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November 3, 2020
How to Ease the Onboarding Process for Native Spanish Speakers in Construction
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5 tips to help construction human resources teams better serve their Spanish speaking employees during the hiring process
Let’s face it, onboarding new workers in construction can be a difficult task - even harder if you’re faced with a language barrier. From benefits to taxes to training and everything in between, the list of human resources documents is long and many times, confusing. Imagine the process for those where English is not their first language. With approximately 60 million Latinos now living in the United States today, for instance, Spanish has become a leading language. No wonder there is high demand for streamlined onboarding processes that native Spanish speakers can clearly understand.
Here are some tips on how to onboard Spanish speaking employees that can help make the process easier in the construction industry:
1. Hire Multilingual Construction Pros That Understand Human Resources
Considering OSHA requires training be presented using both a language and vocabulary that employees can understand, hiring and/or training an HR professional that can articulate the already complex onboarding processes and safety training can be a huge benefit to your organization. Not only can these professionals clearly present onboarding information in Spanish, but they can answer questions and provide a place of comfort for Spanish speakers who may feel uncomfortable asking questions in a non-native language.
2. Use Google Chrome’s Google Translate
If most of your onboarding material is on a webpage, tools like Google Chrome’s Google Translate can be used to transform the whole website or page into Spanish. This is great for training, onboarding, safety and other online materials (unless paper documentation is mandatory in English such as the Federal I-9) that can be translated in Spanish via Google Translate.
3. Get Construction-Specific, Adaptable Human Resources Software
It’s important to get software that not only digitizes and streamlines traditionally cumbersome HR processes and offers hiring and onboarding flexibility. This allows HR leaders to create tailored custom tasks for Spanish speakers. Viewpoint HR Management provides this flexibility and also has the option to have the W-4 tax withholding form in Spanish.
See Viewpoint's Human Resources Software in Action:
4. Develop Multilingual Assets and Consider Using Visuals
A good way to communicate important safety and onboarding information in Spanish and other languages is by using images, displays, videos and other visual aids that can illustrate processes. From safety reminders to education and training, you can use basic artistic elements to overcome language barriers.
5. Open the Door to Open Communication
Create an environment in which open communication is welcome. The more welcoming your organization is, the more likely non-English speakers will feel comfortable not only applying for roles at your organization, but also communicating with everyone at your organization about any mistakes, safety concerns and asking for clarification.
Streamlined Construction HR Management, Powered by ViewpointOne
Viewpoint HR Management, part of the connected ViewpointOne construction management suite, offers construction human resources teams an easier way to onboard employees. By giving construction organizations the ability to digitally track each step of the hiring process, manual processes are greatly reduced while HR productivity greatly improves.
Having a digital solution that can easily accommodate your Spanish-speaking employees by removing the burden of interpreting manual documents and processes. Employees can fill out non-English documents on their own — improving communication and reducing risk.
ViewpointOne is a SaaS software suite that connects your construction business workflows — your people, your projects, and your processes — with solutions to manage your financials, projects, resources, and people to increase visibility, productivity, and profitability for subcontractors.
Get more information about digital onboarding in Spanish by contacting us.
To learn more about Viewpoint HR Management, watch this video that showcases best practices for onboarding employees within the software:
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