HR OLYMPICS SPECIAL


Olympic burger with five (onion) rings, please – artist’s impression of the McDonald’s Olympics restaurant


There is a perception gap about McDonald’s


as an employer. These Olympic initiatives


‘perception buster’ and a chance for us to


could be seen as a


show our skills as an employer


volunteers will apply for jobs with us, but we’ll manage it.” Langhorn and his team have also put Olympics initiatives in place for the restaurant’s own staff. In November, McDonald’s launched the Olympic Champion Crew Super Team event at its Strand restaurant, Charing Cross, to select the squad to work in its restaurants at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The scheme was designed to select McDonald’s best


employees from across the UK to work at the four Olympic Park restaurants for the duration of London 2012. The 6,800 staff, chosen from branches around the UK,


had to demonstrate their speed, customer service and ability to work as part of a new team in a fast-paced environment to deliver ‘the ultimate customer experience’ to games spectators. Former England rugby player and coach Clive


Woodward gave participants advice on how to have the energy, stamina and teamwork needed to produce their best performance under pressure. In the end, 1,900 staff were selected to work at the


Olympics and they will take over a hotel booked up by the company and will receive a mobile phone and tickets to some of the sporting fixtures. “To work in the park is like working airside at an


airport,” says Langhorn. “It’s a massive undertaking. These will be the busiest restaurants in the world and we want to


12 HR March 2012


have staff there that have honed their skills over time. We want to reward our best staff and, of course, there will be vacancies in the stores from which they have come,” Langhorn says. The company recruited 10,000 people in 2011. In 2012,


it plans to increase its workforce by a further 2,500, through creating new jobs. McDonald’s also has an Olympic ‘engagement site’ on its


staff intranet to add interest for employees – so they can share the sponsorship “excitement” with customers. Langhorn says, so far, it has had more than one million clicks from staff. “We also have 20 spots out of 100 legs for the Olympic


torch relay,” he adds. “So we have launched a peer- nominated competition to ‘carry the torch’ within local communities. This will not be for directors, but crew members and office staff – and we want to celebrate their achievements in a fair and transparent way. So we have asked staff to put forward colleagues they think are demonstrating our core values.” According to People 1st, across the UK, approximately


one in every 14 employees works in the hospitality sector and with the Mayor of London’s Olympic Legacy Board of Advisors hoping the games in London will boost the tourism trade in the UK, customer service is something that will come under the spotlight. Langhorn hopes the initiatives and plans put in place by


his HR team will allow McDonald’s to play its part in gen- erating a more positive future for his sector, and indeed the entire economy, not just during the Olympics in London but in the months and years to come, as the UK steers itself out of uncertain times. “The Olympics will bring lots of positives for the


country and, in particular, the hospitality sector,” he muses. “The UK doesn’t have the best reputation for customer service. There is a lingering prejudice about those working in this sector, that they are only doing this because it is their only option. “The Olympics will provide a great opportunity to show


the world what we can do – but it won’t just happen. This year is the summer of sport and if employers get it right, it will be a chance to celebrate what great service and hospitality can be – and by welcoming the world, we can show them how good we are.” HR


hrmagazine.co.uk


Education Jez Langhorn joined McDonald’s as a part-time crew member in 1983, while studying for A-levels at Farnborough Sixth Form College. He became full-time, progressing to restaurant manager at age 20. He has worked at the company ever since in a series of operational and people roles


December 2010 to date VP, people, McDonald’s Restaurants


May-December 2010 UK HR director, McDonald’s Restaurants


2004-2010 Head of talent and education, McDonald’s Restaurants


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