Workforce Language Services

New Bedford, MA believes that their community will succeed when immigrants have more opportunities in the workplace. Local business and civic leaders have launched an initiative called English Works Campaign that helps to eliminate the long waiting lists for English classes.

Anthony R. Sapienza, president of Abboud, a New Bedford manufacturer of men’s clothing, believes proficiency in English helps businesses and opens up more job opportunities to the workers.

Business leaders like Sapienza have seen the effects of workers learning English on the job. Workers can better understand their duties and communicate with management, creating a more productive workforce and local economy.

Sapienza says English skills increase efficiency, reduce errors, and improve employee retention. Immigrants can also feel more integrated into their new communities, and can better help their children who are growing up in English-speaking schools.

Manufacturing emphasizes these days an approach known as “lean manufacturing,” which involves teamwork. This type of collaboration is not possible with “15 different people speaking 15 different languages,” Sapienza said.

Beyond that, there are jobs requiring customer service or computer skills, where it helps to speak English, he said.

Learn more about what New Bedford is doing to improve its community and workplaces here.

With immigration reform on the horizon and a potential mandate that all immigrants speak English, a new dilemma arises: where can people learn English? ESL classes aren’t always available due to long waiting lists and state budget cuts.

Moreover, it’s been reported that only 39% of ESL students reach a proficiency that can advance them to the next level. Why? Because with work and family responsibilities, students rarely have the time to devote to a full course load.

The solution, Marisa Trevino proposes in a USA Today editorial, is teaching immigrants English at work, embracing a shared responsibility between employer and employees. Not only could the employer get a future tax break, they are training their employees in an essential skill necessary to perform their job. Case in point:

TV station WFAA found that hundreds of low-level commercial aircraft mechanics in Texas had the necessary skill set for the job, but they lacked the language skills to communicate with supervisors or to read repair manuals. The report prompted Congress to demand that by March, the Federal Aviation Administration require all mechanics to be proficient in English.

McDonald’s is also following suit. They’ve created a 22-week ESL program for entry level management workers. The classes combine onsite and virtual language learning. Trevino concludes:

McDonald’s has learned what many ESL programs already have confirmed: The will to learn English is there. Smart companies will follow suit. It’s a win-win-win situation for employer, employee — and country.

Click here to read the full editorial.

We can help! To find out about WLS’s onsite English and Spanish language classes, click here.

An online article suggests some reasons why a company would want to offer English classes to its employees:

Some companies that don’t provide English language skills training said they would do so if it would increase productivity (27%), increase employee engagement (17.7%), improve employees’ career opportunities—regardless of what their native language is (17.7%), improve workplace safety (12.5%), improve bilingual employees’ career opportunities (11.5%), reduce turnover (5.2%), and demonstrate the company’s commitment to immigrant communities (5.2%).

The article also recommends looking into community resources for employees to access English lessons as well as considering providing classes on site.  While onsite classes would obviously cost more for the company, one of the benefits would be the ability to target the lessons to what employees need to know to be successful and safe in that particular industry.

To read the entire article, click here.

The Society for Human Resource Management’s January cover story is about workplace English language learning.  Rich with information, this article includes a key quote:

“You don’t need English to work at Miller & Long,” says Myles Gladstone, the company’s vice president of human resources, who is fluent in English and Spanish. “But you do need English to get ahead.”

The article points out that the initial impetus for supporting English language learning is safety.  But employers who truly support the upward mobility for their foreign born employees create opportunities for them to learn English for personal growth. 

The SHRM story notes that while supporting employees in their English language acquisition improves the bottom line as well as staff morale, few companies are actually providing employees with opportunities:

Despite growing popularity, employer-provided ESOL classes are rare. Only about 10 percent of employers responding to Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) studies in each of the last two years said they offered ESOL classes as a benefit. Last summer, 24 percent of respondents to a SHRM online survey said they cover some or all of the costs associated with English classes.

Click here to read this informative article as well as access several other articles, videos, and white papers dedicated to this issue.

The Financial Post reported on a study done by researchers at the University of Calgary about the process of acculturation into a new country.  The article quotes some very interesting data gleaned from the research and ends with two take home points: a diverse workforce supports immigrants’ integration into the new culture and the more interaction immigrants have with other cultures, the more successfully they will integrate into their new country.

The study attempts to answer some of the questions raised at the beginning of the article, such as:

It is well known what management practices are effective in different parts of the world. But how about managing immigrants? What is the optimal approach to an employee who, for example, grew up in China and immigrated to Canada 10 years ago? Should it be assumed that the person still has Chinese cultural values, or should it be expected that the person has been Canadianized? How long does it take for an immigrant employee to acculturate? What are the factors that can speed up or slow down the acculturation pace?

The study’s findings will enable Human Resources professionals to craft management policies that can begin to address the needs of employees, especially in companies which employ a high number of recent immigrants.

Filtration Group, a Santa Rosa company, treated its non-English speaking employees to a two-fold language learning program.  The classroom instruction not only focused on workplace English, but also on education literacy to help employees in guiding their children through their schooling.

The three-part program was coordinated by the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce, Santa Rosa City Schools and the California Parenting Institute.

Instructor Marjam Karapetien teaches the course through Lewis Adult School and Community-Based English Tutoring, a state program that provides free or subsidized English programs to those who will assist schoolchildren.

Other companies have hosted literacy events and given away books, but Filtration Group was the first local company to put all three elements together.

“We thought, ‘Why don’t we pitch in and help the parents help their children graduate,” said Estela Prado, the company’s human resources administrator.

But the company had an eye for the business benefits too, she said.

The Santa Rosa, CA Press Democrat has the full article.

An article in QSR.com describes the growing number of Hispanic people working in the food service industry, issues that arise from language barriers, and tools to combat these barriers for increased safety and productivity.

While these workers exhibit a willingness to learn and improve on the job, there is one drawback: effective communication. A large number of Hispanic workers in restaurant kitchens are not fluent in English; likewise, many restaurant managers are not fluent in Spanish. As a result, time is wasted trying to convey instructions between staff members. The fallout is more than just inefficiency; it also poses a potential safety hazard.

The article also described the movement in quick serve restaurants toward increased cultural competency and resources for learning so that ambitious employees can get the language skills necessary to progress in a company.  There are various books and software-based language learning resources mentioned in the article.  But companies interested in investing in their non-English speaking staff may also consider worksite English classes for workers or worksite Spanish classes for management and other employees.

Joseph Salmons, Professor of German at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wrote a fascinating paper debunking the myth that immigrants in the late 19th century and early 20th century learned English upon arrival.  His research focused on immigrants from Germany who settled in Wisconsin. 

Contrary to the prevailing thought that these immigrants immediately assimilated into American culture by learning English, he found that German immigrants thrived without ever learning English for generations.  This is in sharp counterpoint to the rhetoric of English-only proponents who believe that modern-day Spanish speaking immigrants are behind the language learning curve and refusing to assimilate by learning English.

The article on UW-Madison’s website ends with a comparision between early 20th century immigrants and today’s newly arrived population:

Salmons says their study suggests that conventional wisdom may actually have it backwards — while early immigrants didn’t necessarily need English to succeed and responded slowly, modern immigrants recognize it as a ticket to success and are learning English in extremely high percentages.

To read the fascinating description of the life of early German immigrants and find a link to the entire paper, click here.

As workplaces become more linguistically diverse, this question often comes up.  Diversityinc.com’s answer highlights using respect and commensense when decided when and where workers should use their native language:

“When you’re having a personal conversation with a colleague in a hallway or over lunch or at their desk, and you’re speaking in Spanish–as long as you’re doing it in a tone and in a way that’s professional, I think that’s fine,” advises Mims. “[It will be less offensive] when it’s done in the right time, in the right place and in the right way.”

It just seems strange that monolingual English speakers always automatically assume that people speaking another language are talking about them.  In most instances, people just revert to the language that they feel most comfortable with and as long as it’s not disrupting business or alienating potential customers, what’s the harm?

The reality of today’s workplace is that there will be many people with different native languages, and being inclusive of people who speak another native language is an important part of moving toward a diverse, culturally competent workplace. 

Despite the fact that Macy’s does not have an official English-only policy (in line with the clear law prohibiting such policies), eight Somali employees in Minnesota fear for their jobs.  These employees work in the basement sorting merchandise, have no little to no contact with customers, and are sometimes called upon to interpret for Somali customers on the sales floor.

Macy’s has launched an investigation into the allegations that the employees were threatended with dismissal. 

The article also provides some context into the legal framework and the recent rise in complaints regarding civil rights violations:

As part of the federal Civil Rights Act, employers are barred from making decisions about or harassing workers based on national origin, language or accent. But nationally, these complaints are on the rise.

Between 2002 and 2007, complaints to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rose from a few hundred to almost 9,400. And even though the law is clear in prohibiting English-only rules, it does allow exceptions for business necessity. That means employers can require English for communication with customers or for safety reasons.

English-only rules also violate Minnesota state human rights law. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights reports it has received about half a dozen English-only complaints recently. Most came from Hmong speakers.