Your company can benefit from having multilingual members of staff in its human resources department in various ways.
Here are six key reasons why you should embrace having an HR team that speaks multiple languages.
Help Your HR Employees Improve Their Language Skills, e.g. Spanish
Before we start listing the reasons why it’s so important to have HR team members who can speak multiple languages, it’s worth mentioning that you could encourage your existing team to learn new languages as well as hire people who are already fluent in more than one language.
The more bilingual or multilingual speakers you have in your HR department, the better. You should especially encourage existing HR employees to learn languages that will come in the most useful.
For instance, if your company is based in a region of the U.S. that has a large population of Spanish speakers or if you partner with clients in Spanish-speaking countries, it will be useful for your HR team members to be able to speak Spanish.
Thankfully, it’s easier than ever before for anyone to dive into Spanish language learning by engaging in classes on a reputable online platform.
1. Learning Another Language Can Help HR Team Members to Be Happier and Smarter
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By encouraging HR team members to learn other languages, you will help them to be happier and more productive in the workplace.
Learning something new helps employees to feel valued and not get bored with their work. It also keeps their brains more active, which means they can be more focused at work and come up with effective solutions.
And if you plan to move your business into other international territories, you may need to send HR employees to new global locations. Many HR team members will be happy to learn new languages if they know they have the opportunity to work in exotic places.
2. A Multilingual HR Team Can Enhance Diversity at the Workplace
One key reason why having a multilingual HR team is a good idea is that it enhances diversity in the workplace.
By hiring international HR team members, you will instantly enhance the team’s diversity. In turn, that makes HR more welcoming to diverse employees who need assistance.
For example, an employee who speaks Spanish will feel much more at ease if he or she can talk easily with a Spanish-speaking HR team member.
3. You Can Further Your International Recruitment Efforts
If you actively intend to recruit employees across your company that are from different countries, it’s essential that you have HR team members who can speak the languages of those countries.
They will need to do things like translate job postings and speak to international recruitment agencies as well as communicate with international candidates themselves. That would be incredibly challenging without people on the HR team who have excellent second-language skills.
4. You Can Fill Roles for Which There Are Shortages
Following on from the last point, by recruiting from other countries, you can fill positions within your company where there are shortages.
If your company is involved in an industry like engineering, technology, or mathematics, you probably know only too well how much of a shortage there is in qualified employees for specific roles.
So, if you’re planning on recruiting internationally to fill shortages, you need HR members of staff who can handle international recruitment well by speaking multiple languages.
5. If You’re Planning Global Expansion, You Need a Multilingual HR Team
If you plan on expanding your business operations to international territories, you may need to hire employees in those regions.
Whether those people are office based or they work remotely, they will be able to feel part of the company and increase their efficiency if they are able to communicate well with the HR team.
On the other hand, if HR members of staff are unable to communicate well in another language, that can lead to miscommunication. And miscommunication can lead to all kinds of issues, including a drop in productivity.
6. A Multilingual Workforce Will Enrich Your Workplace Culture, Plus It’s Good Business Sense
Finally, having a multilingual HR team and a more diverse workforce will enrich your company’s workplace culture.
A richly diverse workforce makes companies much more interesting for employees and clients.
So, by recruiting diverse people who speak a variety of languages, you can not only achieve new business goals. You can also make your company one that people actively want to work for. That means employee retention will be much easier to achieve.