Workforce Language Services

A recent construction fatality caught the attention of the U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association. Worker Fontino Cortes Cruz lost his life when he was struck on a highway by a speeding motorist, who then fled the scene. Unfortunately, this happens all too often.

Construction comes in second behind mining as the most dangerous career: an average of 3.3 people, 2.4 of whom are Hispanic, die every day in construction (and often highway) related accidents.

Research gathered by the association reports that Hispanic workers account for 55 percent of the construction workforce in Texas. Fuentes said research gathered by The Bureau of Labor Statistics states foreign-born Hispanics account for 76 percent of all Hispanic construction workers and account for 66 percent of federal injuries.

Despite these numbers, OSHA has not adequately provided safety guidelines in Spanish, Fuentes said, even after former President Bush passed legislation in his first term that required building codes to be translated.

These startling numbers are a testament to the importance of all workers, especially non-English speakers, understanding safety guidelines of their workplace, whether on the highway or in a skyscraper. The association offers OSHA training courses to construction workers, whose goal is to educate construction workers in their native language.

Workforce Language Services also offers construction safety training in Spanish and English.

To read the full article, click here.

An article by eMarketer presents new data about the U.S. Hispanic population that’s online, reiterating the message of our blog post of June 18. They estimate 23 million Hispanic internet users this year—50% of the U.S. Hispanic population.

Like other consumers, Hispanics make most purchases at offline retail outlets. “But no online retailer should ignore Hispanic shoppers,” says eMarketer.

By 2013, Hispanic “buying power”—defined by the Selig Center for Economic Growth as disposable personal income—is expected to pass the trillion-dollar mark and hit $1.39 trillion.

These are numbers that are impossible for U.S. companies to ignore. Companies need to think differently about how they market their products and services, and understand the Hispanic consumer. eMarketer suggests, for example, that marketers execute campaigns in both Spanish and English, since most U.S. Hispanics are bilingual.

Click here to read the full article.

Workforce Language Services, LLC is dedicated to providing the highest quality translations, transcriptions and interpretations, flexible service and competitive rates.

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Skin color, social status and accent are all underlying prejudices that Hispanic employers may consider in Hispanic job applicants, confesses a blogger who works in the multicultural advertising/marketing industry.

It may not be conscious, but Rochelle Newman-Carrasco says that this discrimination is common practice, the so-called “elephant in the room.”

On skin color:

“If truth be told, there are U.S. Hispanic agencies whose staff photos simply do not reflect the diversity of the U.S. Hispanic population as a whole. Black Hispanics have historically found it difficult to find acceptance within some Hispanic circles.”

On accent:

“There are any number of accented Latinos who not only can make themselves understood, but also can out-think and outperform some of their non-accented co-workers. Nonetheless, over the past six months, I have received at least two calls from general-market colleagues about creative positions they were seeking to fill. And in both cases they were hoping I knew someone who “didn’t have an accent” because they didn’t feel their clients would be comfortable.”

Click here to read the full blog post by Newman-Carrasco.

Latino teens and their parents benefit from biculturalism, a UNC Chapel Hill study shows. Young Latinos who embrace their heritage, and whose parents are more involved in U.S. culture, were shown to have higher self-esteem and experience less anxiety, depression and substance abuse.

The study’s co-author, Martica Bacallao, Ph.D., remarked:

“It is interesting that, in order to obtain these benefits of biculturalism, adolescents and parents often need to do the opposite of what their natural tendencies tell them. Parents who are strongly tied to their native cultures must reach out to learn skills in the new culture. Adolescents who quickly soak up new cultural behaviors should slow down and cultivate the richness in their native cultures.”

In other words, acculturation is not a black or white matter, either wholly rejecting the former Latino culture or accepting the new American one. A healthy balance of recognizing both can help Latino youth moderate the stress they feel trying to please both sides.

Read the full report here.

An article published by the Center for American Progress recommends that the United States invest more actively in the integration of its recent immigrant populations.

This goes far beyond English classes—government policy should also include civics instruction and incentives for businesses that educate their non-English speaking employees. The European Union, which has also seen unprecedented waves of immigration in the last decade, has established an integration forum, Web site, and an Integration Fund that will help each community help their newcomers.

Cities and counties in the United States who are seeing an influx of immigrants for the very first time will enjoy stronger economic growth, among other benefits, if they adapt to shifting populations.

Representative Honda eloquently explained this at the introduction of his legislation in 2008, stating, “As a country of immigrants we have always depended upon newcomers to fuel our progress…legislation that provides them educational tools is logical and good for our country…Their success is America’s success, and we should invest in it through sound education policies such as this.”

The U.S. lags behind the E.U. in terms of integration policy, but is starting to make a step forward. President Obama’s 2010 budget allocates $10 million for a new citizenship program, for example. Read more about what the U.S. is doing to integrate its newcomers here.

A professor at the University of British Columbia tackles the idea of equal opportunity employment in a recent study. It turns out, you’re much more likely to get a callback after submitting a resume simply by having a perceived “white” and not foreign name.

As part of his research, the professor tailored 6,000 mock resumes to specific job requirements in 20 occupational categories and sent them to employers with online job postings in the Greater Toronto area.

Each resume listed a bachelor’s degree and up to six years’ experience but the study found resumes with names like Jill Wilson or John Martin received interview callbacks 40 per cent more often than identical resumes with names like Sana Khan or Lei Li.

The study mirrors another published in 2003 by the National Bureau of Economics Research, in which researchers found that job applicants with African-American sounding names tended to get 10 callbacks while applicants with white names got 15.

Click here to read the summary of the research “Employers’ Replies to Racial Names.”

Many undocumented workers have learned a valuable lesson after being injured on the job: “Don’t be afraid to talk to a lawyer.”

CNN reports that two undocumented workers recently won settlements totaling $3.85 million after suffering workplace accidents. Undocumented workers suffer accidents and death disproportionally due largely to lack of safety protections. Illegal or not, they have the same right to claim damages as citizens or legal residents.

Although it is illegal for an employer to knowingly hire a worker who is undocumented, according to the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigration Affairs, if an undocumented worker is hired by an employer, he or she then has the right to be paid minimum wage and overtime, the right to health protection and workplace safety, and the right to organize to improve labor conditions.

“Each of these men was injured in the course of their work on construction sites, and their immigration status was irrelevant to their right to seek redress for those injuries,” [Brian] O’Dwyer explained in a statement. “Enforcing laws requiring a safe workplace serves the interests of all Americans, whether they are citizens or not.”

These settlements bring much needed notice to unsafe conditions at work-sites (especially in construction) that undocumented workers face. Employers should be encouraged to make sure all workers understand how to protect themselves.

Read the full story here.

Dr. Pauline W. Chen writes for the New York Times that during the care of a liver transplant patient named Armando, she would often use the few words she knew in Spanish and gestures to communicate. Admittedly, asking “Dolor?” and giving a thumbs up was a shortcut that she and many doctors resort to when time and resources are short.

Doctors may not know how much this shortcut can compromise a patient’s well being.

For over a decade now, researchers have documented the effects of language barriers on health care. Patients who speak English poorly or not at all face longer hospital stays, an increased risk of misdiagnoses and medical errors, and decreased access to acute and preventive care services, often regardless of socioeconomic or insurance status. These disparities exist, in part, because of a lack of access to trained medical interpreters and translation services.

But according to a new study published in The Journal of General Internal Medicine, doctors’ assumptions about communication — what they deem important in a conversation — may also have a role.

The study points out that many doctors neglect to use an interpreter simply because they don’t deem it important. If they can get by with minimal language skills for a quick check-in with a patient, they assume, why bother?

The fact is, everyone wants to talk to their doctor. Click here to read what doctors and hospitals are doing to understand their patients.

Just a few years ago, you might not see anyone logging onto Facebook on the remote island of Boracay in the Philippines—much less clicking “buy now” to purchase a product they saw on a Web site. An online article explains that because of rampant corruption in the country, consumers didn’t always trust online transactions.

But all of that is changing, says the article’s author Greig Holbrook, who’s an expert in international SEO. And the Philippines is the not the only country that’s beginning to buy online. Holbrook asks:

What does all this mean for online businesses?

It means that having an English-only website is no longer sufficient. For those under the illusion that their potential customers are all surfing the web in English, it is time to realize that the language of the web is multilingual.

People prefer to search and interact online in their own language: it’s natural and comfortable. And the more relaxed a potential customer is when they’re browsing an online store, the more likely they will make a purchase. That is, of course, if they even find your site in the first place.

Holbrook’s insight is invaluable for companies of all sizes hoping to reach out to international consumers. For example, it’s not enough just to translate your Web site (although that’s a great start!). It’s also important to know how people in a particular country search. Knowing, for example, that French people commonly misspell “holiday” as “holliday,” and modifying your keywords to get more hits.

To read the rest of the article and learn about what to consider when marketing internationally, click here.