Moving countries is challenging and life is no picnic for migrants to New Zealand. Kiwis pride ourselves on being welcoming, yet few of us have hosted a migrant family to dinner. And we don’t seem to realise how hard our accents are to understand when we speak to migrants. Rather than their English not being good enough, our Kiwi English is one of the least spoken varieties in the world, so migrants have few opportunities to practise it before they arrive. Communication is key to making the most of migrants in our society.
It is ironic, then, that in the same year that immigration settings have been eased and the call has gone out for more skilled workers to make their home here, Victoria University of Wellington has axed the one remaining staff member who led and managed its internationally acclaimed Language in the Workplace Project (LWP) that helps to make working here easier for migrants. Since its inception in 1996, LWP, in the words of its founder, Emeritus Professor Janet Holmes, sought to “collect, identify and analyse features of effective interpersonal communication in a variety of workplaces” and to “explore the practical implications” of the research results. With the loss of the sociolinguist leading it, the project may also fold. The university says no decision has yet been made on its future.
In almost three decades, this research programme has recorded spoken interactions in more than 40 workplaces, involving almost 1000 people in sectors reliant on the skills of migrants – aged care, health, hospitality, retail, construction and IT. Workplace conversations were recorded using wearable devices and the results analysed to produce resources to help migrants understand our workplaces.
Sociolinguistics examines the socio-cultural context of communication. For example, New Zealanders are strongly egalitarian, so managers often use humour to downplay their status. One study across six sectors found the word “eh” was commonly used by managers as a “leveller” in conversations with staff. This is puzzling to staff from status-driven cultures, used to serious and more reserved bosses. There are many such cultural communication gaps in today’s workplaces and understanding these differences and why they exist contributes greatly to improved workplace outcomes.
The work of LWP is world leading in its collaborative approach with workers, their colleagues and managers. Its sizeable collection of transcribed Kiwi workplace interactions has made a major practical contribution to helping migrants settle. Teaching resources for migrants have drawn heavily on LWP research into succeeding in interviews, understanding the importance of humour or engaging in small talk.
Immigration New Zealand’s settlement resources for migrants and employers also reflect LWP expertise. General workplace support such as “WorkTalk” and sector-specific guides were developed collaboratively and give effect to the university’s goal of linking “town and gown”. The resources support businesses to hire migrants and empower newcomers in their efforts to get jobs and work effectively here.
As the only repository of Kiwi workplace communication data, LWP also provides fertile ground for further research, attracting sought-after local and international PhD students.
Victoria has in its hands a valuable research taonga, yet its recent drive to cut staff appears to have occurred without a full understanding of the damage and loss beyond salary savings. Losing almost 30 years of data sets built up by hundreds of participants who have invested their time could cost the university far more longer term than any short-term savings from axing LWP staff.
Migrants are key to our economy and the university needs to continue staffing this highly successful project. l
Judi Altinkaya was inaugural chief executive of English Language Partners and later spent 15 years as national manager of the migrant settlement programme at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
