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Originally Posted On: https://jrlanguage.com/blog/best-practices-for-communicating-with-your-multilingual-workforce/
Best Practices for Communicating with Your Multilingual Workforce
10 Best Practices for Communicating with Your Global Workforce
Our globalized world has created an incredibly diverse workforce. As companies expand and hire talent from across the globe, managing a multilingual workforce has become increasingly common. Whether working with multilingual employees in one office or an international workforce based out of multiple locations, creating the right communication plan is key.
This is where professional HR translation services and language services come into play. While language barriers can present a challenge for creating a cohesive company culture, a few best practices will set your company, your human resources department, and your employees worldwide up for success. Here are some tips from JR Language, a leading provider of
professional translation company, to ensure clear and effective communication with your diverse team:
1) Speak Your Employees’ Languages in Multilingual Workplaces
One of the most important steps in communicating with a multilingual workforce is to speak their language—literally. When you provide information in an employee’s native language, you ensure they fully understand the content. By using professional document translation services, you can translate important materials, guidelines, and communications into the languages your employees are most comfortable with.
Communications in multiple languages need more than a word-for-word final translation in the target language. This requires understanding the culture and customs surrounding each language and its audience. A professional translation team of subject matter experts like JR Language can help you navigate the appropriateness of the content, images, and colors for different cultures.
2) Respect Your Audience: Use Localized Language
Cultures, traditions, and customs change across countries and languages. To accurately translate workplace safety documents, for example, it is important to be mindful of the audience and its culture to facilitate communication, ensure clarity, and avoid misunderstandings. Respecting your audience involves understanding the cultural nuances that may affect how your message is received. When working with a multilingual team, it’s essential to consider these differences.
Experts who understand the language and cultural context should handle human resource translation. Work with a translation services company that knows the culture and will provide an adequate team to support your multilingual communication in any language needed.
3) Keep your content short and precise
Clarity is key when communicating with a multilingual workforce. Aim for messages that are short, memorable, and easy to repeat. While preparing it, remember that the content will be translated and localized to other languages. This is especially important when translating HR documents, where accuracy is critical. Whether you’re drafting a company policy or an internal memo, use simple language and avoid jargon. This makes it easier for your translation services provider to deliver clear and accurate translations, ensuring all employees receive the same message.
4) Create Consistency with Glossaries and Style Guides
A well-developed glossary is an invaluable tool for HR translations, ensuring that your multilingual workforce receives clear and consistent information. Consistency in terminology is vital when managing multilingual communications. Developing glossaries of key terms and phrases helps maintain uniformity across all translations. Consistent style guides also help maintain uniformity in the other languages and will aid the translators in understanding how your company communicates.
5) void Colloquialisms in Global Communications
Slang, colloquialisms, and jargon often will not translate well across languages, leading to misunderstandings. What might be a common phrase in one language could be confusing or even offensive in another. To avoid these pitfalls, stick to straightforward language. Analogies can also be culturally specific and should be avoided when working with content needing translation services.
What is a common saying in one language (like “hitting a home run”) may not make sense to someone in another language and culture. What if they’ve never seen a baseball game? Keep your wording precise to avoid unnecessary confusion and alienation. If you must use an idiom or a culturally specific reference, make sure it’s clearly explained or use a more universally understood phrase.
6) Avoid Religion, Politics, and Humor
Working with a globalized team means working with a diverse group of people with varying upbringings, religious beliefs, cultures, customs, and political views. Avoid any reference to a particular religious affiliation or political leaning over another. To maintain a professional and inclusive environment, it’s best to steer clear of these subjects in your communications. Focus instead on neutral, business-related content that all employees can easily understand.
Also, use humor sparingly. Humor often doesn’t translate well. What is funny in one culture can be offensive in another, and you never want to alienate a portion of your employees or team.
7) Show Your Face: Maximize Remote Settings
In a multilingual workforce, nonverbal communication can be just as important as verbal communication. Face-to-face communication, with its non-verbal cues, provides up to 93% more effective conversations. Seeing your face and body language can help convey tone and intent, which might not always come through in written translations. This personal touch can also help build trust and rapport with your multilingual team.
With simultaneous interpretation service options from video hosting platforms, you can lead a remote meeting and talk with people from around the world in their language in real time. Using Zoom interpretation services, for example, any leader can show face to employees and be a present and visible leader.
8) Empower Your HR Team with Human Resources Translations
Your HR team is the backbone of any company and plays a critical role in managing a multilingual workforce. Empowering your human resources departments with the tools and resources they need to communicate effectively is essential. This includes providing access to professional multilingual translation services and training on cultural competence. An empowered HR team can better support your employees, ensuring everyone feels included and understood.
Reliable human resource translation services ensure that everyone receives the same information in a language they understand. Providing up-to-date, translated human resource documents is the best way to ensure employee compliance across time zones and language barriers. This includes training and onboarding information, all employee communications, employee handbooks, an intranet, and policies and procedures.
9) Translate Training Videos for Your Multilingual Workforce
Training is a crucial aspect of employee development, but it can be challenging in a multilingual environment. Professional training translation services and video translation services can help you create accurate and engaging multilingual training materials. This not only makes the content accessible to everyone but also shows your commitment to their growth and development.
Determine which training topics are crucial for employees. Prioritize translating videos for these essential topics to ensure foundational knowledge across the workforce. Topics can include compliance with equal employment opportunities, language policies, accessibility of important documents, confidentiality and data protection, prevention of harassment and discrimination, ethical communication, and ongoing training and compliance checks.
10) Implement Multilingual Support Channels
Multilingual support channels are key resources for a company to communicate with a diverse workforce. Your personnel might need to seek clarification on company policies, technical assistance, or guidance on workplace procedures. They might need to report workplace-related injuries. When hotlines or chat services are available in multiple languages, employees can find one they are well-versed in. If they know that the help is readily available in a language they understand, they will feel confident in accessing these resources.
One option is to provide phone interpretation services for helpdesk language assistance for your employees. You may not have internal support for all the languages your workforce speaks, but a professional language provider will have multilingual support on demand around the clock.
JR Language: Work with a Professional for Human Resources Translation Services
Creating an effective communication plan for a multilingual workforce can be overwhelming, but having a trusted partner with you makes it much more manageable. Working with a professional translation company like JR Language is the best way to ensure that in every communication, everyone in your company understands your team, no matter their nationality or language.
Communicating with a diverse workforce doesn’t have to be a challenge. With the right strategies and the support of multilingual translation services, you can ensure your employees feel valued, included, and understood. Let JR Language help you navigate the complexities of multilingual communication and create a workplace where everyone can thrive.
