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Contact: Liz Carroll
Phone: 413/775-1420
E-mail: carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Media contact: Liz Carroll
Marketing & Publications
413/775-1420 | carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Release date: January 24, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Custom-designed course by GCC's Department of Workforce Development helps employer strengthen bonds with Spanish-speaking workers

"The need is two-fold,” says Tom Roney, Director of Training at C&S Wholesale Grocers. "One, is to become the employer of choice. We need to figure out ways that we can reach out to our employees and let them know that we care about them as individuals, not just as employees. Two, we have a very diverse workforce in most of our warehouses. In Hatfield, we could really show that interest by learning some Spanish.”

So Roney contacted Nancy Bair, Coordinator of Workforce Development at Greenfield Community College. "I said, ‘We don't want conversational Spanish, like ‘Can you get me a taxi to the airport?' We want Spanish that's workplace-specific so that our people will understand safety issues, and we can answer their questions about payroll and benefits.”

As it turns out, Bair had just the solution: "Command Spanish.” It's a Spanish-language curriculum oriented to different workplaces, such as Industry and Warehousing. But together, Bair and Roney zeroed in on the C&S workplace to create a custom-designed language program that the company expects to use as a model for language-training programs in its 40 facilities across the United States.

"It's focused on C&S supervisors learning practical information that they can apply on the job, rather than academic credit toward a degree,” says Bair. At GCC, Charlotte Gifford, Chair of World Languages, and Amanda Damon, Spanish Adjunct Instructor, were already certified in Command Spanish. GCC trains law enforcement professionals, medical professionals and, starting next fall, firefighters and EMTs in the Spanish they need to serve the public.

But C&S requested, and received, a custom-made program that began with what is called a "literacy audit.” Explains Roney: "I said, ‘I would like Amanda [Damon] to spend some time in the warehouse, sit in on an orientation program for our new hires, sit in on a day of our training program, and spend a day or two shadowing some supervisors,' which she did. I said, ‘Follow them around with a tape recorder and just listen to what they say on a regular basis to their employees. That's what I want them to be able to say in Spanish.'”

Together, GCC and C&S came up with a two-part curriculum that started last fall with classes on Hispanic culture and language, and concludes this spring with workplace-specific Spanish-language training. Sixteen people took the course last fall, including Serge Chevalier, Director of Perishables Warehouse. "We wanted the course so it would help us communicate with our non-English-speaking workforce so that we could be of more help to them,” says Serge, "and make them feel a bit more needed and wanted.”

Suzie Finnell, Regional Human Resource Manager, is also taking the course. "We learned that family values are very, very high on their priorities,” says Finnell. "If a cousin, second cousin, nephew, whatever, needs something, everybody pitches in. They see their relatives, they keep in contact with them. They're all there for each other in a crisis.”

That's the kind of insight that helps supervisors to build lasting relationships with workers, asserts Roney: "When I understand that it's important that all conversations, even if they're serious work conversations, start with ‘How's your family?' and the conversation ensues about family, then I'm going to make that effort to bridge that cultural gap. Then we can get into the business issues.”

The result, they hope, will be a more positive work atmosphere for employees, leading to employee retention and referrals. "It's reaching out to that employees to say, ‘Look, I'm trying to be more understanding as an employer of what motivates you and what makes you feel comfortable at work,'” says Roney, "‘and we'll do our best to incorporate those things.'”

C&S executives are already looking forward to replicating GCC's custom-made language-training program at other worksites and for other cultural groups that make up their workforce. "Once we've established this literacy audit of common phrases [specific to C&S], then it's just a matter of saying, ‘OK, the next program is going to be in Westfield and it's going to be in Bosnian, because we have a large Bosnian population, or Windsor Locks for a Russian population—whatever would be appropriate. The format and the content would essentially remain the same, and that's what we're working on with GCC right now to develop.

"The folks at GCC are great,” concludes Roney. "It really takes a special set of skills to be able to blend the academic atmosphere with the workplace environment. We're excited about this. Eighteen people went through the [fall] pilot program, and they're looking forward to Part II. We really think it's going to make a difference.”

So does GCC, according to Bair. "With the increasing number of Spanish-speaking residents in Franklin County, and their desirability as employees, we anticipate that more employers will want to try Command Spanish for their particular business,” says Bair. "It's a growing community need, and we're looking forward to fulfilling that need, which is the purpose of my department.”

For more information on Command Spanish and other workplace education needs, please call Nancy Bair at 413-775-1607, or bair@gcc.mass.edu.