SMALL businesses in Cambridgeshire are anticipating the impact of next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, with a recent survey showing that one in four local businesses are expecting an increase in staff holiday requests.

The survey by Business Link found that 25.9% of SME owner/managers in the East of England region are expecting more requests for annual leave from staff wanting to watch The Games – with 32.2% of these managers planning to take time off to attend events themselves. In addition, 38% of SME employees in the region are also expecting to attend events during working hours.

Malcolm Williamson, head of Information and Intelligence at Business Link in the East of England, said: “Now that the one-year countdown to The Games has officially begun, it’s time for businesses to put the right policies in place to deal with increased staff leave requests and to ensure business continuity. It’s also important that these policies are communicated well in advance to staff to avoid disappointment amongst those who have already have tickets.”

Through its Information and Intelligence Service, Business Link’s telephone advisers are on-hand to provide professional and impartial advice on ensuring that a robust policy is in place in advance of the event. Information can also be found on the support service’s website – www.businesslink.org.uk/east – including a tool to calculate the holiday entitlement of employees.

Mr Williamson continued: “For such a significant occasion, it’s important that local businesses make the most of the support available to them via Business Link to ensure that it really is ‘business as usual’ during The Games for staff, customers, suppliers and operations as a whole.”

For more information on the support available from Business Link in the East of England, call 08457 17 16 15 or email questions@businesslinkeast.org.uk.