Steps to Becoming a Bilingual Employer

Business Overview

• Employer Size: 180 employees
• Industry: Manufacturing
• Location: Madison, WI

Challenge

A manufacturing company in the Madison, WI, area struggled due to a scarce and difficult talent market. High turnover and unfilled positions were impacting production. It was crucial to find qualified talent to avoid further disruptions.

Solution

The HR team contacted QTI to see how they could help with their staffing issues. QTI quickly employed a temp-to-hire staffing model to fill some open positions, but it wasn’t enough to solve their staffing challenge. They needed to find a way to expand the talent pool, and fast!
The QTI Group proposed tapping into a pool of Spanish-speaking candidates with the necessary skills and qualifications for the job. Since they didn’t have bilingual resources in-house, the recruiters at the manufacturing company collaborated with QTI to create a plan to accommodate this new talent pool.

Bilingual Staffing Plan

• Translation: Work with a translation company to translate signage, safety training, and emergency information.
• Partnership: Partner with QTI to hire bilingual Supervisors who will train and lead new Spanish-speaking employees.
• Communication: Communicate changes with employees and ask them to be mentors.
• Tools: Provide tablets to employees for immediate translation support through Google Translate.
• Staffing Strategy: Engage with QTI's temp-to-hire solution, which measures employees' skills and fit before hiring.
• Bilingual Resources: Access external resources such as QTI's bilingual recruiters for instant translation assistance.

Results

After approximately four months, the manufacturer had all translations in place and had hired their first bilingual Supervisor. Then, they engaged in QTI’s temp-to-hire staffing solution to hire English-speaking and non-English-speaking employees, which allowed them to fill 50 openings in just two weeks.

The manufacturer credits the success of this staffing strategy to having a solid plan in place, prepping all employees to work through any language barriers, and finding special work events, such as team lunches, to introduce each other’s backgrounds and cultures. They also state that knowing QTI was just a “phone call away” for any translation assistance was an added bonus.

"The cost of translation services is low when compared to the cost of employee turnover. My advice is to just do it! Take the leap, and it will ultimately be a win."

-HR Generalist, QTI Manufacturing Customer

Impact

The impact on the organization was substantial, including:

• Increased talent pool of qualified workers.
• Decreased turnover.
• Decreased time-to-fill.
• More time for the HR team to focus on strategic initiatives with the recruitment process being handled by QTI.
• Amazing company culture.
• Opportunity to ensure skill and employee fit before hiring with the temp-to-hire model.

Contact us to learn more about QTI's flexible solutions and how a bilingual recruiting strategy can benefit your business.