Back in his native Sweden, Magnus Alvarsson had an uncle who was a sailor. Much like himself, Alvarsson says, his uncle had a hard time settling down. And while Alvarsson is no sailor, he has charted a similarly nomadic course in recent years as chief integrator for global IT firm Atos Origin SA. He is, as they are fondly called within VANOC, a Games Gypsy: one of a special breed who wanders the world from one major sporting event to another.
Atos has been the official worldwide IT partner for the Olympics for eight years. Since 2006 Alvarsson has called Vancouver home and has led the Atos team working alongside VANOC staff to build the information systems needed to run the Games, everything from the corporate intranet to the distribution system that sends results to hundreds of media outlets 0.3 seconds after anyone crosses a finish line. He got his first chance to work with the Olympics in 1999, when his company offered him a position at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. After that job, it was Athens, then Turin, then Beijing, and now Vancouver. Alvarsson downplays the difficulties of switching countries every couple of years, although he says the moving gets easier over time. “I think it attracts people who are pretty secure in their own existence,” he explains.
The international workforce is just one element that makes VANOC a unique place to work. This is, after all, an organization that began with 50 people in 2005 and will employ somewhere around 50,000 by the opening ceremony in February 2010, including several thousand contractors – truck drivers, electricians, caterers, etc. – 25,000 volunteer workers and roughly 7,000 volunteer performers. Of VANOC’s current complement of 1,100 full-time staff members – which is expected to triple come February – about a quarter are Games Gypsies, according to Donna Wilson, VANOC’s vice-president of human resources. These Gypsies are recruited from a variety of major sporting events, including past Olympics and world championships from across North America and Europe.
Of course, what goes up must come down. After the closing ceremonies, VANOC will shrink to a staff of 50, who will divest the committee’s assets and oversee the transition of the venues. (The organization will ultimately be dissolved.) VANOC has already begun helping its staff move on with their careers, setting up a program to introduce them to prospective employers. But people who have been so immersed in such a demanding project also face emotional challenges, Wilson says, which is why VANOC is offering workshops and counselling services. She recalls advice she received from the CEO of the Lillehammer Games in her first months on the job: “He took me aside and said, ‘You’re responsible for people here. I want you to understand that you have to pay attention to the potential for depression and a real sense of loss at the end.’ ”
