{"id":47842,"date":"2020-05-29T23:37:44","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T03:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/?p=47842"},"modified":"2020-05-29T23:40:53","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T03:40:53","slug":"optimizing-employee-experience-how-does-language-figure-into-the-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/optimizing-employee-experience-how-does-language-figure-into-the-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimizing employee experience: How does language figure into the picture?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How diverse is America really?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The USA in the 21st century is a cultural hodgepodge that comes with numerous languages thrown into the mix. Contrary to common belief, English, the national language, is not always the first preference. How often have you passed people on the streets or bumped them in elevators chattering away in what might as well be Greek? It happens enough to tell us that multilingualism isn’t a passing thing – it’s a fact of life in America today.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Did you know?<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Of the 327 million citizens and residents in the USA, all but nine percent get by on English.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Another thirty-six million that fall into the English proficient category prefer to speak another language. Put that together with the non-English speakers, and you have sixty-six million conversing in other tongues most of the time. That’s one in every five people around you.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Spanish, spoken by the growing Hispanic communities, is streaks ahead of the pack. Chinese dialects, Tagalog, and French, are a distant second, third, and fourth place, respectively.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. In 2018 the USA’s trade with European countries was $810 billion. It probably required discussing deals in German, Spanish, Russian, Polish, French, and another twenty-six languages. A tall order but one we seem to have met with flying colors.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. There are thousands of businesses in 39 counties where Hispanics are the dominant group, and also Spanish speaking suburbs in big cities like Chicago.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In short, companies unable to cross back and forth at least between Spanish and English when required may not be doing themselves a favor. The point is this – businesses exist to grow and satisfy customers. It’s the lifeblood of thriving in a competitive economy. The <\/span>customer experience<\/span><\/a> (CX) is front and center of our attention for this to happen. If that’s the case, we need to gear up our workforce to deliver the best CX possible. Our employees are the key to the kingdom. In that sense, the employee experience (EX) and CX are indivisible considerations, although we come at them from different angles.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Creating an excellent EX without fear of language differences.<\/b><\/h2>\n

    EX, of course, goes much further than only language considerations. It involves all the touchpoints with the company, its management, one’s peers, and customers in the employees’ working life from the time they rise until the time they go to bed. Imagine a situation in which small issues repeat every day until it becomes unbearable. For example:<\/span><\/p>\n

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