As you expand your business and begin to outsource or hire international employees, it is important to streamline the onboarding process as well as any technological solution you have in place for current and prospective new employees. Making your technology easier to use for international employees can significantly improve the customer service you deliver. Even the overall efficiency and productivity within your workplace itself will improve.
Host Guided Training Sessions
Consider hosting guided training sessions for your current and incoming international employees, especially if you are introducing them to proprietary software solutions or programs designed specifically for your company. Hosting guided training sessions can help international employees to become familiar with your own platforms, software, and workspaces, even if English is not their native language.
Improve Methods of Communication
Consider the methods you currently use to communicate with all of your employees, including those you have hired internationally. Are you using traditional conference calls only to discuss projects and to move forward with tasks? Consider implementing new methods of communication including video chats, conferences, and even downloadable smartphone apps such as Slack. Using additional tools to communicate with international employees can help to break the language barrier. Even for native speakers, gaining access to additional visuals and methods of viewing completed projects or tasks at-hand can increase understanding. The technology you use is an important part of this process. Entity extraction software should be accessible and usable with multiple languages. Especially take into consideration the different names that might be used by your international employees. Accommodate different spellings and character from your native language.
Emphasize the Importance of Collaboration
Emphasizing the importance of collaboration is key for any business to remain successful, especially as you begin branching out and hiring international employees. Use collaboration tools such as Slack, Google, or even a paid premium service. These can help you keep in touch your employees, as individuals and in specific teams, at all times and within seconds.
Ask for Input and Feedback
Asking your employees for their own input and feedback is highly recommended for all businesses, especially once you begin expanding into hiring international employees. Asking for honest and truthful, yet constructive feedback is a great way to gain valuable insight into the thoughts and opinions of your current employees. Use the information gathered to make changes and implement new methods of communication to make the technology even easier for your international employees.
Acknowledging the language and cultural barriers your international employees may be experiencing is essential when working towards the improvement of your company’s own technology. Taking the time to improve technology while making it easier and more accessible for international employees will attract additional international employees. However, it is also a way to establish a positive, healthy, and attractive workplace culture.
