Business support
Multilingual Workforce
If you employ a multilingual workforce or if you have deaf employees you need to be aware of the factors that could hamper effective communication.
By addressing the skills needed to wholly integrate your multilingual workforce you will ensure that barriers to communication, embarrassing situations and potential dangers are avoided.
Health and Safety
With a multilingual workforce it is vital that Health and Safety information is displayed in the necessary languages to enable all employees to understand and comply to the rules and regulations. There is support available from:
Health and Safety Guide for Workers - the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) offers a guide entitled 'Your health, your safety - a guide for workers' available to download from their website ( PDF format) in 24 different languages including Arabic, Chinese, Polish, Punjabi, Turkish and Ukranian.
Download guides from HSE website
Telephone interpreting service - also offered by the HSE and covering over a hundred different languages. To use the service, contact Infoline on 0845 345 0055, and tell the operator which language you wish to speak. The operator will then arrange for an interpreter to be connected into the telephone line within a minute or so, and members of your multilingual workforce will be able to speak to someone in their own language.
Find out more about telephone interpreting service
Deaf Employees
If you employ deaf workers you should consider using a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter in meetings or other situations where information needs to be shared in English. Alternatively you could train one or two other employees in BSL and get them to act as a mentor/translator to the deaf employee. The following organisations can offer you further support:
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) can offer you further information and support, including details of training courses in BSL.
Signature (formerly CACDP) also offers information and details on a wide range of nationally accredited qualifications.
Cultural Diversity
Being part of a multicultural workforce can be very informative and rewarding but it is important to be aware of the cultural differences that may prove a barrier to effective communication. The following organisations and resources can provide you with further support on intercultural matters:
The Civil Service booklet entitled Cultural Diversity provides information on religious and cultural observance, belief, language and naming systems
B&Q have also produced a very useful leaflet entitled Embracing Cultural Diversity which provides information on cultural diversity in the workplace.
Please contact us for more information on how we can help you manage your multilingual and multicultural workforce.
