Our little Saguenay firm has come a long way in 40 years!
Olympe has quite simply become THE most recognized health and wellness consulting firm in Quebec. Let’s look back at its history….
The early 80s. The worst time for a University of Sherbrooke physical education graduate to find a job. No matter how hard we looked, there were no jobs, no job offers, none, for the university cohorts in this discipline, including that of a young Saguenay graduate, Pierre Audet.
“We had nothing, absolutely nothing in front of us…“ says Pierre, now in his mid-sixties and still passionate about his work, who now shares the management of Olympe with his son William. At the time of Pierre’s graduation, one of the trendiest theories was being developed, that of the leisure society. A rather utopian idea, advocating a society with an economy massively focused on leisure services, notably by reducing employees’ working hours. As we know today, this prediction never came true. But the concept of integrating sport and physical activity into the workplace was born. Pierre took up his pilgrim’s staff and went out to canvass (and above all convince) companies one by one to set up areas dedicated to physical activity.
He was one of the first to do so, and with great success. Olympe, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, today employs a hundred permanent and contract staff, has set up over 200 physical activity centers, designed the studies and plans, supplied the equipment and manages the gyms of most of the head offices of the largest organizations in Quebec. Name them: Rio Tinto, Pfizer, Agropur, CNESST, SAAQ, Canada Customs, Saputo, Caisse de Dépôt, Sun Life, Québecor, Domtar, they’re all customers where Olympe has left her mark.
Olympe fitted out the Canadian Space Agency’s fitness center in the 1990s, as well as 3 physical activity centers on the African continent in 2006-2007 (Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali).. We’re a long way from Chicoutimi!
You should be able to see the plans for the latest mandate, the development of a physical activity and wellness center atop the new National Bank headquarters tower in downtown Montreal, where 12,000 employees will be working. We’d like to live in this space!
As with other organizations, the pandemic slowed down Olympe’s development, but in 2024 it’s on a roll. The company has developed a new mental health department with a preventive offering that is in high demand among its customers. The idea is to intervene upstream, notably by training managers and raising employee awareness through conferences, information capsules and workshops.
Olympe is one of Quebec’s benchmark companies, and one of the country’s leading providers of services in the areas of ergonomics, mental health and corporate communications focused on health and wellness and OHS.
After 4 decades, its success deserves to be recognized and celebrated!
By Roger Lemay