Workforce Language Services

So many immigrants find learning English daunting as well as exhausting.  It’s often difficult to find the time to commit to English classes when working many hours and trying to raise a family.  But Elodia Lopez is a testament to the possibility of not only learning English, but working towards an advanced degree. 

The Fort Morgan Times provides an educational profile of Lopez as well as insight into those who assisted her as she moved from monolingual Spanish speaker to college student:

Lopez remembers the embarrassment of having to ask her preschool daughter to speak for her in public places. Through her work at Cargill Meat Solutions, Lopez became acquainted with Shirley Penn in Workplace Education, another MCC program.

“She was my angel,” said Lopez when referring to Penn. “She planted the seed in my mind that I could learn anything.”

MCC/Cargill Workplace Education offers ABE and English as a Second Language (ESL) on site, which allowed Lopez to go to school before or after her shift at the plant and achieve her first goal of earning her GED. In addition, Cargill paid Lopez, like other Workplace Education employees, with one-half her hourly wage while attending classes.

To read the entire article, click here.

A Diversity Spectrum article finds that the issue isn’t in recruiting lawyers from diverse backgrounds, it’s getting them to stay.  And with the Census Bureau’s projection that 47% of all Americans will be Hispanic, black, or Asian, the law profession is feeling the pressure to diversify its practitioners alongside many other industries.

The 2008 Diversity Counsel Program keynote speaker, Juan Williams, gave 140 lawyers, judges, and law students a glimpse into the future of the profession and ideas about how to move minorities to the forefront:

“Immigrant families have a higher number of children of any group in the country, and in some of the bigger cities those young people represent 50 percent of the population,” he said. “This will have a tremendous effect on the future of the workforce. We are in the midst of a tremendous transition.

“It is time to mentor women and minorities, time to let them take on serious challenging cases,” said Williams. “It is time to stop giving the challenging cases to the associates that look like the managing partners. Law firms must be able to walk the walk to satisfy their increasingly diverse client base, especially their corporate client bases, who want to work with law firms that reflect the face of America.”

He cites that women still only make up 3 percent of the total of managing partners and 1 percent of the total of equity partners.  No statistics were given for the racial or ethnic make-up of today’s lawyers, judges, and law students. 

I’m well-aware of how insidious bullying is in schools.  I’ve seen youth terrifed to go to school, youth who snap and attack those who torment them, a prevailing attitude of getting back at those who bully with physical violence, and school administrators who don’t address specific incidents of bullying.  I’ve also seen a growing number of programs designed to educate youth and their parents about bullying and offer alternatives for reacting to such situations.

But I was surprised to read in Diversity Spectrum that workplace bullying is becoming a recognized problem, especially in light of the fact that there are no policies or legislation to protect victims as there are with sexual harassment. 

What is workplace bullying exactly?

The study defined workplace aggression as incivility, including rudeness and discourteous verbal and non-verbal behavior. Bullying behaviors included yelling, repeatedly reminding employees of mistakes, spreading gossip and lies, ignoring or excluding workers and insulting a person’s habits, attitudes or private life

Interpersonal conflict included hostile behavior, verbal aggression and angry exchanges.

Researchers who conducted the study recommend creating a workplace culture in which individuals respond to bullying and make it clear that this behavior isn’t acceptable.  They state that this may be more effective than company policy against bullying.

I don’t necessarily agree that this is enough.  While personnel should take the stance that bullying is unacceptable, without a clear policy in place, there might not be a clear course of disciplinary action to take against the offender.

John F. Kennedy University is poised to begin a ground-breaking Master’s program focused on offering culturally appropriate training for future licensed therapists who wish to cater to Latinos. 

The Santa Cruz Sentinel article is spot-on in its description of the necessity of offering such a program as well as the possible challenges because of cultural attitudes toward mental health services in the Latino community. 

Organista agreed that cultural competency training must include sensitivity to folk traditions.

“You must be aware that people look to other modes of health care,” she said, adding that there is sometimes a taboo in Latino families regarding seeking mental health care. “There is conflict between seeking outside help and trying to resolve it internally [with relatives.]”

Although JFKU will not require students in the new program to be bilingual or take dual-language classes, the course will train graduates to wade through language barriers or cultural traditions therapists don’t usually understand that might stand in the way helping a client. And because Latino culture is not monolithic, students will learn about how to best assess the needs of clients from varying generations and backgrounds, including diverse Mexican heritages and South American traditions.

“You need to figure out where on the continuum they fall and how you’re going to work with them,” Bautista said.

Should this proposed program receive accreditation, the idea of having a specialized group of licensed therapists able to provide mental health services to a population that faces a unique set of issues is very exciting.

To read more about the specifics of the program as well as some of the practical challenges in starting out, click here.

Bennigan’s Gril & Tavern has just started offering its menu in Spanish at its 310 locations.  The chain hopes that this will be the business move needed to reach out to Spanish-speaking customers, as they are the fastest growing consumer demographic.

The article quotes Jennifer Gamble, the chain’s marketing director on the introduction of menus in Spanish:

“Hispanics purchase a meal outside of their home as many as four times a week, and we don’t want language to be a barrier,” Jennifer Gamble, Bennigan’s director of marketing, said in a statement. “This Spanish menu gives our servers that option when they need it.”

Both Chili’s Grill & Bar and Sonic Drive In also offer menus in Spanish at select locations, but TGI Friday’s dropped these menus after finding that no one requested them. 

It would be interesting to learn more about Gamble’s statement that Hispanics eat outside of the home up to four times per week, including how frequently Spanish speakers visit chain restaurants as opposed to locally owned establishments. 

I’m mystified by one particular statement in the article:

Such moves sometimes drag the food companies into the national debate on illegal immigration.

What does providing a menu in a different language have to do with illegal immigration?  Unfortunately, providing any service in a language other than English in this climate seems to bring up discussion of illegal immigration and the alleged drain on our system.  But if providing a menu in Spanish brings in more customers, then it is simply a good business move, as consumers are consumers regardless of their immigration status.

To read more, click here.

I’ve always wondered how professional athletes from abroad fared in their daily life as part of an American team.  I also have wondered how they worked as part of a team with limited English skills. 

A comprehensive article in the Toledo Blade gives detailed insight into how pro baseball teams are helping their players from Latin American countries learn English to not only play better on the field, but be able to function off the field in an English-speaking world. 

Some teams begin laying the groundwork for language learning in the players home country while others offer intensive language and culture courses stateside:

The contrast between the Indians’ and Tigers’ programs is an example of using different methods to reach the same goal. It’s seen throughout baseball, as some clubs go the extra mile with their Latin players and others stick to in-house English classes.

The article also draws an interesting parallel between players’ willingness to learn English and their ability to take risks and be agressive on the field:

“A guy who is not embarrassed or afraid to mess up when he’s learning English makes for a more aggressive player,” Benavides said. “The guys who don’t learn or don’t want to learn, they’re generally more reserved. Either way, it translates into how they play.”

Melindez, a major league executive, said Latin players with extensive training in English are often times better equipped to play professionally here. “They can analyze issues, think critically. The feedback I’ve gotten from one of these schools tell them the players are better critical thinkers and more prepared to play the way they want them to play.”

Katie Hunter offers commentary on Barack Obama’s suggestion that we start teaching our children Spanish in Juan Guillermo Tornoe’s Hispanic Trending blog.  No matter how loudly people protest the phenomenon of “press 1 for English, press 2 for Spanish,” the fact is that Spanish-speakers are here to stay and their buying power is increasing. 

What does having 15 million Spanish speakers who don’t speak English “well” mean for us?

So here’s the translation: Those needs increase the demand for doctors, teachers, lawyers, writers, radio hosts, construction foremen, salesmen and many other types of blue and white collar U.S. workers who can speak Spanish. This need has already begun impacting hiring practices. Bilingual job fairs and Web sites are increasingly popular, and nearly half of corporate managers are starting to target Spanish-speaking job candidates. More schools have begun targeting Spanish-speakers too, even shelling out bigger bucks for bilingual teachers.

In the nonprofit sector, the ability to speak Spanish is often required and at least highly desired for many direct service positions.  I’ve also often seen a salary differential paid for those who are bilingual and trilingual. 

As we become more and more of a multilingual country, those who are willing to learn a new language are not only using their brains in new and beneficial ways, but are also increasing their ability to command a higher salary.

Research tells us that a company which keeps cultural competence at the forefront has lower turnover, a higher level of buy-in, and a reflection of diversity throughout all levels of management.  Steven L. Robbins offers seven signs that the contrary is operating in an organization.  His signs of workplace bias address both the informal (off-color comments that are tolerated) to the structural (reliance on one way of doing things rather than diversifying tactics).

Why does this matter?  Well, not only is cultivating cultural competence and respect for diversity good practice as a human being, it’s also good for the bottom line:

A recent survey by the Level Playing Field Institute reveals that, when compared with white men, other workers, including people of color and gays and lesbians, are up to three times more likely to leave a company because of unfairness alone. What’s more, unfair or biased treatment costs U.S. employers some $64 billion a year in lost productivity and profits.

To read the entire article, click here.

Combine a highly trained population of recent immigrants with a shortage of health professionals in Rhode Island.  Seems like a perfect match for filling the need for health care professionals while allowing immigrants to work in their field, doesn’t it?  However, there are two barriers which prohibit this from happening: the difficulty of transfering foreign-earned credentials and licenses and the fact that many of these professionals only speak limited English. 

The Rhode Island Welcome Back Center run out of Dorcas Place in Providence provides programming to facilitate this transition.  Not only does the center work with the clients on their language skills and provide support for licensing exams, they also connect immigrant professionals with U.S. doctors to teach them about the culture of medical care in the States:

Escudero, a native of Rio de Janeiro who immigrated to give a better chance to himself and to his two children, already took two of the three extensive exams to obtain a license to practice medicine.
      ”I have been observing an American doctor in Middletown for four months and he is helping me to improve the communication with the patient,” he said. “Here they have a lot of details and it’s not easy. The culture is different from the South American culture. I know the Brazilian reality very well. In Brazil, they don’t have the equipment to make the right diagnostics. It was very frustrating. Here… we can’t waste time.”

To read more details on the program, click here.

An interesting statistic from the National Health Law Program’s survey of 260 members of the National Association of Community Health Centers:

“Eighty-one percent of general internists treat LEP patients frequently — 54% at least once a day or a few times a week,” Hitov said.

The article in which this statistic was quoted also provides insight into the multiple issues that arise when attempting to provide quality medical services to a population that speaks a wide range of languages.  The following excerpt highlights the issues, how some health care facilities are responding to these issues, and a plan for moving forward:

Referrals to specialists who do not offer interpreters was cited as a major problem by Stevens. Another is family members who wish to serve as interpreters but also interfere with the clinical process and insert their own views.

The Fairfax center found similar solutions to those used in in the district. All health care professionals are bilingual, and there are language service lines in all exam and interview rooms, Stevens said.

To guide the way toward a world in which there are more health centers like the two featured in the briefing, the AMA and other organizations developed in 2001 a set of principles for providing health care access to people with limited English proficiency.

They include offering language assistance at no cost at all points of contact and in a timely manner; providing both verbal and written notice of the right to receive language services in a patient’s preferred language; and assurances that the language assistance is competent.