Posts tagged ‘america quality’
According to the EEOC website:
- An employer may not base a decision on an employee’s foreign accent unless the accent materially interferes with job performance.
- A fluency requirement is only permissible if required for the effective performance of the position for which it is imposed.
- English-only rules must be adopted for nondiscriminatory reasons. An English-only rule may be used if it is needed to promote the safe or efficient operation of the employer’s business.
Instead of asking employees to speak English Only, why not offer tools that can help strengthen their English skills, like ESL training. www.englishsolutions.biz
Suit Accuses Hotel at Disney World of ‘English Only’ Policies
October 13 1994, the teamsters union filed civil-rights charges against a Walt Disney World, contending that its “English only” policies discriminated against the hotel’s Hispanic housekeeping and laundry workers.
The hotel knew that many employees spoke no English but offered them a training manual that was printed in English Only. One sentence in Spanish was placed at the end of the job manual, saying that the employee acknowledged receipt of the handbook, and responsibility for the information included.
A spokesman for the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel said yesterday that it had no “English only” policy.
He acknowledged, however, that the job manual as well as many safety warnings that manufacturers post on hazardous products were in English only.
Many companies use ESL training to avoid these types of controversies.
English as a Second Language (ESL) training could have fully eliminated these complaints.
ESL services include translation of safety material as well as implementation of English classes geared towards improving communication and safety. Many hotels have benefited from this type of training because on- the- job ESL has proven to increase communication, customer service, retention, safety, and morale.
Got ESL? Check out www.englishsolutions.biz
Many companies are now hiring people from different ethnic backgrounds and languages. In result, communication is often difficult for both the employers and the employees.
The employees who are having a hard time communicating clearly in English have difficulty presenting their ideas effectively. Unable to fully participate in the workplace leaves workers who speak limited English feeling depressed and frustrated.
Poor communication can lead to inefficient production. Employers have to take the time to explain and possibly re-explain how things are supposed to be done.
Another problem that employers face is difficulty promoting employees that speak limited English even if employees are highly skilled in other areas. This directly affects company morale and retention. If employees do not receive recognition for their achievements or do not see a clear career pathway for them to move forward, they often leave, or they simply stop caring.
Without ESL training, employers are receiving a negative return on their investment, actually costing them time and money.
Limited English – Motivation= Less Profits
One of the best things that employers can do is incorporate an ESL training program. Ultimately ESL training will improve English communication. Improved communication will enhance company efficiency. Employees will be able to communicate their ideas better, and employers will not have to re-explain their ideas.
ESL training has also been proven to improve employee retention. If employees find a pathway to reach set goals within the company, they are more likely to stay and increase in their overall value for the company.
Promotions will be easier for employers because there will be an increase in the pool of suitable candidates.
With ESL training, employers are receiving higher return for their investment.
More English + Motivation= More Profit
www.englishsolutions.biz is the number 1 recommended resource for workplace ESL.
Though ESL teachers are perceived mainly as educators and linguists, they are also service providers. ESL teachers have a number of fundamental roles in common with front-line customer service trainers in a range of service industries, namely
- participant
- translator
- event organizer
- manager
- trainer
- and resource/ consultant adviser.
They also share a number of essential communicative, interpersonal and reflective/analytical skills. An ESL teacher work is therefore seen to fit comfortably within the dimensions of classical services theory and practice.
ESL teachers as service providers are largely responsible for the generation of functional quality and, create considerable competitive advantage for their firms. The implications are that ESL teacher training and professional development should not be confined to such subjects as pedagogy alone but should also include elements of services theory and practice.
Studies have shown; that customer satisfaction improves as service employee communication skill levels increase.
Among the key skills found to be necessary are active listening and a non-threatening communication style as a key skill for service providers. Further, companies that have established abilities of interpreting nonverbal cues from their customers have the highest levels of sales. Non verbal cues include
- eye contact,
- gesture,
- facial expression
- and posture,
- proactive dialogue, as well as active listening
Research has proven that by offering English as a Second Language ESL classes/ training, your company will improve, customer service, communication, retention, safety, and morale. http://www.englishsolutions.biz
Ozzie Guillen, White Sox manager says, “We bring a Japanese player and they are very good and they bring all these privileges to them. We bring a Dominican kid … go to the minor leagues, good luck.”
Ozzie Guillen, long time manager of the White Socks has made some very controversial remarks recently about the treatment of Latino Baseball players. He made some comments regarding how Asian players get preferential treatment, like being given translators who accompany them without limitation, while Latinos struggle with the language and are not offered the same assistance.
The question is, does this in any way reflect Ozzie Guillen’s prejudices towards Asian baseball players?
His rational for the comment is that many Asian Baseball players are given a lot of cash to join the Major Leagues. Usually it is the top- ranked players who are drafted from Asia and since teams are so heavily invested in Asian players, they provide them with more services.
In contrast, since Central America is geographically closer, recruiters can conveniently visit countries like Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic and draft prospects at all levels. The Latino countries present many young players who are assimilated into the American baseball system at young ages, providing them with a full immersion experience where they can either sink or swim.
There are creative approaches to handling these inequities by creating a cultural bridge for ball players. Since English is the language of trade and tourism, they should offer all baseball players ESL trainings. These trainings are empowering and enriching for all businesses that are culturally and linguistically diverse.
Research has proven that by offering English as a Second Language ESL classes/ training, your company will improve, customer service, communication, retention, safety, and morale. http://www.englishsolutions.biz
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After serving in the Marine Core, the Virginia-born Larry Whitten had spent 40 years in the hotel business, successfully turning around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina, before moving with his wife to Taos New Mexico. On October 26, 2009, The Paragon Inn was an unsuccessful hotel that he bought, hoping to turn it around. He thought that in order to improve things, he needed to create some “new rules,” for his majority Hispanic service staff.
Among them, he disallowed his Hispanic workers from speaking Spanish and ordered them to Anglicize their names.
Many people were fired and later complained, causing several civil rights activist groups to become involved. After being interviewed, Whitten said that he was sorry, and that he was not against culture.
A protester outside the rally stated that Whitten was not a racist, but a racist out of ignorance. By definition, ignorance is stemmed from the word ignore, to refrain from noticing. Many managers and Human Resource specialists in the industries that hire Hispanics often ignore the issues of segregation, employee demobilization, and lack of communication. They then ask themselves, why is there such a large turnover? Why do we receive so many customer complaints? Why so many injuries?
Obviously, Larry Whitten took an extreme course by firing all of his employees and requiring and English Only environment. His course of action was inflexible and rigid, but I am sure there are differing opinions. Some employees may have liked his managerial style, and even benefitted from working in an English Immersion work environment, after all, many specialists say that immersion is the best strategy for learning language.
The real question is… what were his options? Did he have to take an aggressive approach to assimilate his workforce, or could have he followed a more tolerant approach.
Do you work with Limited English Proficient employees? What should your business be focusing on?
In a culturally and linguistically diverse environment, it is necessary for one’s workforce to speak English in order to have stable communication, productivity, safety, retention, customer service and morale.
In order to benefit from a culturally and linguistically diverse workforce, one must recognize the role of culture. For example, individuals from different national origins may have varying beliefs around health, safety, and social relations.
Consequently, it may take time training to acculturate some employees to American safety standards and customer service practices. Also to take in account are that some cultures have norms that discourage challenging authority, and some cultures favor less direct communication styles. In order to best understand your employees, you must respect diversity, and in turn, educate others of the common values and norms of their new home country, the United States.
To start out with, here are some strategies to avoid when working in a culturally and linguistically diverse environment. The first is using a Limited English Proficient (LEP) employee with the “best” English for relaying messages. For example, Howdy Inn just hired a new housekeeping supervisor, Lupita, who is from Mexico. She speaks the best English of the group, but her English is sometimes hard to understand, leaving room for many inaccuracies. A guest asked Lupita for the plunger, and she told the manager that the customer needed an iron, because, in Spanish, Iron is “plancha.” Similarly, get- buy Spanish, may also cause problems in communication.
Some people depend upon online translations and using their own assumptions to help them handle the issues of communication and diversity. This is dangerous, and can cause problems, as in the case of owner Larry Whitten from New Mexico.
The new trend is for companies to outsource for expensive products or “take home” models. The problem with these models is that they may teach some language, but they do not teach communication. The solution should be handled through a more direct approach that includes: live role play, a well developed plan, that includes, of course, an element of human interaction.
If you want to train your workforce to speak English and handle customers respectfully and culturally appropriate, you should implement the following training modalities:
- Provide written training materials with high pictorial content
- Role play
- Involve, if possible, multimedia and technology
- If you can afford it, you should consult a professional ESL trainer who can provide a comprehensive plan, including knowledge training and skill training.
We can learn from stories like that of Larry Whitten so that we can avoid making similar mistakes, but the worst thing that you can do is ignore the issue. What you want to do, is become proactive; so if you are reading this, and you are a manager of Limited English Proficient LEP employees, take a risk, and do something now!
If you want more information on how to implement this strategy, you may contact me, and I can provide more detail wyatt@englishsolutions.biz
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Does your company use any of these techniques?
Things to watch out for:
- Using the LEP employee with the “best” English for relaying messages
- Employees with “get-by” knowledge of another language (e.g. “get-by Spanish”)
- Online translations
- Your own assumptions
- Paying for expensive models that employees “take home” to learn English
Please leave your comments here. This is a forum to discuss general techniques that are being used in order to assist Limited English Proficient Employees, and also to improve customer service, communication, retention, and morale. www.englishsolutions.biz
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