The Future of Work: Embracing Linguistic and Cultural Diversity

As a team within PAB Languages Centre, like many organisations, we bring together an extensive array of experiences, traditions, and skills, enriched by our diverse cultural backgrounds.

Something that unites all of us is our commitment to doing our best and adding value to our customers and communities on a daily basis.

Culture encompasses more than just language, ethnicity, and nationality. It includes various aspects like beliefs, food, religion, language, arts, social institutions, and rituals. Cultural influences shape individual approaches to workplace situations, decision-making processes, conflict resolution, and prioritisation.

In diverse workplaces, generational, religious, and educational diversity impacts professional behavior, collaboration methods, communication styles, and expectations from employers.
Studies by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, exploring the connection between culturally diverse teams and organisational outcomes, highlight three primary challenges faced by multicultural organizations:

• Establishing a shared objective
• Fostering engagement and cohesion within the team
• Ensuring fair treatment for all, regardless of background

Today, PAB collaborates with professional translators, seasoned interpreters, lecturers, project managers, language experts, and partners from over 80 countries of various faiths, backgrounds, and ethnicities. Together, we provide multilingual services in more than 200 languages to organizations and businesses globally.

In our most recent employee satisfaction survey, we found a wide variety of service lengths amongst PAB’s diverse staff. 12.5% have been with the company for under six months, another 12.5% for half a year to one year, 31.25% for one to two years, 18.75% for three to ten years, and 25% for over ten years. The survey revealed that our company and departmental goals are clearly communicated, with 100% agreement amongst staff. There’s an intense dedication to the company’s success, with 31.25% ranking it as very important and an overwhelming 68.75% considering it critically important. Furthermore, PAB’s adaptability to diverse needs is highly regarded, with all respondents rating the company as highly or exceptionally adaptable.

How can one embrace linguistic and cultural diversity?

• Learn about other cultures without resorting to stereotypes or oversimplifications to define an individual.
• Organise regular team catch-ups to maintaining alignment with company goals and objectives, understanding each other better, and mitigating the risk of isolation in a remote working environment.
• Show sensitivity not only to employees’ demographic differences but also to their unique values, attitudes, and experiences.
• Refrain from judging someone until you have sufficient information about their beliefs, cultural values, and the impact these factors have on their behavior.
• Don’t assume there is only one right way to communicate. Continually reassess your assumptions about the “correct way” of communicating.
• Listen actively, if possible, putting yourself in the other person’s shoes, especially when their perceptions or ideas diverge significantly from your own.
• Respect others and their decisions while adhering to your company policies and standards.

In conclusion, remember that cultural norms might not apply to every individual’s behavior. We are all influenced by numerous factors – our ethnic backgrounds, our families, our educations, our personalities – making us far more complex than any single cultural norm could imply. If you would like to learn more please visit PAB https://courses.pablanguages.co.uk/