JD Wetherspoon has announced that it is aiming to train all 32,000 of its front-line staff in customer service using the WorldHost training programmes, which were used to train over 100,000 staff and volunteers for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics.
The pub chain is working with the People 1st Training Company, the company that launched WorldHost in the UK, to deliver the training. Over 1,700 members of staff have already been trained, while staff at all of Wetherspoon’s new openings will undertake the WorldHost programme as part of their mandatory pre-opening training.
Once 50 percent of staff have completed the training, JD Wetherspoon will receive WorldHost Recognised Business status – a nationally-recognised badge of customer service excellence awarded to companies that invest in their staff’s customer service skills – becoming the biggest organisation to achieve the award to date.
Exceeding expectations
Sarah Williamson, senior recruitment and training manager for JD Wetherspoon, said: “For many of our customers, we are more than just a pub. We are their community; somewhere that they feel comfortable and ‘at home.’ We don’t want to just meet their expectations, we want to exceed them and we hope the WorldHost training will enable our pub teams to go the extra mile.
“As a business, we recognise that customer service is ‘a people thing’ and that includes our employees as well as our customers. We’ve worked closely with the People 1st Training Company in the past so, after WorldHost training had such great feedback following the Olympics, it was an easy decision to continue to work together. And of course, we’d love to be able to say that we’re the UK’s largest WorldHost Recognised Business!”
Sharon Glancy, managing director of the People 1st Training Company, added: “We are delighted to be working with JD Wetherspoon on its mission to become the UK’s biggest WorldHost business. Customer service remains a major challenge for hospitality businesses – almost two-thirds (61%) say that customer handling skills need improving in their workforce. At the same time, customers are becoming ever more aware of where they spend their money, so service is now a major differentiator among businesses. It’s great to be working with a major chain that is striving to exceed customer expectations.”
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About People 1st Training Company
The People 1st Training Company has been helping businesses become more competitive for over 40 years. Whether businesses are looking to improve customer service, help their managers develop their teams and work effectively, or give their own people the ability to deliver top-quality training, we will work with them to achieve it.
The People 1st Training Company is the training arm of People 1st, the leading skills and workforce development charity for employers in the hospitality, tourism, leisure, travel, passenger transport and retail industries.
For more information about People 1st Training Company click here