Cómo Se Dice? Break down the language barrier between you and your employees.
By Mark Henricks •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
After 30 years in the roofing business, Bruce Fryer foundhimself going back to school to learn how to run his companybetter. This time, the owner of Fryer Roofing Co. Inc. in Fresno,California, was learning a new language so he could communicatewith his largely non-English-speaking, 50-person work force."I went through a Spanish class to try to at least familiarizemyself with key words, especially safety-related words," saysFryer, 49.
No one knows precisely how many U.S. workers have limited ornon-existent English skills, says Bob Losyk, Greensboro, NorthCarolina, author of Managing A Changing Workforce. But withestimates of the number of illegal immigrants alone ranging northof 10 million, the numbers are probably significant."You've got a whole work force there that doesn'tspeak the language," says Losyk.
