Employees speaking different language at work
Flame68
5 Posts
Hi. I'm an HR person in a ceramic tile distribution company which has several store locations in south Florida. At one of our store locations, we have two employees that insist on speaking to one another in Spanish while working
instead of English which most all of our other employees speak. These other employees, including
the store manager, feel that this is rude since they cannot understand what the other two employees are saying during the day. It's almost like two people whispering in front of other people. The General Manager has talked to the
Spanish preferred speaking employees about this issue and asked them to speak English while working except when helping Spanish speaking customers, but one of them in particular refuses to comply. She claims that she is being discriminated against. The GM is considering adding a policy to the company's Employment Policy Manual basically stating that English is the preferred language of the company and that while working all employees are to speak English unless when helping Spanish speaking customers.
In Florida, I believe that English is the primary
language of the State, but am not sure if management can legally prevent employees from speaking another language between themselves on the job even though it is offensive to other co-employees. Does anyone have any suggestions?
instead of English which most all of our other employees speak. These other employees, including
the store manager, feel that this is rude since they cannot understand what the other two employees are saying during the day. It's almost like two people whispering in front of other people. The General Manager has talked to the
Spanish preferred speaking employees about this issue and asked them to speak English while working except when helping Spanish speaking customers, but one of them in particular refuses to comply. She claims that she is being discriminated against. The GM is considering adding a policy to the company's Employment Policy Manual basically stating that English is the preferred language of the company and that while working all employees are to speak English unless when helping Spanish speaking customers.
In Florida, I believe that English is the primary
language of the State, but am not sure if management can legally prevent employees from speaking another language between themselves on the job even though it is offensive to other co-employees. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Comments
I believe that if it is business related they need to communicate in english. Casual conversation between them, I believe, should not be regulated to english only.
Flame68
This is a tough issue and resolving it usually requires some give and take as well as understanding from both sides. Too bad your one employee seems to have difficulty with this.
Flame68
My own approach to this is to give capitalism it's head and quit trying to reign it in. The commercial marketplace will do what it must to harvest dollars from it's customers. If that means printing menu's and instructions in more than one language, then that is what will happen. Economic competitive forces are in play here and capitalism will meet this challenge. Of course, that means HR needs to be on the front end of this change and help all of our respective cultures adapt to the need.
Yes, you can require English in the workplace, with valid business reason. Customer relations and safety are two examples of valid reasons. If your EEs are just casually speaking Spanish to each other and are not interfering with business communications, do not stop it. If their use of the language is interfering with teamwork or the general efficiency of the operation you can then take some action, but be sure you have your ducks all in a row before you drop the hammer.
Just because an EE is proud of their culture and heritage does not mean they are a bad employee. It may mean they have pride in who they are and that generally translates into a person who is proud of their work. If this is just one sign of a troublemaker, that will show up in their work and you can and should document those instances for what they are.
Overall, I would suggest you embrace the diversity. Perhaps you can offer some tuition and training assistance to other EEs that wish to learn Spanish. Build some bridges between the cultures. Being proactive could be a big feather in your cap.