This summer will see the capital city of London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. London is the first ever city to host the contemporary version of the Games three times (1908, 1948 and 2012). Whilst this is exciting, both those who successfully secured tickets to one of the events and those expected to attend work as usual are highly likely to experience a travel nightmare or two during the 16 day event.

10 days of Paralympic competitions follow which will also affect transport efficiency (but probably to a lesser extent).

Although the Olympics’ planners intend to have 93% of athletes arrive at their event venue in 30 minutes or less – thanks to a number of road lanes being exclusively reserved for athletes and a number of diverted Tube routes and closed roads – it is the city’s workers who will no doubt face overcrowded and delayed motorways and public transport, particularly at peak times.

Many London Underground workers have already been offered bonuses of up to £850 during the Games in order to prevent strike actions from occurring, which suggests that the Tube will be running far less than smoothly throughout this period!

All signs seem to suggest that anyone capable of working from home during the event would be wise to do so, in order to avoid the inevitably stressful daily commutes. If you are a business owner, shelling out rent on your office space during the Olympics is pointless if the majority of your staff members are going to struggle to make it in! Similarly, launching a new physical office-based business during this time seems foolish. Virtual office services can be incredibly useful to implement in both instances.

Existing office spaces can make use of the services provided by virtual office companies – such as telephone answering and mail forwarding services, which can see employees completing their jobs from home – during the Games and perhaps sub-let their premises during this time (despite the expected travel chaos, London office space is still very desirable to those travelling from other countries to witness the battles for gold, silver and bronze).

Start-up businesses meanwhile can also use these services to make operations easier and to also benefit from the prestige of having a (temporary) London address during this manic period.

« | »