Restaurants, Retailers Teach English to Hispanic Staffers
Restaurant chains and retailers are helping Spanish-speaking employees learn English through an innovative communication program that doubles as an employee incentive and loyalty tool.
Sed de Saber (“Thirst for Knowledge”) uses a computer tablet designed by educational toymaker LeapFrog Enterprises. The Quantum Pad tablet comes with a series of six lesson books that get Spanish speakers from zero English to a functional level of conversation and comprehension in three to four months.
Retention Education, Newport Beach, CA, launched Sed de Saber in August 2004 and has sold 13,000-plus kits to 85 restaurant and foodservice brands nationally. RiteAid, Cardenas, Food City and Ranch Market are the first retailers to buy in since Retention Education began presenting Sed de Saber to retailers in March.
Retailers are also offering Sed de Saber as a premium for Hispanic customers, said Retention Education senior VP David Henninger.
“Operators across a wide range of industries are including Sed de Saber in community outreach programs to … give back to the communities from which their workers—and customers—come,” said Retention Education VP-client services Peter Groux.
Lessons start with job-related details (telling time, work schedules, simple customer interactions), then progress to more complicated work skills (taking restaurant orders, counting change) and practical personal skills (visiting the doctor, opening a bank account, comparison shopping, arranging home repairs, parent-teacher conferences).
Each kit costs $275 (including microphone and headphones). Staffers take a kit home and go through lessons at their own pace, then return the kit when finished. Staffers like the chance to learn English for free, and consider Sed de Saber to be a valuable job benefit, according to restaurant manager testimonials to Retention Education.
Coca-Cola Co. provided seed money for the startup, which is backed by the Multi-Cultural Food Service and Hospitality Alliance. Coke’s Foodservice and Hospitality division sells Sed de Saber to its retail customers.
“Coke introduces Sed de Saber to its customers as a way of adding value to their customer relationships, by helping operators solve a longstanding industry challenge: effectively and cost-effectively helping Hispanic workers learn the English language,” Groux said.
Sed de Saber was designed to help restaurants solve problems with staff retention, customer service, safety and operations. The system also can be used for bi-lingual communication. Employers use the system to teach English to promising staffers in order to groom them for promotion, and to increase employee loyalty and retention. It has also turned out to be a handy recruiting tool.
“As employees take their Sed de Saber kits home to study … their friends, family, and neighbors [ask], ‘Where did you get that?'” Groux said. When employees say they got it at work, friends respond, ‘”You mean [your company] helps you learn English? Wow—are they hiring?'”
