GreenSearch Hiring: The Hispanic-Latino Worker: A Cultural Investment

This success story is verified by Census Bureau statistics in 1997, which point to the growing economic impact of the Hispanic-Latino workforce. Consider these data. For the second year in a row, the median income of Hispanic-Latino households grew from $25,447 in 1996 to $26,628, a 4.5 percent increase over 1997. The poverty level for Hispanics-Latinos in 1997 was at its lowest level since 1989: 27.1 percent.

The Census Bureau figures also showed that Hispanic-Latino men are the most likely of all Americans to be either working or looking for work. In 1996, 80 percent of all Hispanic-Latino men were in the labor force. Hispanic-Latino women are entering the workforce in greater numbers as well. Many of them are moving into professional and managerial positions including starting new businesses. These are powerful and positive trends that speak to the work ethic and commitment of these folks who have meant so much to the success of many green industry companies.

The issues surrounding this work force have also been the subjects of several Landscape Associations' meetings. Many times company owners who attend these meetings discover that they have to go the extra yard for their Hispanic-Latino employees, but in the end, it is worth it. A good example of this occurred at a recent meeting of the Ohio Landscapers Association. One of the attendees described how many of the nearly 80 Hispanic-Latino workers he employs require transportation to and from work along with assistance finding apartments and qualifying for loans. He provides much of this type of assistance to them and finds that the tradeoffs in terms of both reliability and productivity are well worth these extra efforts.

Other attendees also shared how they had developed agreements with their workers under which the workers could work for nearby farmers during the off months. Everyone wins under these arrangements. In the end, all agreed that treating their workers the way they would want to be treated was the bottom line.

A common issue that is often discussed is that of the language barrier between Hispanic-Latino workers and those who do not speak Spanish. Here again, are some facts that may not be well known. According to the CIA's World Fact Book 1995, the U.S. is the fifth largest Hispanic-Latino country in the world with 32.9 million Hispanics-Latinos, including Puerto Rico. Of those, approximately 21 million speak Spanish at home, even though 75 percent of them can speak English well. Only 1.5 million Hispanics-Latinos in the U.S. cannot speak English at all according to the 1990 U.S. Census. Many Hispanic Americans support the use of English as the U.S. first language.

Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world behind Mandarin, Hindustani and English. These statistics seem to indicate that an investment in improving the English speaking skills of Hispanics-Latinos who work for us is a worthwhile effort. After all, English is the language of business in both our industry and our country.

Beyond the language issue is one of long-term career development. As Hispanic-Latino workers become larger parts of our work forces, we will soon discover that it is in everyone's best interest to look for and develop their management and leadership potential. This means training and educational investments in preparing people for advancement and more responsibility. Getting to know Hispanic-Latino workers on a personal basis can give us tremendous insight into the circumstances surrounding their or their family's decision to come to this country and what goals they have set for themselves once they arrived here. Many times these stories are steeped in dealing with hardships, sacrifice, hard work, strong families and sheer determination. Sound like characteristics you'd like in your employees?

In looking for information for this article, we came across a statistic that we know all of you will find interesting. "According to the National Association of Home Builders' David Crowe, one of every seven [14.7 percent] construction workers was born in another country. That's two percentage points greater participation than in other occupations, a significant difference, says Crowe. If immigrants participated in construction jobs at the same level as in all other jobs, there would be 117,000 fewer workers in construction, which is enough to build over 100,000 single-family homes." This statistic signals a fundamental shift in work forces for our industry and other allied trades in the U.S.

Along with the daily rigors of competing with other companies for business opportunities, another field of competition is emerging, that of attracting, retaining and developing the full capabilities of our Hispanic-Latino work forces.

That sounds like a solid long-term investment to us.

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The above article was developed by GreenSearch which provides key management search, web-based job posting and management consulting services to the green industry and allied trades nationwide.

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