The Importance of Hispanic Representation in Human Resources

By Rob Steward and Mesia Quartano for LatPro.com

Having Hispanics in human resources leadership roles has become increasingly important in corporate America over the past decade or more. As the Hispanic population continues to grow in the US, human resources functions including recruitment, diversity, compensation, benefits, training and payroll should also reflect that diversity. Hiring Hispanic professionals to serve in a variety of HR roles will help your business to effectively meet the needs of an increasingly diverse workforce.

While not all Hispanic employees will prefer, or even speak, Spanish, having bilingual human resource personnel is a huge benefit when it comes to communicating important or technical HR information with those employees who do. If you have workers who primarily speak Spanish, they will comprehend important HR-related materials much better in their native language.

What about the other areas of human resources? Training? Payroll? Obviously it is very important to have great communication here. Miscommunication in the payroll function can be disastrous, causing employee resentment and numerous other problems. Do you really need a Latino HR professional involved in the compensation and benefits area of HR? It would be a big plus. Have you ever read some of the legal documents or other very technical paperwork that go along with your company’s compensation and benefits plans? For most, this is like reading Greek even when it is written in your native language. Having a knowledgeable Spanish-speaking Benefits Manager in your company will help your employees help themselves.

Maybe some of your employees don’t speak great English or maybe they are simply new to corporate America. Employing bilingual workers in these HR areas will help these employees sign up properly for the company’s 401K, make good investment decisions, get the appropriate health care coverage and prevent costly mistakes in the enrollment process. Happy employees will be more productive and tell the world how great their employer is. All because they have the human resources they need and can depend on.