By: Christina Thompson
As Tim Spahn, grounds services foreman of Northwestern University near Chicago, walked across campus, he heard the buzz of a mower motor. He thought to himself, “We’re not mowing this section of campus today.” After looking around for the source of the noise, he was shocked to see one of his non-English-speaking employees mowing the wrong part of campus. Earlier that day, Spahn received a “head bob” from the Spanish-only employee as acknowledgement that the employee understood the instructions.
Spahn admits that he doesn’t have an organized program for training non-English-speaking employees. Adapting by need, he mostly relies on employees who are bilingual in English and Spanish to keep his one Spanish-only employee up to date.
Bilingual resources
Some landscape managers “wing” a training program for non-English-speaking employees because they are not sure where to begin. The place to look is no farther than the name on your mowing equipment. Many manufacturers offer bilingual materials, formal training and customer service.
Exmark and Toro teamed up with the National Safety Council to provide tailgate safety training materials in English and Spanish for both instructors and students. Dan Dorn, Exmark’s product sales manager, says some Spanish-speaking customers have difficulty reading, so visual training is extremely important. The training kit includes a flip chart with pictures and diagrams to show what equipment to use in what mowing situations.
The manufacturer also bridges the language gap by having bilingual trainers in the customer service department. Trainers Marco Arroyo and Joe Hyler, from Costa Rica and Paraguay, respectively, visit national accounts, dealer events and trade shows, as well as answer phone inquiries. They use PowerPoint slides, videos and printed materials to cover equipment operations, safety systems and equipment maintenance.
“We’ll come into a classroom and actually teach customers hands-on,” says Dorn. “We’ll bring new equipment and show it to customers. But what we really like to do is show it on their equipment, so that they know, ‘It’s not different from what I saw in the classroom. It’s exactly the one that I have in my shop.'”
Dorn finds that many Spanish-speaking employees will know how to use the mowing equipment, but they do not know how to run the equipment safely. “Managers tend to worry about training employees on how to run the equipment more so than training them how to do it safely,” he says.
Unlike training English-speaking groups, Dorn and the trainers find that Spanish-speaking sessions take longer—not because the employees don’t understand but because they just struck a “pot of gold.” Dorn says the audience asks a lot of questions because they found a valuable resource.
“When Marco and Joe speak, you see instant connection between them and the Spanish-speaking audience,” Dorn says. “Instead of frustration, you see recognition.”
To connect, Arroyo and Hyler inquire about the nationality of the audience because of the many dialects within the Spanish language. Once the trainers know a region or nationality, they can tailor their communication to fit that dialect.
Margie Holly, communications manager of The Brickman Group, runs into a similar challenge when she produces the company’s training materials. In the case of one video, Holly explains, “our equipment manager from Peru translated the video transcript, and then we ran it past our superintendent who was from Mexico. He would say, ‘No. That’s not the word for mower.’ We really just had to figure that the majority of our guys are from Mexico, so we’re going to translate it into Mexican Spanish.”
The company produces several in-house videos—efficient mowing techniques, daily equipment maintenance, leaf removal, etc.—in English and Spanish.
In the field
Every spring The Brickman Group offers regional, hands-on training during the “Equipment Rodeo.” The bilingual training showcases equipment operation, safety and cutting techniques. One of Brickman’s senior Hispanic crew leaders usually leads the discussions.
Brickman’s production specialists follow up the training with periodic on-site supervision. “They are always out in the field visiting the branches. They’ll give suggestions on how to do things more efficiently,” Holly says.
Holly estimates that 75% of the company’s 6,000 in-season employees speak Spanish only. Many seasonal employees return so workers are not learning the processes and equipment from scratch year after year. Also, she adds that some seasonal employees bring a family member, such as a father, uncle or brother, into the organization, so the returning employees are teaching the new employees.
Typically a Hispanic crew leader supervises a crew; most Hispanic crew leaders are bilingual. No matter what language, she says crew leaders should be clear about their expectations. The crew leader might ask crew members to repeat instructions, so the crew leader knows that everyone is on the same page. “We train our guys to ask open-ended questions, so the crew member has to give more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response,” Holly says.
An English-speaking supervisor or project director directly communicates with customers. Even though crews do not speak to customers, they are courteous. “We tell them, ‘If you can’t speak English, then you can be friendly—smile and wave.’ They are always well versed in being polite and friendly on-site.”
Chris H. Fay, grounds manager at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, also stresses the importance of working around the public. With a large volume of students walking between classes, he trains his staff to be sensitive to the debris blown from a backpack blower or thrown by a string trimmer.
Trilingual?
Fay’s diverse staff includes Caucasians, African-Americans, American Indians, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Montagnards. Montagnards are from the highlands of central and southern Vietnam.
Five years ago, a few men from Mexico were the first non-English-speaking group to join Fay’s staff. When they first started, he brought in a translator for training. Two years ago, Fay hired a Puerto Rican-born crew leader. The bilingual crew leader now handles training, including safety and equipment operation. Most of the training is hands-on or in the field.
UNC-Greensboro’s grounds supervisor and crew leaders use a planning board and maps to explain what projects need to be done and where. Fay says this works well, and the team knows what to do.
When the Montagards started three years ago, Fay says one spoke some English. Even so, Fay brought in a translator for initial training. Three weeks later he brought the translator back to go over additional equipment training and to find out if the Montagards had any questions.
Evening English classes are available to any of the non-English-speaking employees, and many took advantage of the opportunity.
He finds that the Hispanics and Montagards will share their language, culture and even food during lunch breaks.
Some of Fay’s employees wanted to take part in May 1’s A Day Without Immigrants demonstrations. Fay says the employees asked off a week before the event. “My guys were very respectful in asking if they could take the day off. They wouldn’t just leave us without enough staff to get done what we had to do.”
Fay says the work ethic of his bilingual and non-English-speaking staff is “unbelievable.” He says they are the first to work additional hours and will do “whatever it takes” to improve the campus for a special event.
He encourages other managers to be patient with non-English-speaking staff. “Go out and observe. See if they have any questions and make sure things are clear,” he adds. “But the payoff, based on their work ethic, is well worth the little extra effort that you have to put forward.”
