January 2022 – BM Voice

Helping Your Immigrant Colleague in the Workplace

Being an immigrant in the workplace can be challenging not only due to government regulations and work permit issues but also due to uncertainties about immigration status as policies keep changing. Add to this adjusting to all the cultural differences and it’s a time when supporting an immigrant colleague in the workplace can be very meaningful.

Find out more about their immigration journey

Don’t ask immigrant colleagues about their work permits, as this can be an uncomfortable trigger for them. Create a safe space instead that gives them the opportunity to open up if they feel comfortable doing so. Learn more about the process immigrants have to go through to obtain visas, work permits, and green cards.

Experienced immigration lawyers from USAttorneys.com can help immigrants needing assistance to transition to the U.S. They will help them to fill in immigration papers and deal with the whole process of getting visas which can be intimidating, especially for those who don’t speak English well.

Create a workplace that’s inclusive of the immigrant experience

Validate the experience of immigrants and do what you can to make them feel included. You can ask them questions like “Do you have any suggestions about how the company can communicate any changes to immigration policies?” or “Do you know who to approach if you have a problem in the workplace?”

Change the way you promote any events to include them. If a colleague successfully secures a work permit, green card or citizenship, it is a reason to celebrate (with their permission, of course!).

Establish trust so they can be more transparent

Immigrants struggle to speak out for fear of retaliation which could impact their work status and ability to stay in the country. The thought of having to go back to their country of origin may be a scary one. It will help if you can establish trust with immigrant colleagues so they don’t fear speaking up and they can be honest and transparent.

Be mindful of the difficulties they face

Settling in a new country can be very challenging. Everything from the immigration process, where Abogados de Inmigración can help, to opening a bank account, getting a driver’s license, finding health care etc., can be intimidating, especially for non-English speakers.

In addition, they have to face different cultural norms. Ask your immigrant colleagues if they need help with any of the logistics and give them the opportunity to talk about their anxieties. Understand that immigration news in the media is often negative and this can affect the emotional and mental health of immigrants.

Value different languages and cultures in the workplace

Understand that your immigrant colleagues may communicate differently with you. Language barriers can make it harder to express opinions and it is easy for misunderstandings to occur. Take the time to make sure you understand what they are saying correctly.

Managers should take the time to learn work-related vocabulary in the language of immigrants. A different language can be a benefit in the workplace because the more languages employees speak, the more customers your company can communicate with. Training in the workplace can teach communication skills to both immigrants and other employees that help them to interact with colleagues or customers.

Share your knowledge openly and proactively

Immigrants can have difficulty decoding unwritten rules and policies, as well as subtle cultural norms. They may feel vulnerable and desire to prove themselves professionally, which can inhibit them from asking for help or communicating their challenges.

You can act as a mentor and provide emotional and informational support. You can even help connect immigrants to the local professional and social community.

Important Business Lessons We Can Learn From “Made in Japan”

“Made in Japan” is a term that is automatically associated with premium quality products. Successful Japanese companies like Sony, Toyota, and Panasonic have now shifted from manufacturing direct branded items to controlling the supply chain of the consumer electronics industry. Japan uses several strategies to maintain its position as the leading raw material supplier for several hi-tech sectors.

Global dominance

Japanese companies never compromise on quality and strive for global excellence keeping constant improvement as their goal. Japanese companies started to control the world’s raw material sources necessary for the IT industry boom from the early ’80s. They created a monopoly in the market when it came to chemicals like silica and other core components.

Japanese companies achieved this world leadership by implementing excellent leadership strategies. OpEx Learning provides Six Sigma White Belt, Yellow, Green, and Black Belt training for company executives who strive to stand above others. Their comprehensive course includes everything from leadership training to analyzing case studies and doing projects.

Befriend every brand

Japanese companies stopped creating products from scratch and marketing them with the “Made in Japan” tag. The fierce competition from the South Korean and Chinese brands selling mass-produced consumer electronic products for minimal cost threatened them. Several companies went out of business but many regained their position by changing their production strategy.

Instead of creating a product from scratch, they start supplying things necessary to develop high-quality consumer electronic goods. Japanese companies who always give high importance to quality use their image to provide premium quality spares and raw materials to the entire East Asian consumer electronics market. They started to befriend every brand instead of making their particular brand stand out and multiplied their profits enormously.

Small and beautiful companies

The Japanese government provides all the necessary help for small and medium-scale enterprises to thrive. They list over twelve important manufacturing technologies that help small companies to manufacture products akin to them. They produce all the parts and control all the materials necessary to create satellites, motors, aircraft, computers, and other essential communication devices.

If the Japanese market is affected, it will influence the entire global supply chain, and all the huge Fortune 500 companies will suffer plummeting investments. The small-scale entrepreneurs of Japan control several companies proudly proclaimed as “small and beautiful” are helping the world produce world-class products with high quality “Made in Japan” inner parts.

Learning from mistakes

Japan ruled the consumer electronics industry in the ’80s but soon lost to South Korea and China in the upcoming decades. They failed to use the IT revolution by creating notable software engineers and realized the world had moved on to integrated circuits relatively late. They learned from their mistakes quickly and started to target the next colossal market – semiconductors and silicone.

Japanese company Shin-Etsu is the largest manufacturer of Silicon necessary to make several products from bricks to computer chips. Japanese companies Toray and Teijin control many aircraft manufacturing raw materials ownership. Toshiba is one of the world’s top ten semiconductor manufacturing companies.

Quality speaks for itself

“Fine manufacturing” is the motto of Japan that makes them gain the upper hand compared to mediocre quality Chinese products. The word “Made in Japan” has a distinct association with high-quality products worldwide. Though Japanese products had stopped dominating the electronics market directly now, their raw material production has retained power indirectly.

Several top electronic companies worldwide, from Apple to LG, depend substantially upon Japanese semiconductors and silicone. Japan had made its name as the supplier of the best raw materials for the world electronics market. Every company that wants to produce premium quality products comes to them automatically.

Concerns Related to Employee Data Privacy

Employees play key roles in the success of every organization. It’s the dream of every employee to feel secure when working in the organization, and this means that their data privacy should be a priority to the organization.

Apart from the minefield of laws and regulations directed by the state to protect employees’ data, the organization should at least show that they are willing to do more than that. Below are the concerns related to employee data privacy.

How sensitive information is stored

With many fishy deals happening worldwide, most employees are concerned about how their data is stored and how it’s shared in the organization. Research shows that most employees receive calls from con artists trying to impersonate customer cares from different financial institutions.

It means that someone must have misplaced the number, and managers of different companies are encouraged to seal all these loopholes to ensure they don’t fall victim. Organizations are encouraged to opt for SQL Server to Snowflake migration option to secure employee details. SQLPipe is one of the free developer tools that has helped organizations transfer data from one database to the other faster.

Personal information being collected

The kind of personal information being collected is one of the major concerns related to employee data privacy. Personal information is the data that identifies each of the employees individually. That’s why companies should state clearly the kind of personal information they are collecting about their employees and why they are ordering the data.

It helps the employees deal with worries of being insecure that their personal information is being misused for personal gains. Just because the employees are assets of the organization, it doesn’t mean you can ask for their personal information anyhow and use it wherever you need.

Who accesses personal information

Almost every employee is concerned with whom the company will share their personal information. Is it going to give access to all members of the organization? Are the members of the organization reliable to keep the organization’s data secure?

A number of companies have been caught spying on employees’ data. This is an issue that concerns many employees about their data privacy. As a result, many organizations have developed controlled access to the employee’s data, and others do not view some of the employee’s data.

Rights related to personal information

Employees have the right to be informed how their data will be used somewhere within the organization. The right to be informed is the most fundamental basic right as it empowers the employees to question the rights related to the employees’ personal information. Can they change it whenever they need it, or should they apply to the company to change it?

These are some of the concerns that every organization should consider when dealing with employees’ rights over their data. The laws state that the employees have the right to access, rectify, and erasure their personal data. At no point should the organization try to disclose private facts without their consent?

Data privacy after contract termination

Employees are often concerned about how the company will use their data after the contract termination. Will it delete it entirely or keep it in their cloud-based database? Data privacy after contract termination stipulates how the employees’ data will be handled after the contracted project or early termination of the contract.

Others choose to return the employees’ data in their hard copy files after the contract termination. With all this information provided to the employees during the induction period or on their website, they can clearly understand how their data security will affect the data at the end of the contract.

Overcoming the Mental Trauma of Losing a Family Member in Road Accident

The greatest grief in life is when you lose a loved one unexpectedly, and road accidents are the main reason for such sudden deaths. It is pretty hard to overcome the mental trauma when this happens, and people often struggle to cope with the loss. Proper help and legal guidance will help such sufferers compose themselves with time.

Fight legally

The first step you need to do when you lose a person close to you in a road accident is to gain closure. Fight legally, find out who is at fault and provide the necessary compensation or fight for justice to punish the person at fault. Proper legal help for a reputable law firm and experienced lawyers is a must for such legal battles.

The USattorneys.com helps you connect with the right accident attorneys, semi truck accident lawyers, and insurance lawyers. Their help will be invaluable for you when you further explore the hard-to-understand case details.

Get counseling

Get proper counseling from a therapist to overcome the grief and follow their advice diligently. Do not ignore their measures to help you and cooperate with them in every possible way. Insurance holders often get specific counseling sessions free which get covered in their accident packages.

Good accident lawyers or an insurance lawyer will inform you about your eligibility for such free therapy sessions. Make use of them and develop a holistic treatment plan, which might last for a few weeks to a few months. The therapists will also measure your progress, prevent you from getting into bad habits and help you with other underlying issues.

Fighting loneliness

The best way to avoid loneliness is by surrounding yourself with the right friends and staying positive. If necessary, join a support group and start mingling with others struggling like you and comfort each other. Start exploring your passion and dedicate your entire time to it, which will help drive away loneliness.

Concentrating on your passion and growing in it helps you connect with numerous new people related to the field. It will help you forget the old scars and open up fresh in life with new acquaintances. Do not rush into new relationships or compare others with the ones you lost. Try to have an open heart and move on even if the progress is slow and painful as you must overcome the grief.

Handling anxiety and depression

Life after losing a loved one is torturous as even a tiny thing can remind you about them and push you into a deep depression. Workouts are a great way to divert your mind when such memories surface and gain composure. Some people get panic attacks or anxiety after losing their loved ones due to excessive fear.

Indulging in regular workouts helps enormously in handling the fear and overcoming anxiety. The memories are hard to forget, but the exercises help you release your bottled feelings, which helps calm your mind. Therapists suggest the correct type of workouts to release stress and stay focused on the current life.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD

PTSD is the most significant mental issue for people who lost their loved one’s and the therapists suggest various ways to overcome the ailment. Understanding you cannot change what happened is the first step towards improvement, and it takes enormous effort for acceptance. Regular talks, hypnotherapy, exercises, and medications help come to terms with reality.

Moving on is the next biggest challenge as most people are clueless about proceeding with their lives after such a huge loss. Proper training and guidance with a job or leading their own lives are necessary. The counselors recommend that their PTSD patients take baby steps towards starting their lives again, providing them the proper guidance.