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Do you employ Limited English Proficient LEP Employees?
Presented by Wyatt Chambers
What Should Your Organization Be Doing?
The Immigration Factor
• Hispanic (the ethnic majority)
– The Hispanic population (40.57%)– White (38.85%) – Asian (10.19%) – African American (7.30%)
How did we get here?
Demographic shifts in the labor market
◦ Approximately 55 percent of the total population increase between 2000 and 2006 in California was directly attributable to
immigrants.
So, with all of these changes, what should your business be focusing on?
•Customers•Employees
English Solutions Multi-lingual & Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
Employees: Guidance and Tips
Why Would You Hire LEP Staff?• Increases the overall labor pool• Staff from other cultures can help your company
connect with customers from other cultures• Immigrants may supply certain skill sets that are
in high demand• Highly competitive labor markets may
necessitate the hire of LEP staff• You may be able to reduce cost of labor
Unproductive and Dangerous Questions
• “Why don’t they just learn English?”
• “By offering education and resources in other languages, aren’t we just enabling them to put off learning English?”
• “How are we going to afford this?”
Recognize the Role of CultureIndividuals from different national origins may have
varying beliefs around health and safetyIt may take time and training to acculturate some
employees to American safety standards and practices
Some cultures have norms that discourage challenging authority
Some cultures favor less direct communication styles
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
How can I train my LEP workforce?
Training Modalities for LEP individuals Suggestion #1
• Provide written training materials with high pictorial content– Easy to distribute and replicate– Cost- effective– Promotes literacy and higher thinking skills– Allows employees to review and use for
easy reference
Education Modalities for LEP individuals #2
• Role Play– Prepares employees for real- life experience
with customers– Applying different learning styles, visual, audio,
tactile, etc.– Studies show that adults learn best when they
apply what they have learned.– With repetition and requesting employee
commitment, you will see automatic results.
Education Modalities for LEP individuals #3
• Multimedia & Technology– Allows employees to study at
there own leisure.– Access to technology= added
benefit– Using different learning skills
(visual, tactile, audio)
Education Modalities for LEP individuals #4
• Hire the experts…– Make sure they are engaging, direct, and have a
comprehensive strategy– Professional ESL trainers can encourage staff
members to be proactive with there English other than reactive
– Experts have proven that ESL training will improve retention, customer service, safety, and communication
Questions?
Wyatt Chambers is an ESL trainer that has worked in several different environments and is recognized by many big named companies.
Wyatt [email protected] to our newsletter www.englishsolutions.biz
