Cultural Differences in the Hispanic workplace

North Americans in the workforce are distinctly known for being direct and to the point.  It often is perceived by the Hispanic culture that the North American in general is rude and uncaring. In a leadership role, it is essential that the leader treats each of his workers as an individual first and foremost. This means using such courtesies as acknowledging everyone in the room. It took many years for me to get used to greeting everyone in an office with a handshake and a good morning as I entered into the Latino work environment. The standard North American entrance is to walk into a room and go directly to the person that you need to speak to, ignoring all the others and then walking out.  For purposes of time it may not be realistic to shake everyone’s hand in a larger office environment. Acknowledging the person with eye contact and a greeting will suffice.  Greeting everyone at once in a large room is also acceptable. The same goes when leaving a room. Don’t just leave without saying “goodbye”, “talk to you later” or the acceptable follow up. You are showing everyone that you don’t care by leaving a room without dismissing yourself.  It is extremely rude to walk up to two people who are together and only speak to one person in the group without acknowledging the other person. Don’t face one person and give your back to other person either. You are basically telling that person that they are not important and are insignificant. At a later time when you need to speak to the second person in the group they are going to remember how they were dismissed.  Don’t walk away while leaving the other person talking, that is incredibly disrespectful especially to the Hispanic.             Eye contact is important when speaking to your Hispanic employee or co-worker.  Due to diversity in educational and socioeconomic backgrounds from the Latin American countries, some will feel it is disrespectful to look their superior in the eyes. As a general rule, though it is the accepted norm to speak with the person and use eye contact to make sure they are following you.   Hispanics as well as any culture do not like to be spoken to in a demeaning manner. Everyone wants to be treated as a person as someone who matters for the organization. That person will do more than is expected of him, if he believes that their superior generally cares about their well being. Since the Hispanic is extremely family centered it is a good measure to find out about their family, where they came from, and what their kids are doing. You will not meet a more hospitable culture as long as they perceive that they are receiving respect.            Don’t assume every Hispanic is from Mexico. There are so many countries in Central and South America that makes up the Hispanic culture. It is often joked about or assumed that every person who speaks Spanish is from Mexico. Mainly because Mexico is our neighbor and there are a larger percentage of Mexicans in the United States.  Nothing is more offensive to a person from El Salvador to be called a Mexican and vice versa.  Learn where they are from. Everyone is proud of where they came from, their roots and their culture. Don’t mix everyone in one category. It is like telling someone from Canada that they are the United States or someone from the United States that they are Norwegian. There are differences of culture in every country in Latin America and even differences within those countries.  In fact, sometimes there is strife or rousing that occurs between different mixes of Latin American co-workers. Make sure that everyone treats all with equal respect and their country of origin is not used as a reason to be harassed.  As a manager, it is not your job or duty to know everything about your co-worker’s country and culture, but you’ll find that most Hispanics love to talk about their countries because they miss their family and traditions.            When someone hands you keys in your hand, you use the keys and then return the keys by throwing them back or sliding them along the desk, you have been offensive. You are showing that person that you do not respect them enough to give them the keys or object into their hands.  The same goes for money, papers or any object that you were handed. “That is how an animal is treated”, is often the thought when items are thrown back at the recipient.            North Americans often joke about mothers and wives and think it is funny. In the Hispanic culture any perceived insult of someone’s family member could spark a confrontation. One time in an office setting my wife was told by the owner that “your Mother doesn’t work here”. For the North American that means that everyone must pick up after themselves. My wife understood what the owner meant, but the fact that he used her mother into the conversation, she was immediately offended and ready to fight. She tried to take it in the context it was given but still did not appreciate the comment. Hispanics will not tolerate disrespect toward their family members. The worker himself might tolerate joking, or verbal harassing, but the instance you include their family member in the conversation be prepared.            You may think that as a manager, you have to work with many cultures and why should you have to specifically cater to the Hispanic culture.  All of the above mentioned items are actually common courtesies that everyone deserves. Courtesy and politeness has often gone out the window in lieu of time and efficiency. The truth is that it doesn’t take that much more time to treat someone with respect or ask about their well-being. You will find that the results you get from all of your workers will be tremendous. A worker will do more for someone that they care about than someone who is just their superior.  We ask our workers to treat our guests and customers with respect and caring, so we must also treat our employees as our customer.  Mutual respect will be reciprocal to the customer who ultimately determines the profitability of any organization.            

Tags: cultural, differences, hispanic, latino, momma, rude, work, your