A high percentage of monolingual Spanish-speaking or limited-English-speaking employees are found in many industries such as construction, agriculture, janitorial services, manufacturing, and food service.  We provide all employee training sessions in either English or Spanish or both.

Since we are located in Northern California farming areas, we have ample experience with Spanish-speaking agricultural employees, in particular. 

Hispanic Farm Employees

There is little doubt that agriculture in the United States could not survive without its Hispanic workforce, both undocumented and legal.  Yet, in spite of the fact that Hispanic farm laborers are recognized as the backbone of the farming industry , they often  lack access to career development, such as training in technical, English language, and interpersonal skills that would make them more valued employees. 

The majority of the immigrant Hispanic farm workers come from poor rural areas in Mexico and Central America where education is desired but usually difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.   Although most of the immigrant agricultural employees have only a third to sixth grade education, they are just as capable of  benefiting from employer-provided training classes as are U.S. born employees.  The problem is not their capability.  The problem is the lack of competent and experienced trainers who can teach them, using the Spanish language, gearing the material to the employees'  level of  literacy (including complete illiteracy), without sacrificing challenging and high quality content, while being sensitive to culturally different learning styles.  The other problem, of course, is that agricultural employers must be able to perceive the benefit from investing in their Spanish-speaking employees.

                   click picture for view of consultation with the farm crew

Our experience with immigrant Hispanic agricultural employees proves to us that these workers are eager to learn and  appreciate any formal training given to them by their employers.  We greatly enjoy instructing these employees because of their enthusiasm and grateful support of training opportunity.  It's rewarding to teach adults who want so much to learn.   Supervision skills, sexual harassment prevention, conflict resolution, team cooperation, leadership and motivational tools . . . you can name almost any "people skills" taught in corporate America and we can assure you, Hispanic agricultural employees want to learn those skills and put them to use.  We've seen it happen.  Most  importantly, they want to learn what will make them more successful employees here in the United States.

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You may notice from the photo above, that Dr. LaCalle is a blonde female and she is speaking to a classroom full of Hispanic men.  The fact that  she is  welcomed by such audiences challenges the stereotype that Hispanic men are too "macho" to listen to a woman.  It also challenges the assumption that the cultural divide is too great to be bridged between non-Hispanic consultant and Hispanic employees.   There are many other stereotypes and assumptions that must be challenged and overcome if agricultural Hispanic workers are to be able to have their development  needs met, do their best for their employers, and  know they are valued in their workplace. 

An agricultural discussion group problem-solving a farm issue during a training session.

Agricultural employers, like any other employers, sometimes come across a troublesome employee or group of employees.  Most often, the managers and other individuals involved in the problem are too close to the situation to be able to take an objective view which would lead to creative alternatives.  Then, too, there are times when even objectivity is not enough in order to come up with the best solutions.  That is when a professional who is expert in human behavior should be called in to assist.  As one of those experts, sometimes we are asked to simply facilitate better communication.  Other times, we are  asked to provide insight and understanding into the why's and how's of managing the situation and the people involved. 

For further information, we encourage you to visit other portions of our  web site.

	Vineyard supervisors helping lead the group discussion
"La gente triunfa más por su actitud, que por su aptitud." People triumph more by their attitude than by their aptitude.                               --Juan Antonio Razo	"Good management consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people."                                  --John D. Rockefeller
"Uno nunca sabe donde puede saltar la liebre." One never knows where the hare will jump.    (i.e., Be prepared.)                      --Spanish saying	El factor humano es la mayor riqueza de una empresa: atienda a su gente y a sus clientes en forma excelente y el mercado se encargará del resto. The human factor is the major richness of a business: attend to your people and your clients in excellent form and the market will take care of the rest.                     --Miguel Ángel Cornejo