Policy
The designated working languages for all staff are French and English. This means that all spoken and written communication in the workplace is to be in one of those two languages, the only exceptions being those specified below.
Rationale
- For Staff
All French-speaking employees working in France have the right to be able to understand all written and spoken communication in the workplace. This includes conversations in which they are not directly involved but which they can hear around them. This helps promote good staff relations and avoid the risk of staff feeling uncomfortable and excluded if they can not participate in the conversations around them.
- For customers
It is essential that customers are able to communicate with staff in the national language of the country they are in – that is, French. The Stray Bean being an Australian-style coffee shop, it is also a natural expectation that customers can communicate in English.
In addition, our image as an Australian-style coffee shop is important to us. It is how we define ourselves and one reason why people come. Having French and English as the main spoken languages of our staff, the ones that customers hear spoken around them, supports this image. We believe it can be disconcerting for customers in an Australian-French coffee shop if there is a different language that dominates the communication among staff, one that not all customers understand and which is inconsistent with the image of the coffee shop.
Exceptions to the rule
- Customers who speak other languages
Staff may speak to customers in their own language. Nevertheless, this needs to be kept in moderation and should be for no more than a few minutes at a time.
While French and English are our main languages, we love having customers from all around the world, speaking all sorts of different languages! Having staff that can communicate with customers in their own language can create a great customer experience and one that we fully encourage.
Having a variety of different languages spoken among different customers and staff creates a “melting pot” atmosphere which is great. However, it must be avoided that one language becomes dominant, even if only at certain times ; it might please those customers who understand it, but others who don’t understand it may feel out of place, whether they are directly involved in the conversation themselves or not.
At The Stray Bean, we don’t want anyone to feel out of place!
- When there is no-one else around
Staff may speak to each other in whichever language they like as long as everyone in the same space understands that language.
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