“Every act of communication is a miracle of translation…We are defined by the places we hold in the web of others’ lives,” says author Ken Liu. Indeed, in the fabric of society, we are held together by the web of other people’s lives, that web is made of the string of communication, and what holds the web intact is translation.

Translation can anchor multilingual employees in any company, according to this saying. This can be achieved through the best translation services. The best translation services themselves have experience in hiring and managing multilingual employees.

Today we’ll talk about what the benefits are, what the best hiring practices are, and how exactly you can use translation services as an HR director or a manager. We’ll have a look at what multilingual employees give to the company, as well as what specific hiring and managing practices work best.

In the organizational make-up of the company, it’s undeniable that multilingual employees have a hand in diversifying their companies. We’ll go into more detail, starting now.

There are many benefits to hiring multilingual employees in a workplace. This includes better internal communication, in-house support for language, in-house brand ambassadors, and increased diversity, skills, and innovation in the workplace.

Better Internal Communication

By bridging the language gap between consumer and employees, management and employees, or between other employees, multilingual members of your team can provide increased productivity through better internal communication all-around.

Through a multilingual employee’s linguistic knowledge, they can better understand, communicate, and solve problems within your company.

Internal communication is one of the key aspects to a company’s success, and who better to bridge the language gap in communication than a bilingual or multilingual employee.

In-House Support for Language

This method of hiring multilingual employees for in-house support for language is relatively budget-friendly, since they can put on many hats internally and externally. You can have the benefit of two employees in one.

They can apply their reading abilities for another language in content marketing; they can apply their knowledge of different countries’ cultural specificities in social media marketing; and they can provide great customer service through their linguistic skills.

Multilingual employees are especially great with localizing products and services for launch in new regions, as well. They’re knowledgeable about different regions’ particular cultures’ language and consumer habits. They would make a great part of your sales or marketing teams.

In-House Brand Ambassadors

By hiring multilingual employees, especially in new markets, you can outperform your competition in that market and access a consumer base you wouldn’t normally access. Their linguistic skills, understanding of the culture, and knowledge of the region may give way to a broader customer base.

Multilingual employees can become brand ambassadors in ways you didn’t expect. They can advise on cross-cultural communication as well as connect with international consumers. They can make the consumer journey much easier.

Increased Diversity, Skills, and Innovation in the Workplace

Cultural diversity forms the backdrop of the best companies. Employees coming from different backgrounds will increase the cultural diversity of your business–outperforming your competition with productive, well-rounded employees.

Multilingual employees provide vital skills that can help companies expand locally and internationally.

It’s not just new international markets that they can target, but local communities that speak their languages. They can better the company through outreach to consumers within these local communities.

In terms of recruitment, hiring multilingual staff can increase the diversity of the workforce as well as its innovation. This hiring process can increase innovative, out-of-the-box ideas when it comes to different departments of the company.

Bilingual and multilingual employees are proven to be great additions to the team, both for internal work and external outreach.

How The Best Translation Services May Help Engage Multilingual Employees Through Translation

The best translation services, who may employ multilingual employees themselves, have a network of multilingual employees that can be easily contacted, so the best translation services should be your first contact.

The best translation services are well-versed in different languages, with a clientele of multinational companies and multilingual clients alike.

Translation work from the best translation services can engage and attract multilingual employees.

That’s why utilizing forms of translation, such as marketing translation, app translation, localizing, and interpreting, from the best translation services, can engage multilingual employees from the translation service to your company.

The best translation services aren’t called the best for nothing. They’re knowledgeable about how to best handle multilingual employees, and the best methods for recruiting, organising teams, and other HR practices for multilingual employees.

HR Best Practices for Multilingual Employees

Recruiting and managing multilingual employees shouldn’t be too difficult. According to the Harvard Business Review, you should have a language strategy. It says, for example, that IBM functions in eight other languages aside from English.

Here are some best practices for multilingual employees:

1. Evaluate Talent Accordingly

When evaluating candidates, you have to keep language in mind. If their first language isn’t English, and they aren’t as well-versed in English as you may want, their first language, for example, Spanish, may be something they excel in.

They may have talents in Spanish you don’t know about. So make sure to thoroughly evaluate their skills based on their strengths as a multilingual employee, and not just their English speaking skills.

2. Prioritize Communication (Even Cross-Cultural Communication)

Managing a diverse workforce of multilingual employees needs higher communication skills. Onboarding documents such as policies and safety rules as well as other pertinent procedures should be designed to overcome language barriers.

Cross-cultural communication will also be key here. By attempting to exchange, negotiate, and mediate communication through different cultural ways, HR directors may be able to effectively manage the behaviours of their multilingual employees.

3. Implement Diverse Hiring Practices

A diverse hiring practice includes not just the employee selection process itself, but also the selection of the panel which will evaluate the employees. Leadership and management who will make hiring decisions have to break through organisational bias in interviewing and hiring talent.

Incorporating a diverse, multilingual panel who can make sure you hire the best multilingual employees in your departments might be the best ways to ensure a diverse body.

4. Incorporate Multicultural or Multilingual Documentation

If you have multilingual employees who have low English proficiency or low proficiency in the language of your company operations, you may need to implement multilingual documentation.

Utilizing the best translation services for translation of these documents would be a good way to make sure your policies, rules, and other document directives are translated for the language of the multilingual employee.

5. Include Sensitivity Training

Across the board, the company should be including sensitivity training in order to achieve harmony within the organization. The company and its employees should be culturally sensitive and culturally aware.

There’s a lot that other employees can learn from sensitivity training in the background of diverse hiring practices. They can adjust their perspectives about people from different backgrounds. Sensitivity training can provide valuable advise not just for different cultures, but also for better treatment of others from low-privileged backgrounds.

The Takeaway

Hiring multilingual employees for a more diverse workforce is the way forward. Consider hiring multilingual employees proficient in languages within your industry niches, such as Spanish, Chinese, French, or any other language necessary.

According to a report by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, there’s a shortage of multilingual employees and the demand for them is increasing. It’s becoming a necessity for companies to hire bilingual or multilingual employees, and it’s not too difficult with the help of the best translation services.

So now it’s your turn to truly form a diverse workforce.