The People Purpose Podcast

The Olympic Impact: A Global Conversation with Pride

• Chas Fields and Julie Develin • Episode 185

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You can hear your country's national anthem playing in your head during this episode of the People Purpose Podcast. Join Chas and Julie as they uncover some wild statistics from the latest UKG study that determines who won't be showing up to work during the Olympics. They highlight the conversations you should be having now to potentially avoid a major loss in productivity.

Julie Develin:

Hello, and welcome to the people purpose podcast show that explores all the ins and outs of the challenges and opportunities HR people, managers and all people face at work each and every day. My name is Julie Develin, I'm here with my co host, Chas

Chas Fields:

Fields do a special day to day special day today because not only are we recording, but it's this is gonna be fun. Today's gonna be fun.

Julie Develin:

I mean, I think that you and I tend to have fun most days that we're together. But this episode is one that I was really sort of looking forward to when I I think I think it was my idea. I was like, you know, this is what we do. And it's gonna give it away as soon as I asked you the question I want to ask you as to what we're talking about, well, also the title two. But so are you know, we always say tell me something good. But Chas, what I really want to know from you is what is your favorite Olympic event to watch your summer summer Olympics?

Chas Fields:

Summer Olympics, so no winner? No, no, no, no question is table tennis. No question. Listen, Julie. First off, I'm not saying I was a good ping pong player, aka table tennis player back in the day. I know. You say well, I can beat you. I listen. Julie, we proved that that could not happen. In Austin, when

Julie Develin:

we were outside. We were outside that does not count. I will take I will play you in ping pong. Okay. Indoors.

Chas Fields:

Okay. Controlled Environment. 72 environment. Oh, yes. Can we give you more of an advantage? Because it's not going to help. But

Julie Develin:

we were outside there was when you can't play ping pong and when it's

Chas Fields:

all about him, not coordination. Gotta play elements. But table tennis. Why? Number one, they never stopped moving. And I mean, I played tennis, right? I love playing tennis. I love playing table tennis, ping pong, whatever you want to call it for us? I don't know. I'm not really an amateur at anything. It's just not like I'm not a hero. Right? We know. They don't stop moving. And it's crazy. Especially when they get those really long rallies in like, boom, and then they you know, somehow they get it up and book. It's just crazy to me. I love watching it. And it doesn't give enough primetime if I'm being honest. But anyways, what's your favorite? Yeah,

Julie Develin:

so I you know, I love the traditional I you know, I I am the kind of person I am not a gymnast. I can't I can hardly do a somersault like I've never in my life and I'm not kidding been able to do a cartwheel. I can't do a cartwheel I can't do or whatever around off like as all the kids when they were younger, like we would go outside and play or whatever. And all the girls would be doing like cartwheels and stuff. And I'm like sitting there trying to and I just can't do it. So I love I think that the gymnast both male and female. What they do is it takes such incredible strength especially on the rings. Oh my goodness, that's crazy. But um, you know if we're going like a little bit out of out of the norm ish. One of my favorite events to watch is the high diving because I think that yeah, I think that's another like amazing feat. Now think about it. Like you're up there. And you're you know, hundreds of feet off the ground just going to jump into a pool. You know of water. You better hope you don't land on your back. Right? I mean, they never show the

Chas Fields:

people that that Miss. You want to talk about viewer rating skyrocketing. Yeah, show us the really good ones. And also show

Julie Develin:

us there. Yeah, but but Chas, there's 32 sports and the Olympic program this year. Yeah, I know. And like some of them like you wouldn't even think about, there's a sport called braking. Do you know what that is? Because I don't

Chas Fields:

like should I Google it real quick? Yeah, yeah. It's called

Julie Develin:

braking. I don't know what it is. But like, there's like all sorts of horse events, equestrian events. There's hockey, there's judo. Judo. There's rowing you know, rugby. Sailing, skateboarding.

Chas Fields:

Are you ready for this?

Julie Develin:

Yeah, what's breaking

Chas Fields:

breakdancing?

Julie Develin:

Is it you I have a feeling I didn't I thought that would be too simplistic. So interesting. All right. Well, we're listen here. Here's the deal, we're gonna have some some things to watch, right? I mean, there's gonna, this is gonna be pretty awesome. But you know, I want to, I could we could just talk about these interesting sports all day long and like the fact that Yeah, but we we need to talk about the business side of the day, and I have a decent one that fits our theme. So Paris is, Paris is where the games are going to be held, they're going to Paris is going to receive a predicted economic benefit of $12.2 billion during these Olympics that are coming up. And that's according to the International Olympic Committee or the IOC. But here's the kicker, and this was, as of April 2024, the city's already spent $9.7 billion, even before a single event has taken place. Because what people don't realize is that these cities have to get ready for the influx of people, they have to be ready for the influx of sporting events that are gonna happen in their city, and they may not have the facilities. So is there an economic benefit to hosting the Olympics?

Chas Fields:

I mean, mathematically 3.5 billion based on this stat. Yes, where I go is I've been to Paris, Julie, and I don't know where you put every body.

Julie Develin:

Right. I read about surrounding cities.

Chas Fields:

Right. But that but that's my point, like in Paris proper. This is this that's specific to Paris, you know, so obviously, it goes to the to the Metro of of Paris, right? It's just having been there. I mean, it's already a pretty full place. And then I go down the path of staffing, right, like how many, how many gig workers are going to be working the Olympics and bowling? Oh, yeah, I people are going to come from all over just to work this event outside of the Olympics, staff per se. And based on this $3.5 billion net, where I go is for sports here in the US that we deal with, like I think about the Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl villages that pop up and all of the things that come in, and then you have all the structures that are still standing just in hopes to get another bid. So we may have this conversation in six months to say Did they did they met a prophet?

Julie Develin:

Yeah, we'll need to remember that. I think one of the more interesting things and there are some documentaries on this too, is what happens to these cities after the Olympics leave. Yeah. And oftentimes, they're abandoned. And it's really sad. But that's a whole other conversation for another day. But you know, did you know, Chas, that in from 1921, to 1948, in the Olympics, artists actually participated. So we're talking about painters and sculptors and architects and writers and musicians, and they work to earn a metal by creating works of art that that oftentimes celebrated, like successes in sports that are going on at the same time. So I thought that was really interesting. Question.

Chas Fields:

Our goal gold medals real gold. I shouldn't know this. I feel like there should be something No.

Julie Develin:

Gold Medals should be real gold.

Chas Fields:

But but they're not actually real gold. Right? I think they're made of silver. And like the number one gold like the the one podium is is coded in gold, but it's actually silver. So

Julie Develin:

the metal is coated in gold.

Chas Fields:

Yes. So it's a silver and gold. If you get a silver medal, it's untainted. Right, it is a silver medal, but the gold medal, if I remember, right, is covered, just like coding of gold, you can fact check me on that bronze metal made of copper, zinc and tin and a very small amount of silver. Here's the question, how much are they actually worth? And that way?

Julie Develin:

I actually have an answer that,

Chas Fields:

really,

Julie Develin:

yeah, well, I do because, you know, I'm into sports collectibles. So I'm there I actually read a statistic. Now I think it depends on who who's metal it is and whatever. But I know that somebody from the Miracle on Ice hockey team and 86 they he sold his guide mark, Somebody sold his gold medal to an auction house and it sold for $310,000. Now, I think that was more lucrative because of what it was from what I represented. And I think I think that gold medals are clearly worth something. But I can't even imagine selling my gold medal. You know, I think that there's so many interesting statistics on the Olympics. What about there's a slogan for this year's games? Oh my gosh, I can't even remember what it was.

Chas Fields:

Do you remember open games white? Oh,

Julie Develin:

games wide open? Yeah, games wide open. Yeah, so

Chas Fields:

interesting. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, by the way. Ah,

Julie Develin:

well, why? Wide open like to the to everybody like to the world like wide open game.

Chas Fields:

Do you had to explain that to me? It makes it hard for me. You know what I mean? It's like, games wide open for who?

Julie Develin:

For the world? For The World Watch.

Chas Fields:

Yeah. Anyways, it's really about the Olympics or 10 minutes and and people are like, what are we talking about?

Julie Develin:

Enough about the Olympics? Why are we here? It's never it's never enough about the Olympics. You know, Chas every year? What were you gonna say?

Chas Fields:

I was gonna say, you know, what we should have done for this episode is I'm sure you have a championship medal somewhere from your softball days, and I pretty sure I still have my seventh grade championship, Little League. Medal somewhere is a big deal. It's kind of a big deal. We should have worn that for this

Julie Develin:

first story. Virginia Sherm this year when I spoke there, they their theme was the Olympics, and they gave out little medals. And that's what I have. I should have worn that.

Chas Fields:

That's a great group to speak to, by the way there. Yeah. Virginia Sherm.

Julie Develin:

So Chas, you know, we want to obviously we're talking about the Olympics. Everybody's, you know, got an Olympic fever. But we need to talk a little bit about why why we're here, right? We're talking about the Olympics, and, you know, workforce Institute UKG. We've talked a lot about that. And we do a lot of studies at the workforce as to UKG. Right? We do these studies to help help people right, determine outcomes for World of Work, what's going on at work, and every year and we've talked about this ad nauseam about our Super Bowl study. It's our most popular study. Every year we study how many folks are going to take off the day after the Super Bowl. And I guess that's called the Super Bowl flu. Yeah.

Chas Fields:

Yeah, I had it this year. Yeah, though, I planned mine. I pre planned mine. That's not true. Actually Shut up. And we stayed. But I had a late start and gave a lot of people late start for the day after if you remember, right. So yeah,

Julie Develin:

I do. I do remember. And, you know, it's, it's this phenomenon, where people miss work, the Monday following the big game, but But what if, and I'm just going to pose this to what if there was an extended Super Bowl in which we call the Olympics? And that lasted for 17 days?

Chas Fields:

Yeah, here's, here's the thing. What I predict and I envision happening, ironically, we did a study around this is that this is going to make a massive disruption on the workplace, right? If I look at the broader perspective of the Olympics, we're talking about the melting pot of almost every country in the world, competing against one another. It's brilliant, it's fun. But it also brings some challenges for the workforce when it comes to miss shifts, right? What a timely opportunity. If you're facing burnout to watch the country, you compete in the sport that you love. There's also going to be situations where you may have some employees who take the Olympics pretty seriously, and bring that to work. And then you may be facing some competitive competitiveness in the workplace, because you represent one country and you want that country to succeed. And I want my country to succeed that day, and they play against each other. So I think about this from the workforce perspective, and for our listeners, these are things that we should talk about. And Julie, I know we did a study around there. So if you want to highlight a little bit,

Julie Develin:

yeah, yeah. So yeah, so are, you know, the workforce Institute, we do the Super Bowl study, we actually think we did one on March Madness, too. But this one is about the Olympics. And, you know, when we first put this study out, I was really, I was like, Oh, that's really interesting, because I think about it from an HR perspective. Like, I'm not so sure that's something I would have even thought about like, oh, I would think about how cool the Olympics was. Oh, great Olympics are happening, but Oh, no, I may have people missing work. Well, yeah. They're so UKG asked employed Americans who plan to watch the 2024 Summer Olympics while working we said which 2024 Summer Olympic events would you be willing to miss work for to watch or watch while working in order or like while working in order to watch live? And I thought the top five events were really really interesting or people would people percentage wise said that they would actually miss work to watch these events. Men's Basketball, men's soccer, women's gymnastics, women's basketball, and women's beach volleyball. So yeah,

Chas Fields:

listen, I'm gonna tell you right now my wife, who's a former athlete in the volleyball realm, we have stayed up to all hours of the evening watching it, you know, it's pretty cool. First out there. It's incredible to watch those women, two people and covering an entire court in sand like I don't know if you just like enjoy walking in the sand or running and then these ladies are performing in the sand but I think when I look at So people are open and honest in the survey to say, Hey, listen, I mean, they're going to be watching this while I'm working. Or I'm not going to show up, and I'm going to watch this. We got to take a look at how we can help them. We as employers, what we can do, right? We got some, we got some hurdles to clear when it comes to communication, we've got to build some trust. And we can't have retaliation for employees who want to take time off for this. I mean, this is a massive event where pride is really exuded amongst your employee base, right, yeah, you know, where you are represented from the true source of your of your culture and how you were raised and where you were raised. And I think for leaders, we also found in this study that even though with the games being ahead, they've already began making a more productive workplace. Because of the Summer Olympics, nearly half of employed Americans who are managers around 47% said they talked directly with their direct reports about taking time off to watch this. So and by the way, more than a quarter around 26% have already made appropriate staffing arrangements to cover for work. So Julie, we've been screaming it for years. It's amazing when you actually are proactive and your communication and you have these discussions around Super Bowl, and you create that environment of trust to say, Hey, listen, I'm not going to show up. Because I'm doing this. That's a positive. However, what is the adverse effect from the study that we found?

Julie Develin:

Yeah, so the study also found that 39% of those people who were surveyed, who are managers say that this isn't something they would discuss with their direct reports. And what that would in turn that reveals is that over half of Americans with a manager said, they don't feel comfortable asking for time off to watch the Olympics. And it's not just employees, managers themselves don't feel comfortable taking time. That's what our survey showed, you know, about one in five people who were surveyed, who actually plan to watch the Olympics, and they talked to their manager about taking time off. So that's a really, really low percentage. You know, some some folks, some managers told employees about only about 12% said that they can't take time off to watch the Olympics. Now, I think that, you know, we can look at all this, but think about somebody on a shop floor, for example, somebody that cell phone on a shop floor, now, the Olympics are going to be available to watch on many different platforms, all of them streaming platforms, and it's going to be in our, in our hands in our pockets, we're going to be able to watch the Olympics, not just live, but we're gonna be able to watch replays, we're gonna able to watch stats, we're gonna be able to watch all sorts of things, right? We can't expect our employees to not care about this stuff. Because this is going to be part as part of what brings us together as a society. So I think that what becomes really important is for managers to actually talk to employees about saying that this is a thing, because about 12 point 3 million people that do you plan to watch the Olympics while they're working? They're not going to ask for permission.

Chas Fields:

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Back here, let's take a step back here. So I struggle, I struggle with this, right, I struggle with this. And here's where I struggle with it. Number one, if the Olympics mean that much to you, as an employee, this is where it's both the employer and the employees responsibility to create a dialogue or to create a sense of environment. Because if I'm an employee and the Olympics mean that much to me, then I mean, to probably prepare to take that time, we know it's coming every four years. Right. So so that is the ownership that our employees must take, if it is that important to you to make sure that you have the time off, you put it in advance. If and when you can, I know the schedule changes. So it's not as easy as like, Okay, I'm taking a vacation six months from now. And I can't move it right. Like I get it, it's a little bit more difficult. However, I don't believe that it's the managers responsibility. And what I go to hear is, is the manager judging the person for taking time off because they want to watch the Olympics or even a step further, or they declining that time off? Because you came to me and said, I want to watch the Olympics, and I need the time off. Number one, that's not my place. You use your PTO, how you want to use your PTO, if we can, if the confines of the business allow you to do that, how you're working productivity, so on and so forth. There's also the nuance of the business, right? Where if there's not staff and you're committed to that schedule, and the manager denies you, the employee can't look at the manager and say, well, you're only not saying or You're only saying no, because it's because I want to watch She Olympics. It's like we can't take that personal either, right? Because you're their job. So I, I kind of struggle with all of this because the stats just kind of tell you what it is. But I also know what actually happens on those floors, because I've been there and I've chatted with these folks. And we just have to, we just have to get over that hurdle, where it's like, Hey, Julie, you know what, you may not be able to do it. I know you want to watch the Olympics, but maybe we can find a time in your shift where you can step away and check the scores. Right? Yeah.

Julie Develin:

But let's talk about productivity. And how the study found that about 30% of people said there'll be less productive at work, because they stayed up late or woke up early to watch the games, because so many people want to watch them live. And what is it six from the East Coast is a six hour time difference ahead, right? Some

Chas Fields:

east coast, the West,

Julie Develin:

the farther west, you get the the more time difference it becomes and then you know, you're looking at people waking up in the middle of the night to watch their favorite athletes and their favorite events live. So I think we would be remiss to say that we're being that we'd be naive to say that this is not going to have some kind of effect on work. But I think you know,

Chas Fields:

that's a big number, by the way, 30 years. If you wanted to tie that to some sort of revenue, and take the average salary cost, and like you could we could probably if we really wanted to. And if there's any customers that want to do this with us, let us know. But to put a value on how much your business loss because your people were 30% less productive. I would love to do that study, Sign me up. Yeah. I mean, we're probably in the trillions globally. If that is the case, if it really is almost a third, we're in the trillions. Yeah,

Julie Develin:

because we have to think of this as a global thing, because it is a global thing. And people are working all over the world. So you know, this is only looking at Americans. And you know, you look at some of these other sports that in America aren't quite as popular. And then but in other countries like cricket, for example, you know, how popular that is in certain countries. And you know, like, those folks are going to be into it. And hey, by the way, there's going to be people taking time off of work to actually physically go to the Olympics, too. So, you know, Chas, we could we could talk about this ad nauseam. But what does it come down to? It's what we talk about all the time, and it comes down to trust. Yep.

Chas Fields:

And I think that is driven in that psychological safety. Right? Julie, I think where we get to is that, if I know that there's going to be negative repercussions because I'm passionate about something and there's judgment that follows with it, I can promise you, that person doesn't feel safe, right? I can promise you, they don't feel like they are contributing to the organization, even if they are right, they're gonna feel like they're less than and more importantly, we're not fostering that, that culture of that culture. Right? Not just a culture of trust, but that that broader culture where you and I are going to share our experiences, right as as workplace besties. We share our experiences all the time. And if something is bothering me, you see it. And if something's bothering you, I see it. And then we have that dialogue. And it's like, wow, that that manager really isn't that great. Right. And now we've now we've entered the whole new realm of getting HR involved and getting other people involved to really, you know, tank a business's reputation. And I don't think that that's necessarily fair. Yeah.

Julie Develin:

Yeah, this is but isn't this an interesting study as this comes around every four years, right? Well, for the Summer Games, right. And, you know, the Winter Games, I'm sure, probably not quite as popular but probably at some of the same, you know, interesting statistics surrounding work. What,

Chas Fields:

what's your favorite winter Olympic sport to watch? I

Julie Develin:

don't, I don't know. Curling. Curling? Man, you know, one of the most grueling sports that is out there is cross country skiing.

Chas Fields:

What about the ones that? Don't I use it? I don't know which one it is. It's the cross country, but then they you know, they shoot the rifles, and then they ski and then they Oh, yeah. Yeah. One is that

Julie Develin:

I don't know what it's called. I don't know. I always think about, here's where my brain goes. Here you go. listeners. You want no more my brain goes. So so yeah. So if if you're on a if you're doing the luge, right, like, how do you learn that? That's something you can do. Like, what's the really good

Chas Fields:

question? Like, like, what,

Julie Develin:

where do you go practice? I mean, the loose

Chas Fields:

showing up one day like, hey, I want to pass down ice, one of the bobsled

Julie Develin:

or like, like, all those things, like I feel like it's like a generational thing. Like you have to know somebody who did it and they get you into it. And then they you get them into SAM saying, Okay, it's passed down.

Chas Fields:

You know, I have a friend that works in the realm of a Olympics. I'm gonna see if we can't get an Olympian on the pod to find out what it's like. Let's do that. I'll work out okay.

Julie Develin:

For that, we got to figure this out.

Chas Fields:

What's the work environment like for those for people who train for 468 1012? Like their entire life to potentially get a bit? You know? So,

Julie Develin:

yeah, if you did, by the way, I just want to let listeners know, like, if you if y'all want to go see these studies, or read these statistics go to ukg.com. You can find them on there.

Chas Fields:

In the search bar, just put in a one. Yeah, just put it in. Actually,

Julie Develin:

you can even Google that. I mean, there's that there's a this has been picked up by news wires and whatnot. So just really, really interesting. The world of work never stops chess,

Chas Fields:

doesn't it? And the reality of it is, whether it's the Olympics, whether it's the Super Bowl, whether it's March Madness, whether it's, you know, a big event doesn't matter what it is, we still have to solve for this and, and it boils down to how you and I are treated, and more importantly, how we're heard. So Julie, what did you find your purpose and today?

Julie Develin:

I don't know. Chas. I found my I guess. I guess I found my purpose in. Well, I learned that the gold metal isn't made of gold. How about that?

Chas Fields:

Which ruined your day? I'm so sorry. Yeah, yeah. It's that metal at heart.

Julie Develin:

But you weren't that harsh, and you get a solid gold medal. I don't know. Just thinking.

Chas Fields:

I don't know who we take that up with price. I

Julie Develin:

need to write a strongly worded letter to the IOC.

Chas Fields:

I was thinking about the Miracle on Ice because I actually have a signed picture of the Russian goalie Vladislav Tretiak in that, but you tied the metal to $310,000. It just makes me wonder what Phelps and Simone Biles and so many others like what that's going to be worth one day. Anyways, incredible. I found my purpose in this conversation fun little take the study is incredible. And I think it's simple enough for us to understand that. If we're not doing our part in the workplace, if anything, we can all unite around the Olympics. And that's what we're trying to do in the workplace is how do we unite for a common goal and more importantly, take care of each other. So absolutely. With that, y'all, we're gonna we're gonna wrap duly, thank you so much. You know, make sure that you use or know Like and Subscribe. Yeah, hey, by the way, if you're in Spotify, you can tell us what you like about the episode. And we got some really cool things on the horizon that we're working on to hopefully get our listeners more involved, which is really cool. Julie, and I can't kind of let that out of the bag. Yeah. But it's coming. And our listeners will be more involved, which is really, really cool. And we're really excited about that. So thanks for listening. And y'all like, subscribe, we appreciate it and have a blessed day. Cheers. Cheers.

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Chas Fields

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Julie Develin

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