The local hospitality industry hires a significant number of foreign-born workers whose English skills may be lacking. But it”™s not easy for these employees to study English ”“ juggling long work hours and family duties ”“ and going to school is not cheap, either.
The Westchester/Putnam Workforce Investment Board (WPWIB) set out to help hospitality workers and, since last year, has been partnering with local hotels to offer free, on-site, English As a Second Language (ESL) classes that employees can take after their work shift.
The response? “It”™s been phenomenal, phenomenal,” said Benjamin Sulam, a human resources manager at Sheraton Tarrytown Hotel, one of 11 local hotels that are now offering the free ESL class.
Sulam, along with other HR managers who have been interviewed, said they were impressed by the level of excitement and commitment shown by their employees.
Win-win for everyone
The program is funded through WPWIB and overseen by the Hospitality Resource Group Inc. in White Plains. It is viewed as a win-win for everyone. Employees can improve their English in free classes held at their workplace and hotels can offer better services to guests and improve business operations as their employees boost English-speaking skills.
The classes at local hotels are held twice a week, two hours each. The course runs about three months at a time.
“This is the first time that we”™ve been exposed to something of this nature,” said Sulam. “Yes, you can see the energy when they are in the class. Even when I am trying to speak to them in Spanish, they now speak to me in English. So they have really shown a great liking to improving their English. They are really taking advantage of it.”
Sheraton Tarrytown has been offering this class since April, and each class is attended by about 20 employees. “We have room attendants and our housekeeping-department personnel attend. We have utility workers, gentlemen inside the kitchen that come in.”
It first started when the Hospitality Resource Group reached out to Sheraton Tarrytown”™s general manager and talked about how they were offering an ESL class for individuals who have challenges speaking English.
The Sheraton Tarrytown HR manager said his hotel has many workers who are immigrants with Hispanic or Latino backgrounds and they are able to take advantage of this class.
“So we were extremely excited about having this opportunity. We spoke with the individuals that we thought could benefit from this and talked to them all about how we would make it work at the hotel,” he said, “and how they can take advantage of this technically free course. And they jumped all over it.
“It look very little participation from us, as far as financial dollars, to have our team attend this class. And they really made it work.”
The Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains is also participating in the ESL program. Sharon Walker, director of human resources, said about 20 employees have been attending the class.
“We do have a very diverse staff here, Hispanics and some Haitians, and they all expressed an interest in ESL and so we introduced it to them and allowed them to sign up,” Walker said.
“We have students from all different departments,” she said. “We have a cook from the kitchen attend. We have room attendants. We have students from the banquets department and from maintenance and engineer-training. So there is a good mix of different departments.”
Walker said her employees”™ improving English proficiency helps managers to better communicate with them. It also help vendors and hotel guests because sometimes interacting with guests might be a little difficult. “Our employees are enthusiastic about the class. We encourage them to continue to learn.”
Edith Macy Conference Center in Briarcliff Manor is also offering this ESL class to some of its workers. Donna Caldarola, director of human resources, said this is the first time Edith Macy is offering a class like this.
Currently, several Edith Macy employees are taking part. Half of the students are from the housekeeping department while the other half come from the kitchen. “They are very enthusiastic. Some of them have even started speaking English more on the job. They are very happy that we are offering this free program. They are extremely enthusiastic and are willing to learn.”
Laura McNerney, president of Hospitality Resource Group, directs the entire program on behalf of WPWIB. She said it has been received very positively by local hotels and their employees alike.
Since the program started last year, she said, a number of employees have been promoted to next-level positions, due in part to improved English proficiency.
“To see that happen and to see someone have that career growth and find new opportunities, that”™s really rewarding for us,” McNerney said.
