HR OLYMPICS SPECIAL


makers’ – volunteers who will help at the Olympic Village during the course of the events – culminating in the resourcing of 70,000 people. “This was the biggest single recruitment drive since the


second world war,” explains Langhorn. “Not only did my HR team recruit all the volunteers, but it recruited the people who interviewed them as well. I have two members of my training staff on secondment at LOCOG [London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games] until after the Olympics, writing the training programmes, induction and onboarding.” As HR magazine was going to press, the lucky volunteers


successful in their application had received confirmation they had been selected for the Games. Training for all 70,000, as well as 12,000 LOCOG staff, is due to start this month, provided by – you guessed it - McDonald’s and delivered on site at its UK head office in East Finchley, London. “We launched at Wembley Arena, with orientation days for


10,000 people at a time,” says a visibly excited Langhorn. “We hope to invite Seb Coe [LOCOG’s chairman] and some Olympic athletes as well.” But in a bid to develop McDonald’s Olympics – and legacy


– connection even further, and in an unprecedented move by any Olympics sponsor in history, Langhorn reveals that the company will offer each and every one of the volunteers that live in an Olympic borough and who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), to have the opportunity to receive a City & Guilds Level Two qualification – equivalent to


best reputation for customer service.


The UK doesn’t have the


that they are only doing this because it is their only option


There is a lingering prejudice about those working in this sector,


a GCSE – in the principles of customer services, following the games. This will be provided at the company’s expense. As part of LOCOG’s Personal Best initiative to help young


unemployed people the scheme will also guarantee that any young person not in education or training that passes the City & Guilds examination will receive a job interview for an apprenticeship position with McDonald’s, leading to further qualifications awarded by its in-house accredited university and, of course, a full-time job. Finally, McDonald’s has agreed with People 1st, the sector


skills council for hospitality, to provide the organisation with all its training materials for the City & Guilds qualification free of charge, to pass onto its own members. And considering this will be the first qualification of its kind for the hospitality sector, it is a considerable donation. But are McDonald’s plans purely altruistic? I put the ques-


tion to Langhorn. “Our people team [HR] is very well known in HR circles,” he says. “But I still think there is a perception gap about McDonald’s as an employer. These initiatives could be seen as a ‘perception buster’ and a chance for us to show our skills as an employer.” He adds: “This isn’t about increasing the numbers of people


that apply to work for us – we are not looking to bump that up. But 60% of our branches are franchises, small businesses embedded in local communities. “We are big employers on the high street and part of our


business plan is to share our success with the local people that work with us. We don’t know yet how many of these


hrmagazine.co.uk


HR March 2012 11


Peter Crane


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