In my last column, I convinced you (I hope) that itis of utmost importance to provide specific and customized supportfor bilingual supervisors around benefitscommunication.   This does not mean that youshould try to educate these folks as to how benefitswork.  Your supervisors are not going to become benefitsexperts, and there is no reason that they should.  Theydo, however, need to understand just how important benefitsare.

This training should, above all, be a math lesson.  Howmuch does the company invest in benefits?  What do we knowabout how good benefits, and advantageous utilization of plans,impacts employee morale, productivity, and retention?  Butdon't stop there.

Very often, bilingual supervisors do not understand the costsand risks of low morale and retention.  Walk supervisorsthrough the business rationale of providing benefits. This may wellbe very eye-opening for them.  At the end, encourage themnot to try to answer employees' questions or give advice they'renot prepared to give.  Rather, guide these supervisors toguide their employees to the experts—whether that is yourself, thebooklets you have paid so much to produce (and translateprofessionally), or other resources you are providing.