Seeing Eye to Eye

Most contractors in the U.S. can relate to Clay Fischer. Ninety percent of this Jupiter, Florida contractor’s workforce is Latino, and that goes beyond just the laborers. “Our estimator is from Uruguay and our head accountant is from Venezuela,” Fischer says. “It is like the United Nations at our company.”

At first it was a challenge for Fischer but the cross-cultural differences are not as trying as they used to be, he says. Fischer took the time to learn about his employees cultures. “We small-minded Americans tend to lump all those people into one category,” he says. “But a person from Guatemala is different from a person from Mexico is different from a person from Honduras is different from a person from Cuba. They are all four completely distinct cultures.”

The first eye-opener for Fischer was a seminar at a trade association meeting. “It was funny because I went to this seminar about cross cultural differences and I related to everything the speaker was taking about,” says Fischer. That seminar was by Chris Krueger, Zerah Services, Inc., Englewood, Colorado. Krueger studies cross-cultural workforces and consults contractors baffled by their Latino workers and how to integrate them into the U.S. work culture.

Understanding the simplest cultural differences can affect the heart of your business and determine your success, says Krueger. Two of the basic cultural differences between Latinos and Americans that often lead to misunderstandings are greetings and eye contact.

Greetings In most Latin and Asian cultures greetings are more important than they are to most North Americans. “American managers tend to think if they greet their crew on Monday to make sure they are there, that should be good for the week,” says Krueger. But if you have Latino workers, that attitude is going to cause problems. Not greeting every person every day is seen as very rude in Latin cultures, Krueger explains.

Greetings help workers feel validated and appreciated, explains Kruger. If you don’t greet them they feel invisible and disrespected and they may not stay with your company very long. Your unhappy Latino workers could also sabotage the job or your equipment.

His advice: greet your crew every day. Be personal but stay professional as the authority figure. In the U.S., we acquaint friendliness and personal attention with intimacy. It isn’t that way in Latin cultures. In Latin cultures, when the top boss has authority and respect he returns that respect through graciousness and sociability, says Kureger. Remember, too, family is extremely important in Latin cultures. If you want to connect with your crew, inquire about the health of their family members. Know their spouses’ names; pay attention to their children and recognize their accomplishments, he says.

Eye Contact When you greet your workers expect them to respond but don’t expect them to look you in the eye, says Krueger. There is a huge cultural gulf between the way Latinos and Americans deal with authority. “In America everyone is on the same footing,” Krueger explains. “Everyone stands in the same line at the bank. Everyone gets a shot in life.”

In Latin cultures it is not that way, Krueger insists. Authority is elevated to a much higher level; authority figures are almost feared. A laborer would never go against what their superior tells them and they would never look them in the eye. By not looking them in the eye they are showing respect. In the U.S., if someone doesn’t look you in the eye you believe they can’t be trusted, says Krueger. However, when we take the same logic across cultures, it leads to misunderstandings. Latinos have a high degree of loyalty and respect. “Once they trust you and respect you, they will be loyal for life,” says Krueger.

Although no eye contact between the boss and the employee may be a cultural difference you will have to accept, there are issues when safety demands you train workers to overcome their cultural inhibitions. When it comes to the jobsite and the authority figure is the operator of equipment, you have to train your Latin laborers to look the operator in the eye, Krueger insists. Safety supercedes cultural acceptance.

Understanding these basic cultural differences about authority will help you know what to expect from your workers and know what they expect from you, Krueger says. The seminar inspired Fischer to learn all he could about the cultures of workers in his company and he continues to learn. “We have to learn how they all tick,” he says.