Was This Company Right In Trying To Enforce The Speaking Of English On Their Premises?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3676749/Factory-told-Polish-Slovakian-workers-speak-English-work-forced-abandon-scheme-following-complaints-discriminatory.html

[retrocop]

Being a devils advocate here.
Whilst I consider it rude for foreigners to converse in front of people in their native tongue whilst working and living in a host country I suppose not many British oil workers or nurses who work for the Emirate states are compelled to speak Arabic. Just lay off the hooch!

[Baldric]

He who pays the Piper, etc ...

[Mamyalynne]

I believe it is right for employers to encourage staff, enforcing a rule however is less practical.

Obviously it is essential that workers can convey important and often crucial information in a safe and clear way - perhaps lunchtime workshops or a buddy system to help others with language would build bridges.

As Retrocop says many of us go to live and work overseas and we don't have the best reputation for adopting the language of the country we are in.

[dannyk13]

Whilst on holiday in Italy I went with my brother-in-law to visit one of his friends.During our conversation the friend asked me "Why do the English who visit Italy expect us all to speak English?"

[bazwillrun]

in this PC ridden day they had no chance...but yes they could and should insist...our country our rules...my company my rules...

[Gromit]

If having the workforce all speaking the same language was a requirement of the job, they should have hired English people, or tested their foreign workers before employing them.
To retrospectively introduce this rule was not clever. It was bound to be met with resistance from people for whom English is not their first language.

[Old_Geezer]

I'm unsure it counts as discriminatory. But one can not expect all temporary work contract immigrants to have a working knowledge of English. As long as they know enough to do the job that should be it. Would be a different matter if they were here as permanent residents.

It's not an ideal situation but if you employ cheaper foreign labour you take the issues that go with it. And if it's not cheaper why are you employing immigrants over the British workforce ?

[Baldric]

You wouldn't have been a fan then Gromit?

[Baldric]

///But one can not expect all temporary work contract immigrants to have a working knowledge of English.///

I didn't see any mention of 'temporary work contract immigrants' in the Link, looked like permanent staff to me.

[ToraToraTora]

Yes I agree gromit, problem is that if they did try to weed them out before hiring they'd still fall foul of the PC brigade.

[Gromit]

Basically it is poor management.
To arbitarily impose a change without any consultation with the workforce is like something out of the 1970s. Successful firms now tend to have a good system of dialogue and cooperation between employer and employees.

[Svejk]

When I worked in Germany, I only learned the essentials. ie. ein grosser bier, ziggaretten, etc.

[Gromit]

// if they did try to weed them out before hiring they'd still fall foul of the PC brigade. //

No they wouldn't. Many jobs are advertised as good command of English as a required skill. This firm didn't do that at the time, then tried to impose it later.

You are in IT. It is like employing a bunch of Python coders, then telling them later they have to use Ruby.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// If having the workforce all speaking the same language was a requirement of the job, they should have hired English people, or tested their foreign workers before employing them. ///

Wouldn't that also be classed as discriminative?

[murraymints]

for Health and safety reasons , especially in manufacturing industry with machines..then to all speak and understand the same lingo seems a pretty basic and obvious requirement !

[vulcan42]

No, it's not down to an individual company,it should compulsory on entering and living permanently in a country. ( And that includes Brit's living abroad)

[mallyh]

when my dad tried to talk to locals when we were abroad he would talk loud and slowly and got frustrated if they didn't understand lol

[Mamyalynne]

In an ideal world I would agree Vulcan, but with companies often relocating certain departments and having them in other cities life can get tough sometimes to keep up.

My Son in Law has a high powered job and that sort of thing has entailed him working for prolonged periods in four different countries in the last ten years, he is currently in the Middle East.

He has of course picked up smatterings of each language along the way and on the whole has coped remarkably well.

[Gromit]

It is not discrimination to have the English language as a required skill for a job.

The stupidity is to recruit non English speakers then insist they speak English.

[ludwig]

They really shouldn't have to be told. It's at best rude, at worst deliberately hostile for people who have the ability to converse in a common language with their colleagues to choose not to, but instead exclude them from proceedings by forming their own little language bubble in front of them.

Where I work there are a few different nationalities, and although there are groups that form and converse in their own tongue, they tend not to do it when there are others present that they know can't understand what's being said. No company policy is necessary.