Capital Region Language Center has been providing on-site workplace language instruction since 2012. We’ve worked with companies in semiconductors, video gaming, insurance, and pharmaceuticals.
Our current partnership with Market 32/Price Chopper is an exciting new project due to the fact that it involves several firsts. This is the first time we’ve worked with a retail grocery chain, and it is the first time that we are teaching Spanish to English-speaking supervisors to better communicate with Spanish-speaking teammates. Additionally, it is the first time the supermarket chain has ever offered on-site Spanish language classes.
Supervisors are now in their second session. This is because participants expressed strong interest in receiving more instruction and company leaders identified the tremendous value in continuing to provide it.
Miriam Rogers (at podium), Spanish language instructor, teaches questions that supervisors can use at the Market 32/Price Chopper distribution center. The supermarket chain reached out to CRCL for classes, because they wanted to improve communication with Spanish-speaking teammates.
Key Outcomes of Workplace Spanish Language Classes
Working closely with Capital Region Language Center, Market 32/Price Chopper has outlined five key outcomes for the on-site Spanish language classes:
- Improving Internal Communication: Language proficiency enables effective communication across teams, departments, and hierarchical levels, resulting in a smooth exchange of ideas, instructions, and feedback.
- Enhancing Productivity and Efficiency: By eliminating language barriers, employees can collaborate more seamlessly, leading to increased productivity and more efficient workflow processes.
- Fostering Greater Independence: Supervisors are empowered to communicate directly and more effectively with Spanish-speaking teammates, reducing requests for bilingual employees to provide interpretation assistance.
- Reducing Turnover: Language training opportunities demonstrate commitment to investing in employees’ personal and professional development, reducing turnover rates and fostering a positive work environment.
- Increasing Career Advancement Opportunities: Increasing communication enables both Spanish-speaking employees and the supervisors learning the language the opportunity to pursue advancement and increase employee retention.
Customized Classes Help Supervisors Connect
This past spring, a group of nine supervisors began meeting for on-site workplace Spanish language classes. They met twice a week at the company’s distribution center in Rotterdam, NY. CRLC Spanish instructor Miriam Rogers led the class. She focused right away on key words and phrases the leaders use on the job.
“The students learned ‘warehouse’ and ‘manager,’ but also worked in pairs, asking and answering questions like, ‘How are you doing?’ and ‘What kind of work have you done?’” Rogers explains.
“We practice speaking in every class, so they can get more comfortable,” she said. “Some of the supervisors never studied Spanish and several hadn’t spoken it since high school,” but she says they are motivated to learn and worked hard.
“In this case, Spanish isn’t just something they want to learn,” she explains. “They know it is something they need on the job and are really motivated to use the language to connect with their team members.”
Rogers says one of the most powerful classes was the day several Spanish-speaking teammates were invited for lunch to help the supervisors practice their new language skills.
“When you see your boss trying to learn your native language, that is powerful,” she said. “It makes you feel like you are part of the community.”
Supervisors at the Market 32/Price Chopper distribution center practice Spanish. This is the first time the supermarket chain has invested in language classes. Participants asked to continue the customized classes to better communicate with their teammates.
Supervisors Ask to Continue Classes
Dave Schmitz, VP of Distribution and Transportation for Market 32/Price Chopper, says the supervisors who volunteered to be part of the on-site Spanish language classes come from all areas of the distribution center, including general managers, perishables, frozen food, and human resources.
“We worked it out for class to happen in the afternoon, between the early shift ending and the evening shift beginning,” he said. “And we pay them for time they are in class. They have demanding jobs. We are impressed that they want to put in the extra time to learn Spanish.”
He said the response has been encouraging.
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“Every single supervisor asked to continue, before the first session was even over,” he said. “They all said they had conversations with teammates they’d never been able to have in the past and didn’t want to lose what they learned.”
Schmitz points to the quality of teaching as a key to the program’s success.
“The students really connected with Miriam, and we saw the class just take off,” he said.
Kim Andersen, founder and director of CRLC, said the fact the students could have a conversation with native Spanish speakers after just 20 hours of training is a testament to the quality of teaching.
“This isn’t an app delivering one-way communication,” she said. “Miriam knows what works. She is right there to correct pronunciation or answer questions. And she can carefully customize each session to the supervisors’ daily work life, so students get constant feedback to build their confidence in using the language in real scenarios.”
READ HOW OUR ENGLISH CLASSES ARE HELPING TURNKEY WORKPLACE SERVICES GROW
‘We are a welcoming workplace’
The on-site Spanish language classes had strong support from the company’s leadership from the start, according to Schmitz. He says they now see the classes as an important long-term investment.
“We know the workforce today includes more Spanish speakers,” he explained. “We also know people aren’t looking at want-ads anymore. They are online, with access to millions of job postings. Offering Spanish-language classes is a way to show potential job applicants that we are a welcoming workplace. It also helps facilitate a better interview process when they apply.”
He said the program is also giving supervisors greater confidence about connecting with Spanish-speaking teammates without having to ask bilingual employees for their assistance in bridging communication gaps.
“We know people want to work in a place where they can connect,” he explains. “When Spanish-speaking teammates came forward and said, ’I can communicate with my supervisor in a way I never could,’ we knew this pilot was something we wanted to build on. And we’re happy to be partnering with another local business, Capital Region Language Center, to make it happen.”
Want to learn more about customizing language classes or workshops for your team? We offer on-site and virtual options. Contact us today: https://crlcalbany.org/contact/