Article: English Classes Enable Top-Notch Service

HR Magazine, July 2003, Vol. 48, No. 7

While Bob Chinn’s CrabHouse in Wheeling, Ill., is in the small-employer category, it is actually a giant among restaurants with 350 employees and a No. 4 ranking in sales nationwide. The restaurant management has placed a top priority on customer service and has worked to create a culture of pride among its workers.

Cultural diversity, however, proved to be a stumbling block for the restaurant staff in reaching the level of customer service excellence that the owners had envisioned, according to Chuen Tam, the restaurant’s former human resource manager. About half of Bob Chinn’s employees don’t speak English fluently—and most of these employees work as cooks, food preparation staff, dishwashers and buspersons in the restaurant’s kitchen area. The vast majority of these workers are immigrants from Mexico and central America.

“Communications between management and our employees is a real challenge, as is communication just among the individual employees,” Tam says.

To break down this language barrier, Tam coordinated an English as a second language (ESL) course for employees. The solution seemed simple to Tam, but he quickly discovered that implementing an in-house ESL program was easier said than done.

Funding was an issue, but Tam found resources when he attended a meeting about how the Chicago Bizlink—part of the nationwide Welfare to Work Partnership—could help employers recruit and hire new employees. Tam discovered that Bizlink had money available for training workers to improve work/life skills and that the money could be used to establish in-house training programs.

“Once we found the funding, the other parts of the program came together pretty quickly,” Tam says.

Since the restaurant has plenty of meeting rooms, it had no problem finding space for classes. Tam contacted nearby Harper College to provide instructors. So the only other detail was when to hold the classes. Tam surveyed employees and found that the best time was 7 a.m.—two hours before many of the employees report to work for the lunchtime shift. More than 50 students signed up for the initial session. Students were divided into groups based on their English proficiency, and each group met twice a week.

“We took attendance, but it wasn’t to punish or discipline anyone who missed a class,” says Tam, who is from Hong Kong and who participated in the advanced ESL class to refine his writing skills. “We did this to find out why they didn’t attend and to see if we could make class times more convenient for the people who had family care responsibilities.”

Tam says employees responded well to the program; many restaurant workers who ended their shift after midnight would be in class early the next morning. The classes last 12 weeks, and the dropout rate has been less than 30 percent, better than originally projected.

After the end of the first 12-week session, 80 percent of the students advanced to the next level and, to celebrate their achievements, the restaurant held a reception for all the students. Family, friends, fellow employees and officials from Bizlink attended the celebration. During the reception, one employee named Jose Dominguez, who did not speak English fluently before the class started, made a speech in English.

“The program has instilled a lot of pride in our employees in both their work and home life,” Tam says.

The success of the ESL course has been quite tangible, according to Tam. The number of errors in the reading and distribution of food orders has decreased, and employee productivity has increased. The courses also have improved employee morale and teamwork within the restaurant, Tam says. The turnover rate also dropped sharply after the ESL courses were offered and is now 38 percent per year—in an industry where 100 percent annual turnover can be the norm.

Officials with Bizlink were so impressed by the success of the ESL program that they decided to sponsor a class to help kitchen workers obtain their sanitation certifications from the health department.

Ultimately, Bob Chinn’s hopes to obtain enough funding to offer more sanitation and ESL classes, as well as other classes that could help employees obtain their G.E.D.s, says Alma Franco, HR administrator.

“The training program works because it is much more than preparing our employees to work in the restaurant. It’s about giving them the confidence and the skills to become part of their community, such as attending PTA meetings or applying for their driver’s license,” says Tam. “They are very appreciative of the opportunity that the restaurant has provided them and it clearly shows in their loyalty.”