Once again, the tables are turned as our host Wendy Pease shares a podcast she recently appeared on as a guest – Conquering Chaos.
Host Josh Santo (Senior Product Marketing Manager at Parsable) and Wendy talk about global business in the manufacturing industry and how to handle language for non-English speaking customers, vendors, and employees.
Whether you’re in the manufacturing industry or not this is a great episode!
LINKS:
If you’re a leader in the manufacturing industry, follow the Conquering Chaos podcast for more great episodes - https://parsable.com/conquering-chaos-podcast/
Parsable - https://parsable.com/
Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/
Connect with Josh - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshsanto/
Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
ATTENTION: Below is a machine generated transcription of the podcast. Yes, at Rapport International, we talk a lot about how machine translation is not good quality. Here you see an example of what a machine can do in your own your language. This transcription is provided as a gist and to give time indicators to find a topic of interest.
[00:00:34] Wendy: This is Wendy Pease, your normal host of The Global Marketing Show podcast. And today we're going to switch it up a little bit because I'm going to become the guest and play the recording of the interview that I did with Josh Santo. Who's the host of the Conquering Chaos podcast. As we went through the conversation, it was very interesting with what he had to talk about.
[00:01:00] And then the angle he brought me to talk about, uh, the manufacturing industry and what they can do for going global and the. Application that they have at Parsable that really helps and how it goes across languages. So rather than recording a new episode or sending you over there, I thought we'd play it here.
[00:01:21] So you'd have the opportunity. If you know anybody in manufacturing or you're in manufacturing, this is the episode for you. Please share it around. And if you're not in manufacturing, it also gives a bunch of good. Tips and hints on how to handle language. Particularly if you're selling internationally or you have multilingual or you have employees.
[00:01:45] Who speak another language and may not be able to speak your language with you. So I hope you enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed talking to Josh. It was a very lively conversation and I'm sure you'll learn something so signing off for now. Thanks also to Rapport International for sponsoring this podcast, the global marketing show.
[00:02:05] You have a great week.
[00:02:07]
[00:02:10] Josh: coming up on this show, we're speaking to a passionate leader who specializes in connecting people across languages and cultures, and that comes through and for various pursuits from traveling the world to advising a variety of companies across industries on communication.
[00:02:27] How does this tie back to manufacturing? Well, let's take a look at the current workforce challenges. As an example, part of the problem is centered around communication. Who are you trying to reach? How, what is your message? And are you even. Quite literally and figuratively speaking the same language. Our next guest is a CEO of Rapport International, which specializes in multilingual communications that help businesses reach their target audience.
[00:02:57] She's the host of the global marketing show podcast and the author of the book, the language of global marketing. Please. Welcome to the show, Wendy peas, Wendy. Thanks so much for joining us today.
[00:03:11] Wendy: Thank you, Josh. It's great to be
[00:03:12] Josh: here. It's great to have you here. Uh, you know, we like to start each show with the same question, which is what's your day to day look like in your role.
[00:03:20] And this can be, you know, both the work as well as home. Cause we all know that home and work have sort of merged in recent times.
[00:03:30] Wendy: They certainly have except in recent times and past times, my life has been merged. I originally bought Rapport International cause I had two young children and I wanted to be able to own a company and control my time schedule rather than running off to.
[00:03:49] Office and working, you know, seven to seven and having to do dinners and travel. So I've worked from home for 17 years, uh, and all the employees that I've hired work from home. And through the years we thought, well, should we get an office? And verdict is always no. So when we had to go, well, we were virtual before the cloud and we had to go virtual for COVID.
[00:04:10] We were already there. So it's, it works for us.
[00:04:15] Josh: Got it. So you you've been through this way before everyone else had to make that transition. And, and, uh, you know, I know one of the things that I had to learn pretty quickly, especially adapting to having to be from a home working environment is putting those boundaries in place as far as like, well, work starts at this time when work ends at this time.
[00:04:34] Cause it was too easy for work to just be like a, something that was always there. For me now, I don't know if that's something you struggled with, but I, I certainly did,
[00:04:47] Wendy: At the start of COVID I. I had, I had no social activities going on. So I had a choice. I could either work or I could do home projects.
[00:04:57] Now. I much prefer my work over all projects. So I did a lot of working, but it was a real productive year. I wrote and published a book and launched a podcast, the global marketing show where I'm talking to people like you, who do global marketing. So for me, my work is kind of a release in a. You know, an outpouring of my creativity.
[00:05:20] You know, when I put the extra hours in. So, but over the last six months, I've pulled back a little bit more because, you know, there's slightly more socializing. We understand what could go on. But you do have to put boundaries in. I really tried not to work on the weekends by. If time is first thing in the morning.
[00:05:37] So I'll get up and sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and work for awhile where I can get that undisturbed thinking anytime between five and seven and then probably around 7 30, 8 o'clock I take off and I go work out I got a new Peloton. I've been thoroughly enjoying that. And then I'll come back and work the day, but I knock off probably around four or five o'clock at
[00:05:58] Josh: least.
[00:05:59] You know, that's a common theme that we're, that I've seen with the leaders that we bring onto the podcast is there is a dedicated time in the morning before the, the fires pop up and the chaos takes over that quiet time to. Reflects, uh, or visualize, or just gather thoughts that are going to enable that centered approach to the day as well as exercise.
[00:06:24] So everyone listening part of conquering the everyday chaos within the manufacturing environment is conquering your own chaos within your. No live. So it's, that's a common theme, undisturbed thinking exercise that sets you up to execute at the level at which you need to be.
[00:06:41] Wendy: And also a gratitude practice.
[00:06:44] The November before the world shut down. I started a gratitude practice before I got out of bed every day. I was always thinking about what I needed to get done. And then I get out of. Kind of charged. But I changed that to thinking about what are the things in my life that I'm grateful for. And I tried to pick special moments, like seeing a Cardinal in the backyard, or a funny joke that my son told or, you know, a good conversation that I had at work.
[00:07:07] And that just changed my whole view on the world. And so I certainly add that into my morning ritual.
[00:07:12] Josh: And that was a theme of we just recorded with an individual named Sarah Dale. She's a plant manager at international paper, and that's one of the things she spoke of, of, of really changing how she approached her day was taking that moment of finding what is it that I'm grateful for?
[00:07:28] And it comes back to that. You know, it is a very challenging time outside of work. It's a challenging time inside of work, particularly in manufacturing with the different struggles between the supply chain issues, the workforce issues. There's a lot of, you know, pressure, frustration, and really it comes down to an individual mindset, especially for the leaders.
[00:07:50] That right mindset is going to reflect the culture and it's going to be infectious. So being able to bring that, that center. Appreciative, you know, real, you know, I would say grounded perspective makes an impact. And let's talk about making an impact. So, you know, we've spoken. On this show in the past about the difficulties that manufacturers are facing recruiting and retaining workers, while also preparing for the upcoming retirement of the experience workers.
[00:08:19] You've got these two, this perfect storm coming. We had a, an individual named Jim Parker. He's the director of. Quality and operational excellence at inline plastics. And he joined us to share how they've reduced turnover and improved retention. Within the first 90 days, we've spoken to Paula O'Driscoll from J and J and Anthony Loy from Schneider electric.
[00:08:39] They shared how they're engaging the next generation of industrial leaders through their work with the world economic forum. And we even interviewed. Uh, two cow from OFI. She shared her experiences, a gen Z manufacturing professional. So what we invited Wendy here to talk about today's perspective that hasn't come up yet on the show and that's appealing to foreign.
[00:09:02] Workers now, according to the national immigration forum, and this is as of 2018. So it's a little little out of date at this point, but it was the most recent statistics that I could find immigrants make up 17% of the us workforce and 19% of the manufacturing labor force. Now that's a pretty significant number about a.
[00:09:24] Of the manufacturing workforce. So what if you could further appeal to that community, how would that help with your workforce issues? So that's what we're talking about today. How manufacturers can address. Engage and delight local members of foreign born communities. So Wendy, my first question to you, you know, you work with many types of industries, industries, sorry, not just manufacturing.
[00:09:48] Talk to us about the importance of embracing foreign born communities in today's workforce.
[00:09:55] Wendy: It is such a huge opportunity for manufacturers. And first off I have to say Josh, that, you know, when we first connected, I went to your website, parcel's website to look at the services that you're offering. And I was so excited to see that you offer the platform and multiple languages because you're the, the, the, the service that you have.
[00:10:19] Helps with improving safety and quality and productivity. And if you do that only in English, you're really limiting what you can do on the shop floor. And so I'm so thrilled that your blinders are off and, you know, the opportunity. For companies that are going that manufacturer internationally or just in the United States.
[00:10:41] So I'd love to give an example of a client of ours called Boston centerless who recognized years ago that they had trouble hiring in their area, but there was a huge population of Spanish speaker speakers and Vietnamese speakers. And so what they did was figure out how to build an environment that would be very friendly and inclusive.
[00:11:04] For people who didn't speak English. Now, the number one problem I see with companies is they say, oh, we'll hire them. And then we'll teach them English and then we'll have this great work staff. And then we could do business as usual. Well, that doesn't work because you can find some incredible employees that don't have language skills.
[00:11:23] And so, for example, if this, the spots and center lists, they do precinct. Manufacturing of metal rods and they have to be extremely high quality because they're used in medical devices. And so if something's not extremely precise, it can cause major injuries. So they had to figure out how are we going to attract new employees, employees, how are we going to hire them and train them and how are we going to engage them?
[00:11:52] So they actually. And find it such a friendly workforce that they actually refer people in, so they don't have trouble hiring. So they did it from the start is they, they would go to those hiring trade shows, pre COVID and they would translate the brochure. They'd have a QR code that would then go to their website with information in, in Spanish.
[00:12:16] They started out with, and so people could do the application and on there. When they came in for the interview, they did have some bilingual speakers that they had hired on staff. But if you don't, you can always use telephone interpreting, or you can hire an interpreter and do a series of interviews throughout the day to find people.
[00:12:36] Now, the immigrants that come to the U S. Are extremely highly qualified for the most part. A lot of them have masters and PhDs. They've been lawyers and doctors in their country and they've come over here. And sometimes they're working in housekeeping jobs or other things like that because they can't do their original profession, uh, because they don't have the language skills, everything that you hear in the popular press about.
[00:13:04] You know, they're, they're here illegally or they've crossed the border or all that stuff. That's a, that's a small percentage of the immigrants that have come in. So the resources are out there, or, you know, the people that are out there that you can hire are, are extremely, highly qualified. Okay. So we're talking about attracting and how you bring them on that.
[00:13:27] You know, you do the interview, you have somebody help facilitate that conversation. And that's, we've provided interpreters for benefits meetings and for hiring and for translating those brochures. The next step is you bring them on and you have to train them and you have to make sure they're fully trained.
[00:13:45] The manuals are in language so they can refer to them. And that they also know what the company rallies around. So Boston centerless is. They're rallying around precise manufacturing. So they're looking for people that are extremely detail oriented that would like to do things the same way over and over again.
[00:14:07] It's not creativity, but it's that style of person. So when you train them, Then they can do that. Now they've done some good things with, like I was talking about the safety and the damages they can cause they have signs all over the place that show what can happen. And they're kind of gruesome pictures of injuries that can happen if the precise manufacturing isn't done.
[00:14:32] So it's there as a reminder they have. Uh, for the training, they've got a big whiteboard up with magnets and everybody on the shop floor, their names up there. And when they train on different stations, the they add magnets into that area. So everybody can see who's trained on what area. And so if they need backup, they can go.
[00:14:54] In addition, this makes it very equal for how people are promoted and get raises because the more you're cross trained, the more valuable you become to the. The company. Another area is how do you reward and communicate when projects are done and the statistics around it, they've developed this statute called Tim wood.
[00:15:17] It's a Tim manic, a wooden mannequin that standard. Five feet tall that rolls around the shop floor to different stations. So when they finish a job, it has the numbers on it, of, you know, how precise, how many of the manufactured or, you know, whatever the stats are that they had to do. But people can see when a job is finished.
[00:15:37] So they've, they've incorporated a lot of visuals that don't need a lot of explanation or reading. Somebody can glance at it really quickly and understand what it says. So, and then for the third, so you've got the attract, you've got the engage and then how do you delight? These are marketing terms, but I think it's attract, retain, you know and include across the manufacturer, across the hiring.
[00:16:04] And so when you get to the really delighting their employees and making them feel engaged, what can you do about that? Well, the. What they do is, is for every, so they started with Spanish and they went into other languages. And so they have, I think they have about eight or nine different languages spoken there.
[00:16:22] And for all the countries that people are from, they hang a flag up on the shop floor. So when you walk in, you see your country's flag up there and there's pride in that. So if anybody leaves and that country is no longer represented, they take that down, but they put them up and take them down. So it's very.
[00:16:39] Active reminder of the diversity. That's there for their holiday party. They do a potluck and people bring foods from their native country. And they said that's one of the most favorite events that they do throughout the year. So they are, they're celebrating the culture. And so they've, and they've promoted supervisors who are bilingual, um, and then teaching English is, uh, is a better.
[00:17:03] It's not a must have, but then people who want to learn English can opt in into the classes. So you can see through the whole cycle from how are we going to find people, how are we going to bring them on and train them? And then how are we going to make them really feel part of the team they've done these things throughout and they're consistent at it.
[00:17:22] Now, the added benefit for. Is there practically, fully staffed in this era when everybody is having a hard time hiring because they hire friends and family of the people already working there. So, you know, you're working there and you have a cousin or your spouse or your child, or somebody wants to come work there.
[00:17:43] They get a referral bonus for referring the employee gets a referral bonus. Referring somebody in, and then they get to work with people that they know in like already. So they've got this, this whole circle of how do I, you know, find new employees it's naturally feeding the engine.
[00:18:01] Josh: There's a lot of.
[00:18:03] Great comments and and stories that you shared in there. And I want to emphasize, I want to go through a couple of those, uh, but I want to emphasize that last thing that you said of here's, here's an added benefit that you may not realize, but they're practically, fully staffed. Now, how many.
[00:18:19] How many companies can say that these days. And there's, there's, there's a lot of great points that you brought up and I want to go through a few of those. One of those is starting on that idea of, and we actually had a guest sometime last year, his name was Greg Chamberlain. He talked about how your talent supply, think of it as a talent supply chain.
[00:18:41] Right. And you need to think of how manufacturing impacts the local communities and in doing so, you have to understand who are the local communities. And by doing that, now you can start to build who is it that we can reach out to because our organization is, is providing a service to the local communities and we want to engage the different local communities.
[00:19:00] And part of those local communities do include, you know, foreign born people who I've certainly. It, wherever you live, there's certainly these communities of foreign born individuals and it's, and it's a great way to get exposure to that diverse culture, which is so critical. And we're going to come to that point that you made on the delighting side.
[00:19:23] Wendy: Right. And let me just add in on that too, is, is that you have manufacturing organizations or companies that are usually based and lower rent. Communities because you don't need the retail space. You don't need to be on fifth avenue, you can be out someplace. And if you look around that community, there usually is a lot of immigrants that are there.
[00:19:43] So tapping in knowing your town and tapping into that.
[00:19:47] Josh: And this gets into one of the ideas that has come up consistently on the show is that manufacturing has a marketing problem. And it's not so much marketing of the goods that they're selling, but it's, it's marketing from a, what does our. You know, perception within the industry and who are we trying to reach, particularly in this, in this conversation of who are we trying to reach to, to bring people on.
[00:20:11] And, and I love that you called out that, that the organization that you're working with took the time to reflect on who are the types of people. That we're seeking to bring into our environment. Well, we're looking for detail oriented people, right? We're looking for detail oriented people across the different basis of communities that are nearby.
[00:20:30] So we know that we're looking for this type of person and this type of person exists within every culture. So how can we, how can we cast a wider net? I mean, back to that statistic, a fifth of the manufacturing workforce is made up of foreign born workers. I've certainly seen that firsthand in my work here at parcel.
[00:20:45] Uh, I I've been to hundreds of different manufacturing facilities and a significant amount of people that I've interacted with or English as a second language. Right. And, and there's definitely, you know, when those people, there's a. I don't want to speak on their behalf, but sometimes their sensitivities about language skills.
[00:21:05] I've certainly been there in my time, you know, working in, in, living in France, trying to speak French and, uh, and failing pretty poorly at it. It's tough to be in a, in a world where, you know, you, it's tough to communicate. And so you know, and I've, I've worked with with manufacturers who, you know, like you mentioned before parcels available in 18 languages and counting and part of their requirement.
[00:21:32] Wendy: I love that. I love that. And when we were talking earlier, you said that it depends on the device. So almost everybody has a smartphone now. And if your device is set to Spanish or Korean or Russian or whatever, the parcel app is going to come up in that language. And so imagine the safety and quality and productivity that you can manage through that.
[00:22:00] Across all the languages. I just, I can't say enough how thrilled I am that you, you have translated that and you see the vision for it.
[00:22:08] Josh: Well, it's, it's critical cause you're right. You know, especially in manufacturing where, you know, your top concerns are one safety. You know, quality and productivity.
[00:22:18] There's certain critical pieces of information that people need to know and must have access to in a way that they can consume it. That's a critical part, right? It doesn't, it's not a good enough job if it's like, okay, here's the book on safety. You need to know this at all times. That's not going to work for anyone.
[00:22:34] It needs to be something that they can consume
[00:22:37] Wendy: and close the loop and closed loop. And so how do you make that accessible in language? And so, so many times I see tech companies or manufacturing companies not think global from the start or think multi-lingual from the start. Cause even manufacturing. I mean, there is a need and a desire for U S goods internationally.
[00:22:58] Yeah. So hats off to you guys.
[00:23:01] Josh: Yeah. Yeah. One, one customer that we worked with, you know, we were first starting conversations with them. You know, the, the guy we were talking to, he, he said, Hey look, our. Is is made up of a significant portion of the Bulgarian community, right? So you have to be able to support Bulgarian, or this is a non-starter and it's, it's that type of experience that I, you know, I want to make sure it doesn't get overlooked is that there are a significant portion of our team members who are English as a second language, who are connected to their community, who can, and to the point that we'll get to provide those referrals as well, because that is, that is the critic that, that is the best one.
[00:23:41] For recruiting is the referral best approach.
[00:23:45] Wendy: And the benefit to the people that you hire is they become so loyal. Because if you imagine you're in the U S you're college educated, you've held a good job in your country. And now you're here in the United States for whatever reason, and you don't speak English.
[00:24:02] It's really hard to get a good job where you. Have consistency. You've got long longevity, you've got a commitment. You're mentally challenged. You get benefits, you get holiday pay. So these jobs are really good for people that don't speak English and they become loyal, you know? Cause they're, they're part of a real company.
[00:24:23] That's building something. They don't feel like they're just part of the disposable workforce.
[00:24:29] Josh: Absolutely. And you know, one of the things that I loved about the story that you shared, you know, when we were talking about delighting the word that came to mind with everything that you were just describing was this idea of representation, right?
[00:24:41] People, people want to feel heard, included, represented, right. And especially, you know, we think about, you know, you and I both are Americans. We're proud of. That fact, right. We're Americans we're proud. Well, that same sort of pride comes from people from foreign born communities. People are proud of their heritage, right?
[00:25:05] There's in that, that ties closely to identity and, and, and something I learned from, from Seth Goden is this idea that. You know, to appeal to people. We've got to keep this idea in mind. Is that the way that people think is people like us do things like this, right? And so to be able to represent a community and show that not only are you represented, but you are embraced and welcome, which goes a long way on ESG from a, from a diversity equity and inclusion.
[00:25:36] Perspective, but it gets to that idea of delighting. And when you delight people, you've got those advocates and what do advocates do they say, Hey, people that I care about, you need to know about this great opportunity. Let me tell you about it. Let me bring you in. And like you called out practically, fully staffed.
[00:25:55] Yeah, that's a big deal.
[00:25:56] Wendy: That is a huge deal. It's a huge deal. Yeah. And so, you know, what, what is coming to mind for me now is if you're a manufacturer and you're listening to this and you go, huh, this could be something that I'm interested in. Looking at many people are afraid of different cultures and languages, but you know, if you take those blinders back a little bit and you want to figure out how to start.
[00:26:19] I am certainly happy to do an introductory call. We've got a case study on our website about Boston center lists. Our website is Rapport, translations.com and bought. If you just go to the search bar on the top, right. And search for Boston centerless you can see that and you can read more in detail about it.
[00:26:38] And I'm happy to, you know, help in any way on that. So, cause it can, there is, I'm doing a presentation in a month or so for a Sherm continuing education that walks through the steps and all the considerations and different frameworks for thinking about how you'd think about what content you need on each stage and how you set that up.
[00:26:57] So once you get the strategy. Uh, you know, where you want to go, then it's you develop a process around it. And then you can look at which quality you need for translation, what resources, you know, you need high quality translation, a human professional to do any of your safety and your training material.
[00:27:17] But yeah, Google translate for your sitting in the coffee room and you're trying to figure out just how to connect with somebody works out fine. So, you know, so you think about strategy process. You know, where you can leverage technology and what quality you need. And then once you lay that out for one language, you can replicate it for other languages.
[00:27:36] If that's what you want.
[00:27:38] Josh: It was a bit of a standard operating process in what you just described. You've filled out here's the standard way to approach it. And then it becomes a repeatable and scalable approach so that you're not reinventing the wheel every time.
[00:27:51] Wendy: Well, that's how nicely said. Thank you,
[00:27:53] Josh: Josh.
[00:27:53] Of course. So you know, one of the things that we brought up. We're essentially talking about how to Mar market opportunities within manufacturing to it, to a new audience or an audience that may not always be thought of first and foremost. You have to be targeted. You have to know who you're trying to reach.
[00:28:09] You have to know what matters to them. You have to stand out from the rest and there can be pitfalls along the way. I would love to hear from your perspective, what should manufacturers who are seeking to, to reach foreign born communities? What should they be wary of? Where, where could they go wrong?
[00:28:27] Inadvertently?
[00:28:27] Wendy: Well, I talked about Google translate. I think you've got to be really careful in what aspect you're using that. Cause you don't want to increase your liability because the quality is not there. And I have tons of examples on that. So, you know, look at the resources that you're using for language communication.
[00:28:45] I think another thing is if, if you're going to do this. Did you spend a lot of time thinking about culture and, and how to rally around. What your goal is like Disney rallies, their global workforce around the child within us. POS and settlers does it on precision manufacturing. So in manufacturing, there is a lot of rattling about different ways of, you know, how do you articulate quality?
[00:29:11] That's important. If you don't spend a lot of time building the culture, that's going to be inclusive. You can get to an us versus them mentality. And that can just sink you, cause people aren't going to be working together. They're going to be afraid. So look at your resources, look at your how you're going to build your culture.
[00:29:30] And I think the other thing is, is if you don't, don't start doing it now you're gonna look back and regret. And, and, and I, and I think the biggest. Thing that holds people back from not doing it is this fear of other languages and cultures. And I've lived around the world and I thrive talking to people from different countries and basically people want to live in a place that's safe.
[00:29:53] They want to provide for their family. They want to have engaging work. And they like to have a sense of humor and laugh about things, you know, so that's, that's my own analysis of what people want and that goes across the world. And so a smile is the only gesture that, that is recognized everywhere.
[00:30:12] And that can go. Uh, far, far away, so don't be afraid be open stay curious. That's the number one thing I hear on the global marketing show for people talking about when you're traveling internationally for building your business is just stay curious and ask there's. There's delicate ways to ask things.
[00:30:30] And people are so much happier being asked rather than, you know, not having an uncomfortable situation.
[00:30:36] Josh: You know, a key idea of that was kind of underlying a lot of what you brought up is, and you said it culture, right? Because one thing we want to make sure we don't forget is it's not just, it's not as translated.
[00:30:51] Words, right. It's, it's how to appeal to people from a different background whose culture consist of things that, you know, you may not be as familiar with. And it's, it's, it's more than just a, like I said, it's more than just a change of words and a change of language. It's change of culture and humor is a big part of.
[00:31:13] Culture, right. Things that are funny in one culture, not necessarily as funny and another culture. But I love that you brought up rallying around culture because it does, you do have to understand it, that cultural differences do play a part in it and they shouldn't be diminished or dismissed. It should be embraced and celebrated.
[00:31:33] Right. The example that you provided, I love it. Bring a dish that you know, is representative of your culture, of where from. I certainly love that idea. Yeah.
[00:31:43] Wendy: So there's a lot of other hints too, when you're working with people across culture and you started to say, you know, if you're, you're working with people from different cultures, we're talking about two cultures here.
[00:31:54] One is the culture of the workforce and the other is different cultures from around the world. And when you're working with people from different cultures around the world, you also have to be aware of body, language and responses. Um, like for example, a head nod. In some cultures can mean, yes, I hear you.
[00:32:11] But it, it may not mean I agree with you. So they may mean maybe nodding and you may be thinking that, oh, okay, they're going to do what I want, or they agree with me. So you do have to slow down communications and have people. So you talk slower, you have them repeat, you, ask in different ways of, do you, do you foresee any issues that could arise?
[00:32:35] Yes, or, you know, so there's delicate ways to ask, to hear if there's. It's something that they disagree with, that they wouldn't want to cause shame by pointing out that you're making mistake. And so there's, there's little subtleties that you start to learn and that's where if you have an interpreter or you have somebody that's fully bilingual that can notice and articulate these they can be a cultural conduit to help, help you understand what might be going on.
[00:33:02] Josh: I love that a cultural.
[00:33:04] Wendy: Yes. Yes. And the other thing that we absolutely have to point out is if you've done no educational and diversity equity and inclusion, the companies that are diverse have higher revenues, they produce more, they're more stable. And the statistics are like, they slightly vary between women and people of color and culture.
[00:33:25] And they range between like 20 and 30% outperforming their competitors that are non-diverse and companies that are not diverse at all are like 25% underperforming. So I know it's a struggle right now to hire people and you may be doing this. You know, bodies in the seats or get fully employed, but the benefit of doing it is it's going to show in your company because you're going to get other viewpoints that are going to make you better and stronger.
[00:33:58] So you will see a financial payoff to this.
[00:34:01] Josh: Absolutely. I mean, that's, uh, one of the, you know, aside from being a morally good thing, diversity, equity and inclusion, there is tangible impacts that have been well-researched and studied because of that diverse background, the different ways of approaching problems, because we all know in manufacturing, is this the reason for the name of the show?
[00:34:20] Conquering chaos. It's. Sometimes anything, but straight forward in a lot of times what you're doing is you're fighting fires. You're having to deal with different problems and having someone bring a unique perspective and a viewpoint to, I see this problem, this way, here's solutions that I've experienced or that relate to that.
[00:34:40] That's what drives. Innovation. And to your point, innovation fuels your competitive advantage. Right? And if you think about the other point that you made, which is starting now, this is part of the competitive advantage of how do we get fully staffed. You know, tackle production, quality and safety, all of these areas that are essential to surviving within manufacturing and do it quicker than our competitors.
[00:35:05] Right? So there's that, that first mover advantage with tapping into these different communities that are located, you know, around, you know, not just United States, but it's all across the world. I certainly have the habit of thinking very US-based, which is a problem with me, everyone I'm working on it.
[00:35:22] Yeah, well,
[00:35:22] Wendy: let's, let's, uh, I, and I just have to, I'm so glad you brought up innovation because the companies that are diverse have higher innovation that's proven to. And one of the stories that I love is, uh, Pepperidge farms. You know, they make the little cookies and they had a little. Latino workers in the factory.
[00:35:40] And they said, you know, how come Latinos don't buy Pepperidge farms? And they said, well, you don't have, are a flavor. That's very common in the Latino markets in the U S and they said, what's that? And they said strawberry. So they made a strawberry Pepperidge farm cookie, and it flew off the shelves and the Latino neighborhood.
[00:35:58] So it's little things like that, that you may not realize that if you're your diverse, that you get insights in that that are going to help your company.
[00:36:06] Josh: I love that story. It reminds me of the story of, I don't know all the details and I'm going to Bush butcher the story. So please forgive me if I get it wrong, but it's related to Cheetos in the creation of flaming hot Cheetos, you know, an individual I believe he's Hispanic individual.
[00:36:22] You know, the, the, he was adding or suggested a particular flavoring that he enjoyed. And that's what eventually became the, the flaming hot Cheetos, which is a huge, huge hit. Cultures. I love flaming hot
[00:36:38] Wendy: Cheetos. My teens can't get enough of flaming hot Cheetos. Yeah. Yeah. So innovation and that, that extends to manufacturing too.
[00:36:48] Cause it's a different, a different viewpoint. Different perspective perspective is a better way to
[00:36:53] Josh: say it. Yes. Well, let's, let's talk about. Setting up operations for success when building a diverse workforce, let's talk about some best practices. You know, we mentioned a few things, a common one that I think came up in some of the examples is how to make work visual.
[00:37:09] It's certainly something that we seek because visuals span across languages. Right. Uh, you know, that's one of the things that we, we, we focus on at parcel, you know, w one of the. Major use cases is providing work instructions so that you know what tasks you need to complete, but also providing the how to complete that particular task.
[00:37:30] Now . True for not just different cultures, but different generations as well, millennials and gen Z. We don't want to read a ton of texts, right? Where YouTube videos, Tik TOK videos. Right. So how can you embed visuals that communicate how to perform? Let's say in this example, it's a cleaning. Clean inspect lubricate process.
[00:37:54] You know, this is how you, you address this part of machine. Here's specifically where you need to look, right. And you've got that video that walks you through that can then be used, uh, across languages.
[00:38:05] Wendy: Videos are a great way to do visuals because if you've got something you're just showing, you can put music in the background and then it doesn't matter what language somebody speaks.
[00:38:18] Everybody can watch it. Now, if you do have something that takes language, you can do subtitle. And so you take, if you script it out, all you have to do is translate the script. And then the video editor can put those across the bottom of the screen and people are used to reading subtitles. That's the part of the millennial gen Z thing.
[00:38:40] You're so used to watching videos. When you're trying not to make noise, that people are accepting subtitles a lot more common. Now, if you hire a voiceover person to do it, you've got to do the translation and then you also have to hire a person, get them to do the audio file and then match the audio file to the video.
[00:39:00] So it's a lot more complex.
[00:39:02] Josh: Yeah, absolutely. And that kind of gets me to another question is, you know, what kind of help do manufacturers need in, in making this happen and making their, their place of work? Something where foreign born workers can thrive.
[00:39:18] Wendy: Well, I think it's well, all right. When I talk about it, you got to start with strategy.
[00:39:23] Okay. So if you're the hiring manager, you're the shop floor manager. If you don't have the buy-in from the senior executives to do this, it's going to be really hard because then you'll create the us versus them. So you're, you've got to have your corporate strategy along with your HR strategy. Align with your multi-lingual strategy.
[00:39:43] So your corporate strategy has to say, okay, we're going to open up the culture to make it welcoming. And we're going to first focus on this language and you know, so everybody is in alignment and you're there for it. You could even do some cultural diversity training to it, to get people ready for that idea.
[00:40:02] So that's the first place you want to start. And then I talked about, you know, what are the different things across the stages that you need to, to make language accessible?
[00:40:12] Josh: Yeah. And that, and that one call it that you made of having that, uh, that current. Of the culture that someone who can, you know, it's more than just translating the language, but it's, it's making sure that, you know, people are communicating in all the different ways that we communicate, whether it is the, uh, you know, body language, right.
[00:40:30] Being a key factor in how a message is put out there or received. You also mentioned that, that, you know, there, there is going to be a need for translation services of the content that you're providing and that you have to make sure. Whatever service that you're using is completely accurate because I've certainly butcher translations using Google translate.
[00:40:52] And that's not something that anyone can afford, especially when safety is paramount. Right.
[00:40:58] Wendy: Yeah. So yeah. I want to talk about that, but I also want to go back to when you're recruiting people, I mentioned the job fairs and translating the flyer with the QR code did go to the website, a lot of immigrants, depending on what, what language and what culture you can go to churches or places of worship, or you can go to, you know, like Chinese schools or Russian math schools.
[00:41:21] Or community centers. These are all places where people will congregate and there's usually a community leader that has a lot of influence. So if you can find that person and explain to him or her, what you're looking for, they usually are well connected. Say, you know, through whatever social media platform they're having.
[00:41:40] So, so maybe it's a big group of. Brazilian people that happened to have a chat group on Facebook in that town. If you can post in places like that, that's how you can get visibility to hire. So you think a little bit create more creatively about where these people hang out. They're not going to be going to indeed to look for a job.
[00:42:00] And so then you talked about quality. Yes. There. I own a foreign language translation interpretation company. We have a hundred percent guarantee on quality. And we focus on hiring people that are, uh, many of them have advanced degrees. We do all human translation. Now that's our niche. There's lots of different niches in the industry.
[00:42:21] There are some companies that have really mastered machine translation when there's lots and lots of. Quantity of material. So you imagine a lawsuit in a legal suit that's across the world or across multiple languages. They could have a whole. You know, old fashioned talk room, full of boxes of materials that need to be translated or whole, you know, Terra byte information.
[00:42:49] And they may be looking for that one doc that has the information that they need, so they can throw that through machine. I get the gist of it, narrowed down into just what they want and have that one document translated. Okay. There's other ones that will use machine translation with human editing. You might save some costs, but it's going to read very stilted and you're not going to get the meaning across, but it may be okay if you have to document a lot of stuff.
[00:43:16] So when you're working with an agency, you do want to find somebody that has a hundred percent human translation. To get the high quality and you want to know how they're screening the interpreters and how they're doing it. And if they do linguistic matchmaking, which means they take the interpreter that worked on your materials before, and they use that same person.
[00:43:35] So you get consistency of voice. So if we're talking about dinner, the word dinner is used all the time and the next person doesn't come in and call it. You know, cause that could be confusing particular if you're in a precise manufacturing situation. So who you hire is very important. The same with interpreting.
[00:43:56] Now there, if you do get to the point where you have enough people and you have a supervisor that's bilingual, that supervisor may be able to you know, do additional trainings, help facilitate company updates or announcements, or, you know, the parties coming out or something like that. But if you need to have a private confidential meeting with an employee that doesn't speak your language.
[00:44:20] You can either bring in a human interpreter, a live person to come facilitate, which you know, we'll do more for benefits meetings. You can also do video on demand. So you have an account. And you call into the video company and you put in what language you want and somebody pops in, so they can be in the room, facilitating with you.
[00:44:42] That's a little bit more than calling your account on your telephone and putting them on speaker phone and having a conversation. Now, if it's a conversation that you want to have multiple people on and zoom, and you're in different locations, you can schedule to have an interpreter come in to zoom and then, and then have a conversation.
[00:44:59] So there's, there's so many. Ways to handle cross lingual communication that you know, you really want to work with somebody that can help you figure out what are the best pieces to put together to be efficient in your communications. And what content can you reuse? Because if you think about your content from a strategic standpoint, you may be able to use some of the content that you use in training to go on your website or your tech sheets.
[00:45:29] And so then you're not having to translate three things. You can use them in three different in one translation, in three different areas, a lot of information at you.
[00:45:39] Josh: Absolutely. But that's, that's what the purpose of this conversation is for, right. Is to understand from the experts, how to tackle a particular opportunity or problem.
[00:45:48] So that, that thorough breakdown of what to look for and who can help I think is perfect. And you know, I'd love to, I know we're, we're, we're. Uh, just about at our time, I'd love to hear about how our listeners could learn more about, you know, the topics that we covered today or more about Rapport, internet.
[00:46:04] Wendy: Sure. Well, you can find us at Rapport, translations.com and on our website, you can, if you go to the resource center, we've got a whole bunch of materials. They're talking about translation. You can go in there and you can search for videos or blogs or landing pages or blogs and then put in the topic that you're searching for.
[00:46:30] And we'll, we'll come up with a lot of information. You can also go listen to the podcast. To learn more about global marketing, which, you know, HR communications has a lot of overlap with marketing. It's all about communication. So listening to some of the suggestions that people have had and how they communicate through their global marketing.
[00:46:49] And then there is also a free consult, a button there. So you can go. Schedule a time to meet with me or somebody from my staff to talk about your particular situation. If you're on social media, we post fun stuff all the time about words that have no translation. One of my favorites is called soda con it it's a Finnish word that has no direct meeting in English.
[00:47:16] Any idea what it
[00:47:17] Josh: means. No idea.
[00:47:21] Wendy: This is a, it's a perfect word for COVID. It means I'm drunk. I'm at home. I'm in my underwear and there's no chance of me going out.
[00:47:31] Josh: Oh my goodness.
[00:47:33] That's a, that's such a great word. Um, you know, speaking of, of words there, there was one that I learned in French was a, and I'm going to butcher this as well. So guess it's been a long time since I've used my French skills, but it's the spiel here that the Scalia, I think, which, which translates to the spirit of the staircase.
[00:47:58] Any idea what that means. No, I
[00:48:00] Wendy: don't. I speak
[00:48:02] Josh: some sprints. It's it's uh, well, again, I may have butchered it, but it's that feeling that you get when you leave a room or a situation and you have that moment of, I should have said this. Like, that's what I should've said. You know, and I can, I can totally relate to that.
[00:48:18] Or you just leave and you're like, oh, I just thought of that perfect comment to make in response to whatever somebody just said.
[00:48:28] Wendy: That's fantastic. We'll have to use that. No. So with, on social media, we'll put videos or we'll put stuff out on stuff like this all the time. So if you like it, or you want to hear, you know, funny Google translations, or want to learn about cultures, you can follow me on LinkedIn.
[00:48:44] PS P E a S E or a Facebook or Twitter, and we're starting to do more in Instagram. So, you know, we'll put it out on all that. So whatever your favorite platform is,
[00:48:55] Josh: well, that's great. Well, Wendy, I certainly appreciate your time and walking us through, uh, how manufacturers can appeal to foreign born communities that are, uh, around locally.
[00:49:04] And, uh, certainly appreciate the, the, the stories you've shared and the strategies you've provided.
[00:49:10] Wendy: Oh, thank you so much. It's been such a joy to talk with you. And again, I can't tell you how happy I am to see that parcel actually has your platform translated into so many languages? So I think that's a first step for companies to start being safe.
[00:49:26] Josh: I agree. All right. Well, thank you so much.
[00:49:28]
