• How Engaged are your Employees?
• Promoting Financial Literacy
• WLS Highlights
• New Offerings

The Gallup Organization has identified 12 questions to measure employee engagement - which translates to retention, safety, productivity and profitability. Questions include the following:

• In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?
• Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
• At work, do your opinions seem to count?
• In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?

The results? Approximately 71% of the workforce is either unengaged or actively disengaged. Consider the likelihood of your employees answering “yes” to these questions if they don’t speak English – and if their managers haven’t made an effort to reach out to them in their language. While it’s crucial for your employees to learn English, managers who learn even a few simple phrases – Nice work! or How’s your family? – in their employees’ language help create a more positive work environment and improve morale.

Contact us to learn about ways of increasing your employees' engagement.

10 million households in the United States are "unbanked" (no access to mainstream banking services) – a significant percentage of which are Latino immigrants. On average, the unbanked spend $1000 per year on service fees associated with check cashing and international wire transfers.

A few ideas to help your employees get on a path to financial security:

• Encourage your employees to take advantage of free tax preparation services (there's still time!)
• Invite a local bank to talk to your Latino employees in Spanish about low-cost products and services that fit their needs. Most banks will do this for free
• Ask about our free onsite financial literacy workshops that address credit-building, obtaining a mortgage with an ITIN (Individual Tax Identification Number) and real estate fundamentals

Contact us for more information on promoting financial literacy at your workplace.

Workforce Language Services just recently celebrated its second anniversary, and 2006 in particular was a big year of growth. Among the many projects keeping us busy were the following:

• an ethnographic study of Children’s Memorial Hospital’s ability to address the needs of its Latino families
• a customized Spanish training and online testing program for retail merchandiser Ready Set Service
• a customized English assessment for ITW Space Bag employees
• intensive Spanish workshops for Yum! Brands, Palmer House Hilton, InterContinental Chicago and Kraft.
• Spanish, French and Italian subtitling of two Snoop Dogg movies!

2007 is already off to a busy start, with Spanish classes at the Field Museum, supervisor development training and ESL at Rapid Displays, diversity training with the Chicago Association of Realtors and a Spanish workshop with the Illinois Restaurant Association. We’re also excited about our two most recent workshops – Spanish for Human Resources and Spanish for Housekeeping – that debuted with the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association in March.

Our team has expanded to include Erin McGrath, Program Manager, and Al Kushner, Director of Translation Services, and we are constantly adding talented new trainers, translators and interpreters from across the world. Workforce Language Services also welcomed its newest and youngest team member: Henry Sage Bishop, born June 22, 2006 (role in the organization unclear at this point).

In addition to Spanish and English training and translation/interpretation services, we are now offering:

• Survival Spanish workshops
• Customer Service and Safety English workshops
• One-on-one language coaching
• Diversity training
• Language/literacy assessments
• Spanish-language supervisor development training
• Spanish-language harassment prevention training
• Leadership Skills for Leaders of Latino Employees

All services can be customized to address the particular needs and goals of your organization.

Contact us for more information on bringing our language and culture workshops into your workplace.

…that immigrants from across the globe are 1 in 2 new US workers?

...that there are over 44 million Latinos in the US?

...that the annual purchasing power of the US Latino population will exceed $1 trillion by 2010?

...that in the US, 28 million people speak Spanish at home?

...that many companies dedicate less than 1% of their advertising budget to the Latino market?

When having a document translated, the American Translators Association offers these recommendations:

• Finalize your text before sending it to be translated
• Only use translators translating into their native language
• Resist the temptation to use an internal, bilingual employee
• Avoid free online translation services
• Have your typeset copy proofread by your translator
  Learn more »

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Great! Excellent introduction, and I can’t wait to get more of our hotel through this valuable program. Gracias! -Four Seasons

The training was excellent.  We need even more than one day, but I found it very helpful.  Excellent and very energetic facilitators. -Kraft (Nabisco Bakery)

I wish it was longer. This is the first time I have been in a seminar when I didn’t check my watch, not one time, and I sat in the front. I never do that. It was a lot of fun. You are both very bright, knowledgeable and well-spoken. Thanks for the fun! -Illinois Restaurant Association Member

This course was taught by fun and interesting instructors who held your attention while still being effective in teaching the basics. It was only one day, but I learned the most Spanish I've ever learned in such a short time! -State Bank of the Lakes

Very interactive, helpful and to the point. The instructor did not waste time trying to teach more than we could possibly learn in a short period of time. Great seminar. -Gibson’s Steakhouse