Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is ending its 16-year old program that supported U.S. Olympians.
The Olympic Jobs Opportunities program provided part-time work, flexible hours and full-time benefits to 600 athletes who went on to win 145 medals. Spokeswoman Jean Neimi told (subscription required) The Wall Street Journal that "At this economic time, we are looking more closely at all our programs and marketing sponsorships. . . This is being done with some sadness."
The program cost the company about $15 million to $20 million over four years, but seems to have been a successful marketing tool, and the Olympians were featured prominently in Home Depot ads.
This seems like a budget cut that comes at the expense of some pretty bad publicity, and it suggests that Home Depot is doing even worse than most people are already anticipating.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-08-2009 @ 1:46PM
Patriot said...
I bet they still have money to give to the illegal alien support group "La Raza" ,The Race. Another "great" american company !
1-09-2009 @ 8:25PM
Santa said...
I guess if your not the poor stiff who has to work twice as hard so the work can be completed while thier out training it makes sense!!!
1-09-2009 @ 8:58PM
Karen A. said...
The problem with this program is that most of the Olympic track employees came and went as they pleased while others were stuck picking up the slack.
Potential Olympians would disappear for weeks at a time, then show up and get hours at their convenience over real employees.
In addition, people were placed in areas where they had no expertise so you could have someone with no knowledge of plumbing in the plumbing area because he was in an Olympic development program.
I shudder to think of the poor advice that must have been dished out through the years by potential Olympians who were just there to take up space.
1-09-2009 @ 9:58PM
nick said...
Home Depot is getting the message from the stockholders and they are telling them stop throwing money away to these over paid sport folks. It is high time the sports people start taking some deep cuts and the teams cut their admissions in half, only the elite liberials can afford to go to the games anymore, the MSNBC crowd still out spending money like water, seen Charlie in diner acting like a big shot tonight, spending like no tomorrow.
1-09-2009 @ 10:08PM
Tom said...
Speaking of cutting expenses, I wonder if GM and Chrysler will drop out of NASCAR this year. I hate like hell to think my tax dollars will help support their racing expenses.
1-09-2009 @ 10:25PM
Mona said...
Really you want to punish a company that supported athletes in their quest for a chance to represent this country in the Olympics. How about saying thank you for your support and hopefully when things get better you can support something else or go back to the Olympics....Home Depot thank you..
1-09-2009 @ 10:45PM
akoostick said...
ife...You're an idiot!
1-09-2009 @ 11:08PM
Anonymous said...
wtf, Home Depot. wtf.
1-09-2009 @ 11:50PM
LJ said...
What a bunch of whiners!!! "The olympians could come and go at work as they pleased and others picked up their slack". What a selfish and short sighted view. These folks bring the country a great deal of pride when they do well in their event. I can tell you its nearly impossible to train and support yourself with a full time job with inflexible hours. And then figure in trying to compete against athletes who are FULLY SUPPORTED financially by their country ( Russia, China, etc.) Americans used to root for their fellow countrymen, but now it's all about " what's in it for me." You people should be ashamed. Disgusting.
1-10-2009 @ 12:24PM
Leelo said...
Hey Lj. I understand what you are saying but PRIDE doesnt pay my bills. Money pays my bills and thats why I work for it. If the olympic hopefuls want money they have to work for it too.
1-10-2009 @ 2:40AM
Richard C said...
Its Palin fault....lol
1-10-2009 @ 2:41AM
Willie said...
Home Depot deserves kudos for running the program in the first place. It was too expensive to simply be done for advertising purposes. The people in that company gave something back to all of America. In a world of lying, narcissistic greedheads, I take that as a "Good." Now, they need to keep their company healthy. If they succeed, maybe they can come back and support our Olympians again.
2-22-2009 @ 1:07PM
Limelicker said...
Home Depot can't support the Olympians and the 200 Illegal's that stand out front looking for work
1-10-2009 @ 6:18AM
Al Schrader said...
Home Depot is the loser in this. They were getting Olympic grade employees for minimum wage....alfredschrader@aol.com
1-10-2009 @ 2:40PM
Santa said...
Thier is a differance today....The Olympics are nothing more than a professional event...It is done for money ...nothing wrong with it..but it aint for country...
1-10-2009 @ 2:53PM
Santa said...
The Olympics is strictly money now...It is run for big profit for the Athletes involved and the networks and sponsers...The money they get can go back to the training and support of the athletes...Expecting a business to support this with phony jobs at the expense of the other employees is not good for morale or the profit line!!
2-04-2009 @ 1:25AM
ditto said...
Thank you Home Depot for the support you gave the atheletes for all those years! I say there is no shame in stepping back so that you can keep the Big Box in operation....there are far more hard working "real" employees that need their jobs now than the Olympians that have been cut. There were never any promises as to how long the program would last...only that HD would help as long as it could. 16 years is an amazing commitment! Thank you...and thank you for finding ways to keep the majority of your work force on the payroll.