The English Only Workplace

By Ricardo González.

This morning I was walking in my neighborhood and came upon some landscape workers who were speaking with one another in Spanish. As I approached, one said, “good morning.” I replied in Spanish with “Buenos días, ¿cómo están esta mañana?” They replied in English, “We’re doing well, thank you.” I didn’t ask but they may have an “English-only” policy in their company with outsiders.

Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee just signed a law into effect that permits “English-only Workplaces” in the Volunteer State. The law reads that companies can do this “at certain times when the employer has a legitimate business necessity for such a policy, including but not limited to the safe and efficient operation of the employer’s business.” That “not limited to” clause in the law might rightfully be quite concerning to civil rights defenders.

Let’s look at this strictly from a business perspective. Let’s say the landscapers this morning are under an English-only law with outsiders. I clearly heard them speaking with one another in Spanish as I mentioned. For them to answer me in English when I spoke to them in Spanish is really kind of silly. Yes, I know I did it to them first! They did speak to me in English first and I answered in Spanish so maybe I should be looking in the mirror here. But, what if someone really doesn’t speak English well and they don’t just “want” to speak in Spanish, they “need” to speak in Spanish?

I have been in both restaurants and hotels where I have tried to speak with a Spanish-speaking employee and they refuse to do so due to company policy. I have even acted like I don’t speak English well to see if I could get them to speak with me in Spanish. Even that hasn’t always worked. I know they are constrained by their organizations because after I get to know them, I take them aside, tell them what I do and ask them to tell me if they are afraid to speak with me in Spanish. Two different people in the last year have told me that their company doesn’t want them to speak with anyone in Spanish even if that person doesn’t speak English well.

I certainly understand why a company would expect its employees to speak in English to clients who want to speak in English even if they do know Spanish. That makes all the sense in the world. It also makes sense to me that a company not want Latinos speaking Spanish around English speaking guests as the reality is that it may make some people uncomfortable.

My thoughts are on two fronts as it relates to English-only policies in the workplace:

1. If a client or customer wants or needs to speak in Spanish, then by all means for the good of your business, speak in Spanish. They don’t want to speak in English. How difficult is that to understand? It is not immoral or wrong to speak another language. In fact, in many places in the world it is both a virtue and a necessity to be bilingual.

2. If your employees want to speak in Spanish amongst themselves and they are better able to communicate with one another in this way, then let them. They will be happier, do a better job and be safer since they will be able to freely communicate with one another about best practices and the things that matter to them.

The only real way to stop Spanish speakers from speaking Spanish in the business environment is to not hire them. Of course, that would create a greater series of much more serious work, customer service and sales problems. The real truth is that this law is short-sighted and simply encourages foolish business policy and practice at time in history when the last thing we need in our present economy is to weaken our business systems.

Ricardo González is the Founder and Executive Director of Bilingual America and Principal of SpeakSpanish.com and The Claro Initiative.

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