By Patty Smitherman
Communicata Language Services, LLC

Hardworking Latino employees are key to the restaurant industry.  The cost of hiring and training is steep so retaining your good employees will help your bottom line.  Considering the negative political atmosphere toward Spanish-speaking immigrants in Georgia, there is a trend among them to migrate to less hostile territory, North Carolina or Arkansas, for example.  Management and training are important for retention and good performance.

Understanding the culture of Latino employees helps explain their behavior and how their cultural norms impact training.  The information in this article is intentionally general because Spanish speaking workers come from a variety of countries, each with its own Hispanic culture.

One of the most important cultural traits of this group is fatalism, the belief that you don’t have control over your destiny or your future.  It is important to do safety training and insurance explanations in a way that connects on an emotional and personal level to those employees.  Give examples and testimonials.   Hispanics appreciate training done in person, using visuals.

Another very important cultural trait is the desire to please which can cause Hispanics to smile and nod affirmatively when they may not really understand what has been said.   This desire to please can also prevent Latino employees from asking questions or from doing anything that would cause open conflict on the job.  Further, they believe that it is the supervisor or manager’s job to solve problems and thus are not likely to report problems or suggest new ideas.  New employee training should include the importance of reporting problems on the job and the language to do so.

The value of the Hispanic family can not be overstated. Most of the readers of this article have experienced having employees return to the home country for an extended period of time because of the illness or death of a family member there.  The family is more important than jobs or wages so it is wise to be prepared to lose an employee or two for a while.  This trend may slow down because of border security and difficulty of returning.  If so, the affected employee may be under great stress but will not (because of the culture) or cannot (due to lack of English skills) let you know.  Put another way, if you have built a strong rapport with your Latino employees, they may confide that they are worried about a relative back home or even that someone in the family here has been the victim of a crime.  Congratulate yourself if you are trusted to that degree!

What do Latinos want from their employers?  Respect first and foremost!  That respect is shown in interpersonal relations and by what the company offers the employees.  An exhaustive analysis done through survey and studies conducted by Hispanic Economics, showed three major benefits that Latinos want from an employer:  language training, programs on cross-cultural training, and continuing education.1

Spanish speakers know that they need to speak at least functional English for long term prosperity in the U.S.  They believe in the “American Dream” that with hard work and sacrifice you can succeed and learning English is part of that hard work.  The difficulty with ESOL training of hourly workers is that many are poorly educated in their native language and thus intimidated by the process of language training classes.  Some are functionally illiterate and cannot decipher words in any language.  In addition, English is one of the hardest languages to learn in the world!

Be forewarned about using gestures on the job.  Some can be misinterpreted; for example, the OK gesture has sexual connotation in Latin America.  Also, using the typical index finger turned upwards and waggled to mean “Come here” is offensive in the Spanish-speaking world.  Just turn the hand, fingers down, and sort of waggle them.

Teaching functional Spanish to supervisors shows that the company really cares about Latino employees for the long term.  The Spanish language is phonetic (sounds like the way it is spelled) and regular (unlike English which is highly irregular).  It is easy to learn enough Spanish to have basic communication with Latino employees about their tasks.  However, this should be done in an organized way and not just picked up on the job.  Generally, English speakers should not use Spanish slang and it is not uncommon for Spanish speakers to teach the gullible a socially unacceptable phrase for an innocent use on the job.  Furthermore, the slang from one country could be offensive to someone from another country.

It is important to have your employee manual translated to a generic Spanish.  Don’t simply use a well-educated employee for the translation because each country has its own expressions which may not be understood universally.  For example, the word for ‘tire’ in Mexico is not the word for ‘tire’ in Cuba. Have signs and flyers translated as well, using block letters.

When insurance open enrollment meetings are held, find an interpreter to translate what is said.  The interpreter (preferably not an employee) should interact with the employees – make a connection – before the meeting to win their trust.  The employees’ supervisor should watch this process to see if the Latino employees are opening up to the interpreter or not.  There are strong hierarchies in the Spanish speaking world.  If you hire a Cuban who has been in the country for a long time, for example, he or she may talk down to workers from Mexico or Central America.  (The same would be true for putting a Mexican in charge of a Colombian crew – very tricky!)  It isn’t just that Cubans or other Latinos can feel superior but that Latinos who have been in this country for some time may feel superior to those who have recently arrived.

This brief article has dealt with providing Latino employees what they want from an employer and the most critical cultural traits that impact management and training of Spanish-speaking employees.  There is more helpful information available in books, magazine and the internet not only on managing and retaining but on acculturation and immigration issues.

1. Attitudes and opinions of the Hispanic employee in the United States, 2005. Hispanic Economics.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 1st, 2009 at 3:33 pm and is filed under Management.