75% FACE EXCLUSION

IN THE

WORKPLACE

DIVERSITY

A

ND

INCLUSION MAKE

S

GOOD

BUSI

N

E

SS S

ENSE

Most organizations hav e policies to include p eople of div erse backgrounds. Compani es work hard to avoid a ‘on e-size-fits-all’ approach to human resourc es man agem ent. It ’s unac ceptable to say th at “wheelchair users mu st climb the sta irs like everybody else”, “pregnan t employees are not allowed maternity lea ve”, “LGBT workers must keep th eir sexuality a sec r et . ” Including people of diverse back grounds is not jus t morally correct; it also mak es good business sense. And yet millions of employees around th e world are overl ooked ......... non-native English speakers.

EVERYBODY

MUST DO

BUSIN

E

SS

IN

ENGLISH

English is the langua ge of global business, scienc e and th e internet. For those like me who hav e English as our first language, that’s great news; for everyone else there’s a n eed to learn 'our' langua ge. There are approximately 1.5 billion English speakers in th e world but 75% of these are English as a Second Lan guag e (ESL) speakers. As a native-English speaker (I was born an d edu cated in the UK) I am very mu ch in t he min ority. Little or no thought is given to th e imposition of English as the working langua ge of business; often employees are expect ed to work in English, with no adjustmen ts made t o accommodat e ESL speak ers. The onus is on the ESL sp e akers to ensure that th eir English skills meet the requiremen ts of t he workpl ace.

ESL SPEAK

ERS

ARE

EXCLUDED

English as the world’s Lingua Fran ca is presente d as a gre at opportunity for the global workforce. Acquiring English la nguage ski lls is prom oted as a pas spo rt to su ccess , a m e an s of accessin g emp lo yment in an i nter conn ec ted world . But this view is often the comfortable assumption of na tive s peakers like me, no t nec essarily the per ception of ESL sp eakers. Mary Yoko Brannen from the Universit y of Victoria, Austr alia observes that "having English as a second or third lan guage is mostly seen and felt (by ESL speakers) as a handi cap, som ething to be over come, rather than as a poten tial resourc e". Research has foun d tha t ESL empl oy ees beli e ve tha t their career aspi rations are overlooked just be cau se English is their second langua ge. The exclusion of ESL from Diversity and In clusion (D&I) poli cies has major consequenc es. It’s rather lik e saying: “Speakers of other languages mus t speak English wheth er they like it or not. And there’s no n eed for us to alter our English to make it easier for them.”

NATIVE-

ENGLISH SPEA

K

ERS

-

BLISSFULLY

IGNORA

NT

Few of us native-English speakers realize we may need to adjust our English to in clude our ESL colleagues. And even if we do see the ne ed to al ter our languag e, most of us don’t know how to do it. Native speakers find it hard to empathize with the challe nges faced by ESL speakers, ha ving a parti cularly poor rec ord of speaking foreign langua ges ourselves. According to a survey by th e European Commission, the British are the worst language learn ers in Europe. The USA is also behind muc h of the world when it comes to foreign langua ge learnin g - a Gallup poll shows tha t only 26 perc ent of American adu l t s are cap able of hold in g a conversation in a nother langua ge. When the British, American s, Canadians and Australians t ravel overseas most of us expe ct that we’ll be able to communicat e in English. Ben Anderson, a portfolio manager based in London, UK, says: “If I travel to China knowing no more than 10 words of Chinese it doesn't frighten me ... I know I'll be able to get by. Compare that with t he German who speaks no Englis h and takes his family to London for a vaca tion or the Japanes e businessman with no English who has a meetin g in Ameri ca.” As we have little experience of learning other lan guages, our assumptions about ESL speakers are often misguided . Studies show that many n ative-English speakin g manag ers have unrealistic expe ctations of the English levels of th e ir global colleagues. Wilhelm Barner- Rasmussen (Hanken School of Economics, Finland) argues that this is “unproductive – perhaps even dangerous”. It means that we make no allowances for the challenges faced by our ESL colleagues and unintentionally discriminate against them if their language is not ‘good enough’. We risk creating an 'us and them' situation, where our perception of English language ability is given disproportionate weighting when evaluating an employee's effectiveness and opportunities for career progression.

NATIVE SPEAKERS

DON’T KNOW

HO

W

TO

LISTE

N

TO

ESL

S

P

EAKERS

Native-English speakers are unintentionally biased against people who speak English as second language. Research conducted by Shiri Lev-Ari of the University of London, found that ESL speakers are regarded as less trustworthy by native speakers. "Native speakers are less likely to believe something if it’s said with a foreign accent". Jairo Fuertes (Adelphi University) and others have found that native- English speakers tend to think that people who speak English with a foreign accent are less competent and less intelligent than native speakers. The stronger the foreign accent, the more negatively the speaker is perceived. Magdalena Robertson, a US citizen originally from Poland: “It makes me feel uncomfortable when people make a comment like “wow, you've lived here for 6 years and you still have such a strong accent”. The research shows that this is not a matter of racism or deliberate bias. The human brain finds it difficult to process unfamiliar sounds or speech. Negative judgments of ESL speakers arise because of the extra effort that we have to make to process unfamiliar foreign accents. The good news is that research shows this problem can be solved: by giving native speakers more exposure to foreign accents. As we become more familiar with different ESL accents, we become more positive towards ESL speakers.

NATIVE SPEAKERS

DON’T KNOW

HO

W

TO

TALK

TO

ESL

SPEAK

ERS

We expect our international colleagues to speak English but we make little effort to adjust our use of language to help them. A survey conducted by Mayflower College, UK of 1000 ESL speakers found that 88% find it more difficult to communicate with native speakers than with other ESL speakers. It seems we speak too fast and use complicated grammar and idiomatic language. Also, many of us native speakers come from educational backgrounds which reward complicated language. It’s seen as a sign of intelligence and status. Few of us realize that what’s required in global communication is simplicity, not sophistication.

LANGUAGE

–

“

THE MOST

NEGLECT

ED

F

IELD

IN

MAN

AGEMENT”

Language is part of our individual and group identity. It facilitates communication, trust building, and coordination within teams - exactly the qualities that organizations seek to achieve through their D&I policies. And yet, the crucial role that language plays in the workforce is overlooked. For good reason, it has been called “The most neglected field in management”. The failure to manage the use of English in an organization, especially the use of English by native speakers, “has the potential to make [ESL] employees feel isolated and undermined and render them ineffective in workplace communication.” (Sarbari Bordia, Australian National University). We are silencing our international colleagues and customers, a phenomenon referred to as ‘language ostracism’. Without a D&I policy for ESL speakers, trust breaks down, communication falters, motivation and productivity are harmed. A study conducted by Tsdal Neely of Harvard Business School considered a $25 billion multinational headquartered in France. Even though only 30% of the 210,000 worldwide employees were native-English speakers (70% were ESL speakers), English was imposed as the official corporate language. However, no consideration was given to the inclusion of the ESL speakers in the organization. “This led to non-native speakers of English within the organization experiencing a loss of status. Non-native speaking employees experienced anxiety in relation to English language performance and harbored feelings of distrust and resentment toward their native-English speaking colleagues.” It’s hard to imagine this situation arising in any other area of HR management. If a company were to impose any other policy which caused 70% of its workforce to feel excluded, the D&I policy would be rewritten as a matter of urgency.

BENEFI

TS OF

INCLUDING

ESL

IN D

&

I

POLICIE

S

S HRM estimat es that communi cation breakdowns cost la rge organizations $26,000 per employee per year in lost pr oductivity. With 75% of the English-speaking population bein g ESL s peakers, the failure to in clude t hem in D&I poli cies jeopa rdizes recruitment, re tention ra tes and t eam spirit. Good emp lo yees are overlooked and good ideas go unheard.

WHAT

NEEDS

TO

BE

INCLUDE

D

IN

AN

ESL

D

&

I

POL

ICY

The starting point is to make peopl e aware of any uninte ntional or unconscious biases t hey may h ave towards ESL speakers. Do I prefer my airline pi lot to ha ve a British a cc ent rather than a Rus sian ac cen t? Do I prefer my doctor t o have an American ac cent rat h er tha n an Arab ic a cc ent? If so, why? We need to b ecome more familiar with the foreign a ccen ts we’re likely to encoun ter. For example, th e first time y ou hear a Japanese person speaking English you may fin d it p artic ul arly difficult. The more exposure you have though, the more you learn about Japanese speakers' parti cular challen ges when they speak En glish, the e asier it be comes. We also need to ha ve more empa thy for our ESL-speaking collea gues and customers. We ne ed to understan d the challenges of communica ting in a se cond langua ge. Thos e of us who speak a foreign languag e will be better at this; all of us, at some point, wil l hav e been in si tuations where we’ve struggl ed to mak e sense of what is goin g on an d be en fearful of making a complete fool of ourselves. It’s definitely not easy. We need to l earn how to filter and simplify our English when communica ting with ES L speakers - shorter sent ence s, a slower rate of speech, avoid in g idiomatic l an guag e an d e xp ressions . Finally, perhaps the most importa nt point of all. We must realize that our opini ons do not ma tter more just be caus e we can express the m in 'perfec t' English. We need to 'hear' t he opinions of our international collea gues and cus tomer s if we are to have a more di verse and inclusive workplace and if we are serious about making b etter d ecisions.