Poor Staffing at Accreditation Facility

Before the Opening Ceremony, a few students and I set out to receive our official accreditations for Olympic Park. We had heard the process was fairly simple and would not take too long. Upon arrival, our eyes widened at the sight of the tremendous line. We quickly took our place in line and decided to bear it since we had already made the trek out to the warehouse-like facility. After an hour of waiting, we made our way inside the facility where we instantly discovered the problem: a lack of staff. Of the fifteen check-in counters, only one was occupied. We waited about another fifteen minutes before reaching the front of the line. The check-in gentleman could not have been nicer and we joked about American politics.

I proceeded to the second line where badges were actually created. While in line another twenty minutes, I spoke with one of the security guards: asking him if the lack of staffing was due to additional needs for the Opening Ceremony. He was also quite friendly (and blunt!) as he told me all about the staffing issue. As it turns out, the site manager incorrectly told all employees the facility would be closing at 4pm. When they arrived that morning, they were told the facility would be open until 10pm – the “correct” end of their shift. After a busy day, most of these workers decided they would still leave at 4pm and those that stayed, were offered overtime. The security guard seemed pleasant enough, as he was happy to receive the overtime pay. “It’s just poor management,” he said as he pointed to the frazzled site manager working one of the three operational desks creating accreditations (there were approximately another 8 unoccupied desks). Although the staff I did interact with was exceedingly personable and kind, I certainly would not want to go through the process again!

Chelsea Emsellem

Posted by olympian on July 29, 2012 | Filed under: Olympics.