English only workplace

Molly Andrews
Member - 11 posts

In a previous employment I insisted all the cleaners had to speak English and the reason for this were largely H&S. In these times of possible terorist attacks our alert system gave our warnings in English (there was never time to do all languages) and in the throes of an evacuation cleaners not understanding what was going on was detrimental to their safety. In addition, the day janitors would be asked for help by members of staff and if they could not understand and respond, they were incapable of doing their job.Safety, job satisfaction and above all employee satisfaction and development as the cleaners knew that with a better understand of the English language they could get a better job. We paid for and encouraged learning in this field. Now, was this legal, in humanitarian grounds yes I think it was and we certainly had no complaints. Some of the cleaners in fact taught us their language in return for advice on ours. Great team work!

James Fairchild
Member - 292 posts

Is this in respect of a workplace in the UK? Surely it is legitimate to have a good command of the English language as a criterion for working?

David Hornsey
Member - 2 posts

Yes it is we have a mix of English and Polish . our work is a little bit like a fireman in as such we can have long periods of inactivity and then all hands to the pump so to speak. The polish people can speak quite good English to a point which is fine for the type of work we do , but struggle a little with the finer points of the language so it was really the down times when we are not busy that was the contentious area.IE if two polish people were having a quite conversation should this be in English or Polish. My manager at first said it should be in English, but i have written up a list of what i would consider to be fair to both the company and its employees and this as been agreed on today.
So thanks for your comments but we have managed to resolve the problem with a little bit of common sense.


I have today come to an agreement which is acceptable to everyone so the issue is no longer a issue

James Vizard
Member - 4 posts

It's actually a legal requirement in terms of health and safety that an employer is confident that all employees can understand both written and spoken English and if they do not have this confidence to provide adequate training to ensure this requirement is met.

Diane Roberts
Member - 4 posts

I have a similar problem which has escalated recently, and would appreciate any advice that anyone can offer; in particular I'd be interested in how you've resolved your problem, David.

We have both Administrative staff and Production staff on our site. Out of 63 employees, of which 8 are Polish, 5 of the Polish staff work in Production, mostly in one section, where the majority of the English staff work part-time and only mornings. The English staff remaining in the afternoons in one particular section are decidedly outnumbered, and the Polish staff chatter away in their own language. As a result, we have a couple of disgruntled English employees who feel that they are being discriminated against, even harrassed a little. I've tried to explain that they need to stop being quite so paranoid that they're being talked about, but the situation is getting intolerable and I don't want staff to walk because there's nothing I can do about it.

Is there anything I can do to ensure that all the staff are kept happy? We don't have such a great problem in the offices as the Polish people only chat in Polish in passing - in assembly it's constant, and is wearing the English down. All but one of the Polish employees have excellent English, so it's by choice rather than necessity that they speak in Polish. They are also extremely quick to wave the Race Discrimination card, as we have found to our cost already. I know we can't insist that only English is spoken - what I need is to find a mutually tolerable resolution....

Anne McAllister
Member - 151 posts

A mutual agreement is indeed required.
Employees cannot claim harrassment or discrimination just because their colleagues choose to speak in their mother tongue.
The Polish language will obviously be favoured by the Polish workers as it will naturally come easier.
When working abroad myself i remember how nice it was to be able to speak my own language with fellow Brits.
Most of my Brit colleagues spoke the local lingo too but it was just easier and more natural to speak to each other in English.
Try offering language swap sessions.....you never know !

Bozena Benton
Member - 57 posts

would we be having this conversation if the workers were speaking in an Asian or African language?

It is now the norm when staying in hotels or dining in restaurants to hear staff talking amongst themselves in their mother tonge - I am not aware that guests and diners complain about this as the staff talk to customers in english.

May I suggest that you can require that all business discussions are conducted in english but accept that personal converstations can be conducted in mother tongue. If there are instances where staff genuinely feel they are being harrassed through banter, behaviuor, mannerisms etc such matters will be dealt with accordingly

Diane Roberts
Member - 4 posts

To be honest with you Bozena, we probably would be having this same conversation regardless of the language spoken.

The point being though, that I KNOW what the law is, and personally I don't have any problems - but I have to check up on this, I have to follow up on any information, and if one of our employees decides to lodge a formal grievance - then what?

At least this way I am 100% sure I am fully informed, have the correct information at my fingertips to back me up, and possibly even have a few ideas/tricks up my sleeve so that I can make a few suggestions and come to a mutually beneficial resolution which keeps the company on the side of the law, protects all staff yet doesn't mollycoddle the moaners.

Ultimately, this isn't coming down as a racial discrimination issue so much as a "girls will be girls" issue, but it doesn't mean I shouldn't treat it seriously.