastructure to volunteer management. She noted the effectiveness of safety staff’s interpersonal skills and highlighted the need for Russian safety staff to have a ‘human touch’ as part of their competencies. Overall the communication efforts between leadership and Organising Committee staff and the workers and volunteers contributed greatly to games success.

Karina Khudenko, HR Consulting Partner at PwC, presented the Sochi 2014 hiring strategy for people with disabilities which prompted debate and interest from partners. The key principle of hiring people with disabilities is using a single approach for all people. In discussing integration of people with disabilities, it was noted that the focus needs to equally be on the people who work with people with disabilities. The club members discussed the need for more practical examples on integrating people with disabilities and the problems associated with not being able to reach people with disabilities through traditional recruiting methods.

There was also a presentation on the Accessibility Map for the Games, which has been designed to help promote Sochi as a barrier free city. Sochi 2014 volunteers are currently gathering information on their own cities, all across Russia. Involvement in the map is an opportunity for partners to involve their employees, increase internal engagement and position themselves as a company that is inclusive of people with disabilities.

To conclude, both PwC and P&G gave an update on their corporate volunteer policy for the Games as well as additional employee engagement initiatives to build support for the Games.

A survey of the HR Club attendees of the 6th meeting yielded very positive results. 96% of club members are either satisfied or very satisfied with the HR Club, and 100% of participants to believe that the HR club helps to alleviate HR issues relating to the Games. A majority of respondents noted that the content of the meetings are very useful or extremely useful and almost all participants share outcomes of the meetings with their colleagues.

The survey also revealed that most participants have altered their HR strategies or adopted new tactics as a result of the club or plan to do so in the future.