Keeping your Haitian Employees in the Loop with Clear HR Information During the Holiday Season

By Marleen Julien

The author of this article, Marleen Julien, is the founder and CEO of Creole Solutions. She is an experienced linguist who is passionate about elevating the standing of Haitian Creole. Her company provides qualified language services for corporate and government clients.

Does your company employ workers from Haiti? Although they may speak sufficient English to perform their job duties, reading and understanding complex human resource materials can be a different matter. The busy holiday season is quite a challenge for manufacturers, who may not only face increased product demand and longer hours, but also absences due to illness or inclement weather.

This post offers a few suggestions for clearly communicating important HR information to your company’s Haitian workers in their own language during the upcoming holidays.

Think ahead

Your management team and HR department know the typical challenges encountered by workers during the holidays and year-end phase. There may be extra shifts to cover, closure dates to be communicated, and questions about the inevitable absences to be answered. Those tasks are difficult enough to keep up with in your own language, but what if your company’s workers need to overcome an additional language barrier to comply with your instructions? Offering culturally appropriate responses to frequently asked questions is an effective tool to guarantee everyone’s compliance.

Planning your holiday communication ahead of time will ensure you have the right information on hand when questions arise. A professionally translated version takes a few days to prepare and revise, so start writing those memos now!

Plain language is best

Materials written in short sentences without unnecessary jargon are the best choice to get your point across. Keep in mind that text written in Haitian Creole may take up more space than English writing. That’s why it is a good idea to leave plenty of space in memos or PowerPoint slides to make sure the text will fit. Bullet points and visuals will further enhance reader comprehension.

Some companies even produce multilingual posters to highlight relevant information, for example in the area of occupational safety.

Machine translation is not your friend

There is much talk about the capabilities of AI these days, but don’t fall into the trap of using an AI machine to generate output in a foreign language that you don’t speak. Automatically translated texts routinely contain substantial errors and can even be garbled nonsense. A skilled Haitian Creole translator will understand the needs of your specific audience, including reading level and factory-specific terminology. An appropriately translated memo in a friendly tone will communicate your corporate message with great effect – to keep your workers informed and foster positive relationships.

Keep communication channels open

The people working for your company may have additional questions for you, perhaps due to cultural differences or technological advances. While it is of course best for workers to directly speak with their supervisors, it may be worthwhile to also offer a submission system that allows for writing messages in Haitian Creole. In this way, an experienced translator can help your company stay ahead of problems by addressing workforce needs as they arise.

Questions about written (translation) or spoken (interpretation) language services in Haitian Creole? Please reach out via email. We’d love to help you speak the language of your employees!