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Vancouver’s Olympic organizing committee is planning to pay about $30 million in bonuses to its employees once the Olympic Games are finished.
The payments will be available to all employees, and will be distributed based on their position and the amount of time with the organization, a Vancouver Organizing Committee official said Thursday in a statement.
According to a report released earlier this month, VANOC has 1,302 full-time workers. If bonuses are distributed only to those workers — which is unclear, given the committee has not fully explained the program — the average payment would be just over $23,000.
Critics say this is an excessive amount of money, given the economic challenges facing taxpayers and the Games.
VANOC officials were unavailable to speak publicly about the program, but on Thursday evening, the organization released a brief statement.
“We have a responsibility to all Canadians to stage great Games and to do so it is critical we retain our team until the end,” read a written statement attributed to Dave Cobb, executive vice-president and deputy CEO of VANOC.
The statement said previous organizing committees have lost as many as 12 employees a month in the last 12 months before the Games.
“We established a package designed to retain, manage and keep people right through Games-time that is based and calculated on length of service and seniority,” read the statement.
“This helps us reassure our employees — particularly in the face of a challenging economy — that they can complete their commitments without the pressure of trying to find a new job or being recruited in the final months before the Games.”
The statement did not give specifics about the payments, explain how many employees will be eligible or give any details about the largest expected amount.
