I am sure you have seen the numerous “For Help” signs no matter where you go. Many of us may not suffer the effects of those signs as much as the ones placing them, but we feel the consequences.
Can you imagine as an employer the struggle to find available human resources at all levels of an organization? The United States has a tremendous pool of foreign- born that may be skilled at many jobs but do not have an opportunity to apply for any jobs due to language barriers.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 17.2% of the total labor force was foreign-born, or roughly 30 million workers.
There is also a large bilingual population that could benefit companies for supervisory and other leading roles. A report released by the Center of Immigration Studies reports that in 2018 over 67 million people spoke a foreign language at home. Also, the foreign-born workforce having some college/undergraduate degree is higher than the native-born Americans.
However, accessing this talent pool would require understanding your area’s immigrant population and providing documents and training materials in their first language.
We at Interpro have seen the effects of translating training and Human Resource and eLearning materials into many languages geared towards recruiting in the U.S. market.
Companies may be struggling to hire capable employees. Or maybe they have a chance to hire capable employees, but they may not be performing as well since English is their second language. These are the companies that may benefit from localizing their training materials.
Decision makers may look into producing training materials as added costs, but here are 6 ways having those training materials translated in various languages can help your labor shortage.
1. Attract new talent and increase recruitment opportunities.
The U.S. has the 2nd largest population of Spanish speakers (next to only Mexico). Could adding hiring and training materials in Spanish help your recruiting efforts? There is a large bilingual population immigrating to the United States, and future employers can take advantage by policies and documents in another language. In addition, prospective employees may be more likely to apply for a job if they know their employer can hire and train them in their native language.
My personal experience is foreigners coming to the United States tend to group together and help each other settle, including assisting with the job hunt. Usually, a few individuals speak English well enough, and these people tend to translate quite a bit. These resources could advance faster in your company, help train other bilingual employees, and be a new recruitment resource.
2. Reduce training time and improve understanding of training courses.
Studies show that people learn faster and retain more information when learning in their native language. Could offering safety materials in their native language decrease employee injuries? Result in fewer policy misunderstandings and Human Resource reports?
Or what about continued training? Most industries require ongoing training, whether it’s basic company policies or more specific job training. An example would be health care providers may need to take training courses as often as once a month.
3. Increase employee efficiency, leading to potential growth opportunities.
It is a fact, people retain more information when learning in their native language. Employees learning in their first language may be more efficient for the company and grow their skills faster.
4. Increase employee retention.
If employees feel they can communicate with you, they may be more likely to stay with your organization. Therefore, improved communication could lead to decreased retention costs, (such a stime spent on recruitment by your leadership and Human Resource team) and happier workforce long term.
5. Increased compliance and decreased compliance issues.
Depending on your industry, training needs may be needed to stay compliant for certifications or even to stay in business. For instance, some states require educational courses within the industry to remain compliant, like health care, manufacturing, or travel and hospitality. Could your workforce be more compliant and avoid compliance issues with multilingual training?
6. Ensure the company brand, mission, and policies are seamless in an international environment.
As companies grow and go international, it is harder to ensure that employees follow core company policies. By adding localization to your training materials, businesses can keep a consistent company brand, mission, and policies across languages. Companies want to have the same representation everywhere they are present across the globe.
When companies provide translated documentation and training courses to employees, morale increases as employees feel valued.
7. Improve recruitment and retention efforts by translating your documents and training materials!
Interpro’s translation workflow delivers accurate eLearning and training materials in any modern language. Throughout the process, we:
- manage the entire translation and localization workflow for you,
- produce an accurately translated piece of content that the audience will understand in their native language,
- recognize problems and issues that could affect your final product,
- provide advice on navigating your translation needs,
- always consider the languages and cultures your target audience.
Interpro’s translation workflow (delivered in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 17100:2015 standards) delivers accurate, credible results into any modern language. Throughout our process, we recognize problems and issues that could affect your final product. Plus, we provide feedback and advice on navigating the translation and localization of your source document, always taking into consideration what languages and cultures your audience is a part of.
No matter what language your audience is using, set yourself up for success. Follow our guide to preparing your source document for translation and localization services and choose a partner that will be with you every step of the way!