Clear language/claro lenguaje: by delivering workplace training in the language employees understand best, you can improve their productivity, compliance and morale

HR Magazine, Dec, 2005 by Kathryn Tyler

At Heaviland Enterprises, a landscaping firm in San Diego, crew leaders, like most employees, speak Spanish as their native language. "English comprehension varies from individual to individual," says HR executive Leeann Storino, SPHR. Yet there's no language barrier when crew leaders are trained in areas such as leadership, problem-solving, customer service, interpersonal skills and Heaviland-specific financial matters.

That's because all the workplace training is in Spanish.

The approach works, says field manager Martin Silva. "Crew leaders are not only making better decisions in the field, but their crew members are working better as a team."

Adds Storino, who's also the company's controller: "These associates are the key drivers" of the firm's success. "Developing a training program in their native language only makes sense. If they are more comfortable, they are more apt to learn, retain and participate."

Like Heaviland, companies in many areas of the United States are providing training for their ESL workers--those who speak English as a second language--in their native language, usually Spanish. And employment trends indicate that the practice is here to stay.

Immigrants account for "an increasingly large share of the U.S. labor force and a growing share of low-wage workers," according to A Profile of the Low-Wage Immigrant Workforce, issued by the Urban Institute in 2003. A summary of the report states that "nearly two-thirds of low-wage immigrant workers do not speak English proficiently," and that U.S. census data show 46 percent of foreign-born workers have limited English proficiency (LEP) and 73 percent of LEP workers speak Spanish.

In fact, although other foreign languages crop up in U.S. workplaces, Spanish is by far the most prevalent. Thus, many employers are providing ESL language training. But those efforts, while admirable, fall short of the overall goal of developing a highly informed workforce. Some employers are starting to provide all workplace training in the employee population's native tongue, recognizing that cultural differences and gaps in English language proficiency reduce comprehension of training programs.

Where the Need Arises

Most ESL employees are in entry-level jobs. (Management employees whose native language isn't English typically became proficient in English early on--sometimes even before reaching the United States--because they knew it would be essential for career advancement.) And ESL employees are concentrated in certain industries, experts say, including manufacturing, construction, hospitality, restaurants and landscaping.

Even when ESL employees appear to understand training in English, many do not. "They may nod their heads when they haven't a clue about what was being communicated," says Joan Pasco, project manager for the InterCultural Coaching Institute, which prepares Portland, Ore., area residents to serve as job coaches and mentors for those not fluent in English.

In some cultures, too, assenting can simply mean the person heard what was said without necessarily understanding or agreeing with it.

Assenting without understanding, Pasco says, "leads to a lot of confusion, frustration and even firing of persons the employer believes are deliberately not following agreed-upon procedures."

Another expert on multilingual workforces underscores the point. Mariah DeForest, vice president of Imberman and DeForest Inc., a consulting firm in Evanston, Ill., that designs employee incentive plans, says: "In an English training session, Spanish-speakers do not understand, are intimidated and soon tune out. Many of the problems that employers have with their [Spanish-speaking] workers are due to the fact that no one ever explained anything to them in Spanish."

The Possible Payoffs

Employers who offer job training to ESL employees in their native language can expect various types of paybacks. Chief among them, some experts say, is employees' greater understanding of aspects of their jobs, from benefits to workplace procedures. Improved compliance with workplace laws and regulations is particularly important, experts say, and it may help shield against litigation.

"Some of the classes, such as sexual harassment, are taught in the employees' native tongue to ensure compliance and avoid potential lawsuits," says Sergio Rosas, a trainer for Employee Training Institute (ETi), a customized training resource of the San Diego Community College District.

Productivity can also improve. For example, Woodruff Imberman, president and CEO of the Imberman and DeForest firm, cites the decline in quality problems reported by a coating manufacturer after it made its training aids bilingual. "The workforce was entirely [Latino]," he says, "but the supervisors could not speak Spanish. The instructions--spray to one millimeter thickness and bake for so long at a certain temperature--were all in English, and they couldn't read it." After the language change, productivity went up 14 percent and customer returns went down 90 percent.