dealing with cultural diversity issues at the workplace

Dealing with Cultural Diversity Issues at the Workplace

© 2010 Fox Rothschild

DEALING WITH CULTURAL DIVERSITY ISSUES AT THE WORKPLACE

By: Marvin L. Weinberg, Esq.

Fox Rothschild LLP

[email protected]

(215) 299-2836



CULTURAL DIVERSITY ISSUES AT THE WORKPLACE

Background

1. Many Employers have either limited or non-English speaking employees.

2. In our truly global economy, many Employers employ workers from different cultures come with their own sets of identities and behaviors.




Work Place Policies Given the fact that

many Employers have employees with diverse backgrounds, the need to develop policies to facilitate communication among employees is more necessary than ever.




Examples a. Employers should review key

personnel policies (i.e., work rules, certain benefit enrollment forms, etc.) to determine if they are understood by their work force and if they may need to be translated into the employee’s own language.- i. The Employer may be liable

if the employee later claims he/she did not understand documents he/she was being asked to sign.




b. Employers should consider policies where they agree to maintain a list of available translators to assist their non-English or Limited English Proficiency (LEP) employees with issues which may arise at the work place.

i. These could include the ability of an employee to file a harassment claim or assist the Employer in the investigation of such claims or in employment-related litigation.




c. Dress code policies may need to be modified to account for cultural norms and traditions.

d. Policies should address the proper use of language skills of bilingual employees. Employees with general foreign language skills should not be considered expert interpreters or translators.




e. Bilingual employees with “dual training” may have responsibilities in their primary employed role and, when needed, to interpret conversations or to translate documents. Competencies for each role must be identified, met, and maintained according to written policies.




Training1. It goes without saying that people from different cultures more often than not communicate differently than is traditionally done in the U.S.

- For example, research indicates that in the U.S., the informal norm is that people acknowledge each other every time they come into contact. In Russia, the norm is “once is enough.”

- Also, stray comments may be made (i.e., Muslim employee is asked by co-workers if he really has to pray so many times in a day) which take on the appearance of informal cultural profiling.




a. Employers should train employees new to this country what standards of behavior are expected of them.b. The corollary to the above is that Employers should also train existing employees to be sensitive to employees from cultures different than their own. (See previous example with Muslim employee).c. The failure to properly train employees could have serious legal implications (harassment, hostile environment claims) for Employers and result in employees becoming demotivated.




D. Conclusion1. Employers need to develop policies and procedures to reflect the realities of dealing with a diverse work force.2. Additionally, it is important for Employers to train all of their employees to understand what behaviors are expected of them.



Contact Information

Marvin L. Weinberg, Esq.

215.299.2836

[email protected]

dealing with cultural diversity issues at the workplace

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