Leading Through Language Barriers for a Safe Workplace

Immigrant workers play a vital role in Canada’s labour market. On top of adding to economic growth, they help fill critical job shortages in many sectors.

However, for many, language barriers are a significant issue, impacting all aspects of work. Varying levels of proficiency in the predominant language spoken at work can affect the social environment and safety in your workplace.

If not managed properly, it can affect the extent to which these valued workers understand health and safety training and discussions, and their ability to report hazards, incidents and near misses. 

With this in mind, the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) conducted a study to assess how immigrant workers are being supported and protected in the workplace. They gathered insights from focus groups and interviews with 115 participants from six Canadian provinces and five stakeholder groups:

• Employers

• OHS professionals

• Settlement service providers

• Policymakers

• Immigrants from over 15 countries

The study informed the development of Immigrant Workers and Language Diversity at Work: What Employers Can Do to Keep Workers Safe—a resource that provides practical guidance for addressing language barriers.

The guide is an ideal resource for leaders, managers and business owners, in businesses of all types and sizes, who recognize they have an important role to play in supporting the safety of immigrant workers.

It outlines tips and real-life examples in three areas:

• Recruitment and hiring

• Onboarding

• Everyday workplace health and safety

Each of these sections covers practices that employers used, considerations when using these practices, additional suggestions and questions to reflect on.

For example, under “Recruitment and hiring,” a highlighted practice is connecting with local community organizations or settlement agencies to help recruit qualified immigrants and receive support from these organizations/agencies to adapt language requirements to needs of the job.

In the “Considerations when using these practices” section, readers are then encouraged to consider that immigrant workers with English as a second language may communicate and respond to interview questions differently, such as being modest about skills and achievements, which could be misunderstood as a lack of skills.

And one of the questions offered for reflection is “What local community and settlement organizations could support your staff with language? How can you build that relationship?”

Each section provides tips that can be implemented immediately, as well as insights and prompts to inform longer-term, strategic planning.

The guide reinforces the importance of building a foundation of trust, so immigrant workers feel safe to speak up about safety concerns without fear of repercussions. To do this, leaders who participated in the study say they focus on:

• Engaging in open and consistent communication

• Demonstrating empathy towards workers

• Offering explicit support around settlement

• Fostering psychological safety in the workplace

This post was written for The Trusted Leader blog with permission from the Institute for Work and Health. To access a copy of Immigrant Workers and Language Diversity at Work: What Employers Can Do to Keep Workers Safe, please visit their site.

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