Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association Helps Hotel Members

Build Bridges with a Diverse Workforce

We all know what Hispanic means, right?  Is that the same as Latino?  Are all people of Mexican heritage Hispanic or Latino, or both?  How do their cultures differ? Defining someone’s ethnicity sounds simple, but if you get it wrong, you’re not communicating with them in an effective manner.

This is just one of a myriad of issues that the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association Educational Foundation (IHLAEF) is helping their members become more familiar with through a special hotel training program called Barriers to Bridges. 

Last week, approximately 50 IHLA member hotel employees in human resources and housekeeping participated in a training program that sensitizes them to the muli-faceted world of working more effectively with a growing Latino/Hispanic workforce.  The population is estimated to comprise 43 million Latinos today, and that number is expected to reach 100 million by the middle of the century. And, as no surprise, a growing number of hotel employees are either Hispanic or Latino.

How do employers build more effective bridges with this growing number of Latino employees?  Meet them halfway—help them learn English—and English-speakers should learn some basic Spanish.  Provide those learning English with Spanish translators during orientation or performance reviews.  Ask them questions in Spanish that they can answer with a simple yes or no.  Building these bridges has an enormous pay-off for employer and employee alike.  First, employees will be more satisfied and productive and more willing to become long-term, valued employees.  In the hotel industry, that translates into happier guests and the avoidance of the major expense of employee turnover.

I wanted to bring to your attention this innovative new training program.  I would be happy to introduce you to Jennifer Chase, Director of IHLA’s Education Foundation and Jill Bishop who heads Workforce Language Services, LLC, who conducted the training last week.  I’ll call in a few days to discuss your interest in pursuing this story.

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