Farmscape for December 20, 2013

The president of tWorks suggests, by recognizing how cultural differences influence communications in the workplace, employers within the Canadian pork industry can avoid the miscommunications that can often lead to problems within a multicultural work force.
As a result of the tremendous growth potential within the Canadian pork industry and the dwindling number of Canadians interested in careers related to agricultural pork industry, employers have been forced to rely more heavily on workers from other nations to fill openings.
Tina Varughese, the president of tWorks, says it is important for employers to be aware of how cultural differences will affect how people communicate in order to avoid the miscommunications that can lead to problems.

Clip-Tina Varughese-tWorks:
It can really cause a lot of misunderstanding and misperception at the work place.
Often people will start to begrudge one another and it doesn't add to a very engaging work place or positive work place when people, quite frankly, don't understand one another.
There are things employers can do to empower themselves to understand how people communicate across the world so that ultimately they have the most effective organization that's the most positive for everybody.
I don't think people leave jobs.
People leave people and so if you aren't communicating effectively with your direct reports, with your management team you are at peril of losing a potentially great individual.
In fact they look at money as being number eight in terms of why people would leave a job.
In essence it's what can you do to be a better employer, a better leader, a better manager, a better person working in a barn.
It's all about empowering yourself to surround yourself with the best and the brightest.

Varughese says we tend to look at the world through a cultural lens which is really affects how we communicate within the workplace, within the barn and within the boardroom so it's up to employers to understand where someone's coming from so we can ultimately bring out the best in us all.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council