An Olympic Feat: 85000 Outsourced Jobs in Rio

In September last year, the Olympic organising committee announced that it would be outsourcing 90,000 jobs for the Rio Olympics.

85,000 of those outsourced staff would be hired by third-party agencies, which, for any contingent workforce manager, is a mammoth influx of gig-workers into any given country.

All those who are lucky enough to be contracted onto the Olympic workforce have had a number of things to manage in their journey to Rio, but the agencies who managed their hiring would have even more to worry about.

While the Olympics are one huge example of the challenges that business faces in the contingent workforce economy, we can take some key guidelines from the Rio workforce.

Brazil, as with any country, has vastly different labour and tax laws. This means that any agency managing the influx of temporary workers would need to be well-versed in:

• The local employment laws
• The types of employment recognised in any given country
• Local tax rates
• Monthly contributions to social security and the like
• Employee rights
• The numerous ways to avoid legal action through the correct processes.

(As a side note: in Brazil, it’s reported that taking legal action against an employer is a bit more common than elsewhere – so Brazil can take a little getting used to, and it’s advisable to speak to reliable experts to make the transition and business journey seamless.  To help avoid any unnecessary bad outcomes, the expert agency can help businesses and employees to be prepared.

In favour of a contingent workforce? Why what works for the Olympics will work for you.

The ability to hire 90,000 temporary employees over the course of the Olympics is one of the key factors that makes large-scale operations like the Games (which are ever-increasing in size) more manageable. This, especially considering that their requirement surges every four years, and then recedes to a base-level employment roster for the remaining time.

In business, the workforce requirement changes regularly, due to economic fluctuations, contract delivery requirements, and seasonal changes. Finding an agency to assist you in sourcing contingent workers, ensuring they are compliant, and facilitating the right processes will mean that you have a workforce on standby for the busier phases; ready to go, with the worry and stress of tax regulations, immigration laws, and employment contracts taken care of.

Following the example of the Olympic organising committee, and outsourcing the job to qualified professionals, will give you the edge you need – regardless of whether you’re running a global operation or an SME.

CXC has a wealth of experience managing compliance in Brazil and other South American countries, and can give you a head start with compliance, contingent workforce management and start up globalisation support, across the globe.

Contact CXC Global to get more information on streamlining and optimising your contingent-workforce-hiring procedures through effective compliance, payroll and contractor management solutions.

Words by Alison Krumm