Managing Hispanic and Latino Employees

Chapter 7How to Keep Hispanic Nonexempt Employees Challenged and Satisfied in the Workplace

To a large degree, Hispanic, Latino, and Latin employees are held back by their own fears, and of these, language looms large. As heirs of cultures that favor communalistic approaches to societal development, there are strong inhibitions in embracing the individualism of American society. Although there are higher rates of small business ownership among Hispanics than non-Hispanics, these initiatives reflect a “family” business (communal initiative), not an “entrepreneurial” one (individual initiative). In larger organizations, Hispanic employees who identify themselves as “Latino” face emerging challenges associated with their lack of fluency in Spanish. ...