Employers work to integrate Hispanic employees

Kathy Clancy, director of the Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights, estimates that number has doubled since 3,501 Hispanics were recorded among the 151,580 people in Springfield during the 2000 census.

Communication

As the area’s Hispanic population grows, so does the need for businesses to bridge the communication gap with workers who have sparse English skills.

Willow Brook Foods, 405 N. Jefferson, tackles the language issue by employing Hispanic supervisors, according to Human Resource Director Karl Amelang.

“If we have a communications issue, we’ve got plenty of people here that are bilingual that can help us out,” Amelang said. “Most of the folks that we’ve got have at least rudimentary (English) language skills.”

The need for English-Spanish communication in Springfield isn’t likely to evaporate.

“It’s a migration,” Clancy said. “As long as there is money to be made here…they will come here.”

One solution for Hispanic workers is taking a free English as a Second Language class from Ozarks Technical Community College.

Fran Giglio has been teaching the class at OTC for 11 years and said the curriculum focuses on workplace dialogue.

“Go to China and don’t speak Chinese and try to get a job,” Giglio said. “It’s the No. 1 obstacle.”

Stephen Bell, CEO of Joplin-based consulting firm Employers Health & Safety LLC, said poor communication is also an obstacle to worker safety.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site, the rate of 4.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers recorded for Hispanic workers was 13 percent higher than the fatality rate recorded for all workers.

Bell said workplace injuries increased nationwide from 2003 to 2004, largely due to miscommunication between English- and Spanish-speaking workers.

“(Hispanics are) not trained,” Bell said. “They’re basically just coming on board. The language barrier is (there).”

Bell said employers, especially in craft or manufacturing industries, want to hire Hispanic workers because he said the Hispanic workers have strong work ethics.

However, he said, employers also take advantage of Hispanic workers who are new to the United States and intimidated by their communication challenges.

“The reason they like hiring Hispanics so much is because when they get hurt, they don’t report it,” Bell said. “I think that’s a bunch of B.S. What we’re doing is slave labor all over again.”

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