Almost 3,000 Games Makers – three times more than expected – have completed the Level 2 City & Guilds Award in the Principles of Customer Service. The qualification was created and funded by McDonald’s, Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Games Maker programme, as part of its support to help prepare and recognise the volunteers with levels of quality training before, during and after the Games.
To gain the award, each Games Maker had to bolster their pre-Games training and hands-on volunteering experience with online learning and a test, sat at an accredited City & Guilds exam centre.
Welcoming the announcement, Lord Coe, chairman of the British Olympic Association, said: “Last summer, the Games Makers showed Britain how the combination of high-quality training, a strong work ethic and a desire to do the best job possible can lift British hospitality to a world-class standard.
"Following their show-stealing performance during London 2012, it’s fantastic to see thousands of Games Makers going a step further and formalising their skills and experience with the national qualification that McDonald's created and funded especially for them.”
Richard Forte, chief operations officer, McDonald’s UK, added: “It was always our ambition to use our role as Presenting Partner for the Games Maker programme to deliver a lasting legacy that created opportunities for the volunteers themselves, raised hospitality standards in our own business and across the service sector as a whole.”
In addition to using the qualification to help individual Games Makers progress further, McDonald’s is also extending its support to the hospitality sector, as part of its contribution to the London 2012 skills legacy and its ongoing commitment to raising standards across the industry.
McDonald’s has gifted the e-learning module developed to form part of the Games Maker qualification to hospitality Sector Skills Council, People 1st, so that employers of all sizes can use it in their own businesses and help raise standards even further.