For something that is primarily an athletics event, modern business has managed to complicate matters, writes Adam McCulloch in the latest of his series of lighthearted pieces on trends of the day.
Life was considerably more simple in the 8th century BC when what became the Olympics was first held. Back then it consisted of fewer than 10 sports – although it’s hard to know exactly because no one wrote about it until 776BC. It became a three-day event in 684BC and then five days in the 5th century BC. Banned in 393AD by the killjoy Roman emperor Theodosius for encouraging paganism, the games weren’t properly revived until 1894.
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One of our colleagues at Personnel Today – not otherwise known for their expertise around antiquity – has suggested that Theodosius was secretly worried about productivity, and just used paganism as a cover. After all, who were going to pick those grapes while the Games were on, or build those lovely straight roads or repair amphitheatres? Today’s HR experts have a little bit of Theodosius in them it seems.
Simon Roberts, solicitor at DAS Law, reminds employees: “You have no legal right to watch sporting events during work time and if your employer refuses to allow you to watch any of the matches during working hours, there is little that you can do to challenge this from a legal perspective.” A hint of ancient Sparta there perhaps.
Susan Clews of Acas strikes a more philosophical tone, perhaps taking her cue from the likes of Socrates or Plato: “Employers should have a set of simple workplace agreements in place before the starting gun goes off for the Olympic Games. These agreements can help ensure businesses remain productive while keeping staff happy too.”
Surely the simple pleasures of watching someone run prodigiously fast, or jump ludicrously high are fundamental and instinctive in the human psyche. That’s certainly how we feel in the Personnel Today office.
But apparently we’re doing this all wrong. The true pleasure of the games is to be found online. US tech firm Sprinklr has “utilised its social listening capabilities across X, Facebook and Reddit to build an Olympics data dashboard”. Buddy Waddington, global principal technologist, insights & AI at Sprinklr, is very excited about the games but not necessarily the same aspects of it as the rest of us. He grabs his tablet to tell us: “…now the Olympics are about to burst onto the global stage. The whirlwind of enthusiasm is already rippling across social media conversations, reminding us that the world is online and ready to play a part in the conversation.
He continues: “Ultimately, viral moments happen – it’s not about being lucky, it’s about being prepared. Brands that will win marketing gold this summer are those that have deployed effective AI-powered social media and marketing strategies to gather actionable insights from the buzz. Take the time to get ahead now or risk getting lost in the noise of the game this summer.”
Amazing how so little has changed since the games were first written about in 776BC – back then brands that won marketing gold were no doubt also using tablets for their actionable insights. They were made of clay, however.
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