Yesterday’s Leadership Daily Advisor looked at new proof of the growing impact of Hispanic Millennials on the workforce. Today we offer three more ways to prepare your company for success in meeting its diverse needs.
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Cultivating Competitiveness
Language assistance. While Pew Research Center data show it’s true that Hispanic Millennials are currently much less likely to be immigrants and are more likely to speak English proficiently, bilingual language efforts could be an area to revisit, experts say. Some company trainers are becoming more sophisticated in their language assistance opportunity, tailoring it to the needs of their workforces, international customer base, and job performance goals.
At the New York-based professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY), for example, language trainers focus on two groups. For operations in English-speaking countries, employees generally seek language assistance for cultural assimilation or business vocabulary. In non-English-speaking countries, becoming proficient in English opens up opportunities for advancement.
Creative benefits. When specifically appealing to Hispanic Millennials, for instance, they are more likely than Millennials in general to be part of large extended families and to bear some responsibility for providing financial support to relatives, according to the SHRM/CHCI report. Benefits such as tuition reimbursement, student loan repayment, flexible leave, job-protected maternity leave, and family leave are often very appealing to Hispanic employees.
Some companies go further, offering benefits—such as scholarships—that extend to other members of the family. For example, employees at Camden, Maine, -based Camden Real Estate Company get a 20 percent discount on their monthly rent and can lease vacation suites for $20 a night. It’s a benefit that employees’ children and parents can also take advantage of separately.
Community visibility and organizational affiliation. The Colgate-Palmolive Company, the New York-based consumer products giant, supports external organizations that focus on Hispanic diversity, including Prospanica—the National Society of Hispanic MBAs and the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers, for example.
These affiliations are important to the company’s diversity efforts—as evidenced by the fact that corporate officers participate in these groups. Furthermore, members of the HR and diversity teams also participate—all in an effort to better understand the needs of Hispanic talent.