Wilson Lumber Improving Communication with Spanish-Speaking Employees

Building materials supplier Wilson Lumber is making concerted efforts to better engage with employees whose first language is Spanish.

About 25 percent of the Wilson Lumber workforce speaks Spanish as their first language; of those, about half are female. These employees are primarily truss builders at the company’s truss plant in Madison.

Over the last year, the Wilson Lumber Human Resources team has improved engagement with Spanish-speaking employees. The company hired a dedicated bilingual HR Specialist, translated employee documents into Spanish, and designated bilingual team leads.

The Wilson Lumber chaplain is also bilingual. Access to a chaplain through the Corporate Chaplains of America is a benefit available to all Wilson Lumber employees.

Last month, Wilson Lumber began publishing its monthly employee newsletter The Splinter in both languages. Employees can elect to receive the newsletter in Spanish or English. The newsletter, which is mailed to employees’ homes, includes a letter from company President Robb Wilson, department updates, employee birthdays and company anniversaries, and safety and human resources information.

“We are excited to share our employee newsletter and company documents in Spanish so that our Spanish-speaking employees and their families can more easily stay informed about company information,” said Robb Wilson. “One of our core values is ‘Always Do the Right Thing,’ and it’s the right thing to improve communications with all of our employees any way that we can.”