spanish speaking problems

sunshine state

How do you deal with employees that speak both English & Spanish equally well and they stand in the halls and speak Spanish loudly , disturbing English only employees. We are a non profit and the majority of our employees speak English. We have Spanish speaking employees that refuse to speak English all the time causing a disturbance. They have been asked to refrain from speaking so loud in Spanish and continue to do so. We do not want a law suit reguarding this problem- freedom of speach or discrimination- but we do need to do something. The English speaking only asked for the Spanish/English to please speak English that this is America and were told to get on the other side of the building where the English speaking people are. The Spanish do not realize that when they are speaking Spanish that they raise their voices and disturb others trying to work. Any ideas??????

Paul in Cannon Beach

Just for clarity, is the problem the volume of their voices or the language (spanish) they are speaking in?

sunshine state

volume of their voices. They talk faster in Spanish and tend to get louder. I am located around the corner from them and can hear them in my office.

Irie

Then address the volume, not the language in which they are speaking.

Irie

You cannot dictate what language people speak to each other. The only exception would be if it is for a legitimate business reason then you can mandate they speak English.

If employees want to speak only Spanish (or any other language) and it is not interfering with your business, that is their choice and you cannot stop them. We have many Hispanic employees in our manufacturing facility and they all speak Spanish to each other because it is more comfortable for them. Until English is designated as the official language of the USA, there isn't much you can do.

NaeNae55

You really have 2 problems here. One is that some employees are offended by other employees speaking Spanish ("..that this is America.."), and the other is that the employees who happen to be speaking Spanish are speaking too loud.

Unless you have a legitimate business reason, you cannot prevent employees from speaking another language in your facility. Your offended employees will have to adjust.

Speaking loudly is another issue. Disrupting employees is a legitimate problem which you can address. Just make sure you don't bring up the language in the conversation. Address the volume and disruption only. It may be that it only happens when they are speaking Spanish, but that is neither here nor there. Addressing anything but volume and disruption will get you into trouble.

One more thing. It is possible they are speaking just as loudly when they speak English, only no one has noticed or been offended. Be careful that this is not the situation. There have been lawsuits about limiting language in the workplace, and only those employers with legitimate business reasons were able to avoid heavy penalties.

Good luck!

Nae

Dasher

There is really more to this than it first appears. It is both the volume and the language which is problematic. Those being "disturbed" don't know exactly what is being said, and can feel threatened. There are cultural issues which must be addressed as well. By providing a comprehensive diversity training(s) the company can include more than just situational language use. Good luck. These are not simple issues and requires a lot of hard work to address.

cnghr

I have to agree with the last paragraph of Nae's post...it is possible (likely, even, in my opinion) that the employees are speaking just as loudly when they speak English, but the employees who complain are far more sensitive to the conversations being carried on in a language they don't understand. I have encountered similar situations several times in my career in HR, and every time we've talked to a person who has complained about co-workers speaking to each other in their native languages, it has come out that the real reason for the complaint has been because the complaining employee felt that the co-workers were talking about them or laughing at them. Sounds paranoid, I know, but the truth is, some people feel very threatened by things they don't understand, including conversations carried on in other languages.

I agree with everyone else who has advised you to address the issue of volume & disruption only. Don't go anywhere near the issue of language!