What does Staffing have to do with Formula 1?

Many of us may not know that Formula 1 is the sport with the highest team budgets in the world and their drivers are the highest paid athletes in the world. Great, but what does staffing has to do with Formula 1? Everything.

As every year, this past weekend, a few of us AkkenCloud® staff members got a chance to visit Montreal for the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix. While we were excited for the race, we couldn’t help but think about the scale, and logistics needed to staff a massive event like this. Thousands of employees are required to staff the many vendors, security, hosting, catering, and hospitality roles that a world-class event like this requires. With the venue for Formula 1 races changing constantly, traveling from different cities in different countries every few weeks is a must.

However, moving employees from one race to another would be financially impossible, so temporary staffing provided by local companies is the only practical way an event like this could be put on.

The Grand Prix is no ordinary sporting event. No matter what the city, the race may be the highlight, but dozens of events from concerts, parties, and more are put on to entertain race goers for the three days of racing. The race attracts a global fan base wherever it goes. The Montreal Grand Prix reliably attracts over 300K avid race fans to the city, and this year was no exception. The city and racetrack were packed for the spectacle of the race.

Events like the Grand Prix may be rare, but they offer excellent opportunity for staffing agencies. The influx of tourists to a city, and the number of events that are going on during the Grand Prix means that demand for temporary employees will increase not just at the racetrack, but also all over the city. The Grand Prix depends on these local temp agencies to fill the majority of the positions, as few full time employees (other than racers, and crews) actually travel, and work each of the events.

Major sporting events, including our own NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, NASCAR or even minor sporting events, provide a huge market for temporary staffing companies. These events don’t provide enough steady work for most employees to be hired full time. Venues may have schedules of events that take place days or weeks apart, and this forces a stadium to rely on temp workers to fill the roles that are required.

So the next time you are at a major event, or if you are lucky enough, the Grand Prix, think about the role staffing companies and the hundreds of temporary employees they represent play in bringing these shows to life. We all should give our-self a pat on our back and be proud that our staffing industry is supporting this sports eco system.