Staff at work
By addressing the skills needed to wholly integrate your workforce you will ensure that barriers to communication and embarrassing situations are avoided.
Ensuring that communication is effective results in both a happy workforce and productive results for the organisation. Some of the suggestions in this section and the migrant workers section are common sense and help to ensure that both the employer and the employee gain the most from the relationship. You will find links to numerous resources, including information about your legal duties to ensure members of your staff are not disadvantaged.
Resources and further information for employers
Employing workers who speak little or no English
Resources and further information for employers
Health & safety
Health and safety in the workplace
The Sheffield Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Service has published a brochure on health & safety in the workplace. The leaflets cover bullying, homeworking, education and employment, manual handling, dust and fumes as well as sickness absence. They are clearly written and are available in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, English, Somali and Urdu.
Download the leaflets from the RLN Yorkshire & The Humber website
Health & safety guide for workers
The Heath & Safety Executive (HSE) offers a number of translated documents free of charge on the issue of Health & Safety.
“Your Health, your Safety: a guide for workers” is available in a number of languages, including Chinese, Greek, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and Urdu. The HSE also offers a range of industry specific documents in various languages.
Download the documents from the HSE website
Telephone interpreting service
The HSE also operates a telephone interpreting service 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 you will be able to continue your enquiry in your own language.
Read more about this service on the HSE website
Basic skills training
The Network is a national organisation which provides support with basic literacy and numeracy skills in the workforce.
The Network (formerly called the Workplace Basic Skills Network) has updated its checklist for employers. Use the checklist to select a provider who can offer high quality training for workplace language, literacy and numeracy training.
Download the checklist from the Network website
Organisations in the South West providing or planning to provide workplace basic skills training should contact Sue Batt, Director of Regional Development, email s.batt@lancaster.ac.uk, tel. 01524 593405, for further information.
Cultural Diversity
Cultural Diversity: A resource booklet on religious and cultural observance, belief, language and naming systems
Published by the Civil Service, download from the Civil Service website (275 kb pdf document)
BBC Multifaith calendar
Religious festivals and holy days by month and year.
View the multifaith calendar at www.bbc.co.uk/religion/calendar
Embracing Cultural Diversity
B&Q have produced a very thorough brochure on cultural diversity in the workplace, with brief information on minority ethnic and religious cultures and a calendar of festivals and celebrations.
Download brochure "Embracing Cultural Diversity"
(630 kb pdf document)
www.multicultural-matters.com gives a month by month diary of festivals and publishes a newsletter. More detailed information can be ordered via the website for a charge.
www.multifaithnet.org provides information about different religious faiths.
Intercultural Competence
Intercultural competence enables you to interact both effectively and in a way that is acceptable to others when you are working in a group whose members have different cultural backgrounds. A framework of competences can be found at www.incaproject.org
Sectors / Case Studies
Language in the Construction industry:
Communicating with Second Language Speakers
The report, published in March 2004, provides a snapshot of how native English speakers and second language speakers communicate in the workplace, identifies good practice and suggests how the construction industry might continue to promote effective operational communications in the context of health and safety.
Download the report "Language in the construction industry"
(300 kb pdf document)
In addition to the report, a ‘Simple Guide to Clearer Communication’ has been produced which highlights issues on this subject relevant to the industry sector.
Download "Simple Guide to Communication"
(56 kb pdf document)
Heathrow Talking to the World
This language skills audit conducted in 2004 looked at Heathrow Airport’s current use of its multi-lingual employees and suggested actions to further develop its workforce.
Download audit "Heathrow talking to the world"
(170 kb pdf document)
Experiences of employing refugees
This report was researched and prepared by the Institute for Employment Studies in 2004. The research explores the attitudes of employers towards refugees and highlights the main issues. It aims to inform those who are in a position to make a difference, and to stimulate further debate on an important area of public policy. The report contains useful case studies, including two from the food sector.
Visit the IES website to download the report
Deaf employees
This section deals with employing workers who are deaf and communicate in British Sign Language.
British Sign Language (BSL) is the preferred language of between 50,000 and 70,000 Deaf people in the UK. It is a language in its own right, separate and distinct from English. The grammatical structures of the two languages are very different, and written English may not always be understood by a BSL user.
Under the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995), if an employer employs a disabled person it is their duty to ensure that member of staff is not disadvantaged. In the case of a Deaf person, it may sometimes be necessary to employ a BSL interpreter as a legal requirement in situations where information needs to be shared with customers or staff through spoken English, such as at meetings or training sessions.
The guide 'How to work with British Sign Language (BSL) / English Interpreters in the public and private sectors' includes information on costs, funding and help on where to find BSL interpreters as well as practical tips on how to make the best use of their service.
Download the BSL booklet (194 kb pdf document)
Resources and information for migrant workers and their employers
