Not everyone knows that ‘smoko’ is lunch (or is it breakfast, morning/afternoon tea?), let alone what you do if you don’t smoke.  Or that ‘knock-off’ means you’ve finished for the day! It may also surprise some of us to know that ‘stop’ doesn’t necessarily mean come to a sudden halt on some overseas job sites. 

Construction of the New Dunedin Hospital Outpatient Building will bring together many contractors and their staff - some local, some from overseas, and these are just a few examples where there can be ambiguity for workers. 

John Jones Steel are working with Literacy New Zealand and Workforce Central Dunedin to develop seminars for their onsite teams to help benefit overseas staff – and local.  They, and other companies, have found that people coming from overseas need extra assistance in setting themselves up and there can be some cultural and communication difficulties, especially when different nationalities are working together.   To help bridge the gap and ensure better communication, the course will also be helpful for New Zealand staff to help them understand the differences in cultures and why some people do the ‘wrong thing’ or look ‘stumped’ when asked to do something.

Misunderstandings can have enormous implications for health and safety onsite.

Kris Tarrant, HR Manager for John Jones Steel points out that even when English is a first language, and some of the team may have been born and bred as ‘kiwis’, it can be astounding to realise how confusing some instructions are when you’ve been giving them all your working life.

“We are used to working in a culture where a Manager’s decision or an instruction from a Supervisor can be questioned, and particularly so when we think something is not right or they are not aware of something that would change their decision.  This isn’t the same in other cultures where a person with a higher status is not questioned, and this is something all our people need to be very aware of,” says Kris.

“To help us put together this course, we asked our team if we could film some of them interacting in a typical workplace situation. As you’d expect, the results have been an eye-opener for many.  We tend to talk very quickly and use phrases that are not understood by others and then wonder why something hasn’t been actioned or done correctly.   This course is making us all think differently about our work practices and how we better support our people,” says Kris.

Raymond Clark, Operations Manager at Workforce Central Dunedin who is responsible for helping New Dunedin Hospital contractors recruit the construction skills and labour needed to help complete the build, agrees.

“The construction industry is an enormous one, and literacy and an understanding of our different cultures is incredibly important to help bring together and build the workforces needed,” says Raymond.

‍