English Comprehension Test for Employers

in association with ECM College

Did you know that it is the right of employee to receive their contract of employment and company handbooks in a language that they understand?

Let's take the case of DEC-E2008-020 for example, case. An award of €5000 euro per employee was granted on the grounds that employment contracts were not supplied in the languages of each of the non-native employees. Despite the companies attempt at having the contracts verbally translated by another fluent speaking employee the equality officer still found this to be unsatisfactory.

No matter how good an employee’s English seems to be it has been our experience over many years that those same candidates will show up to tribunal hearings accompanied by interpreters. They suddenly lose the ability to speak and comprehend the English language, although you may have personally evaluated their English abilities during the recruitment process you do not have the qualifications required to assess a non-native speaker’s comprehension of language.

While larger firms may have a budget to translate all their documents such as contracts and handbooks into a multitude of languages, this is not feasible for smaller companies due to the high cost involved. Even the larger companies can be faulted for not keeping records of changes to the documentation when it is updated and this in turn can cause problems for them also.

So with all this in mind how can you protect yourself and your business when it comes to the hiring of non-native employees?
We have made the answer as simple as possible for you...

We have created a test available for all employers who want to protect themselves and show their due diligence in making every effort reasonably possible to limit their exposure. Also, to be able to show they are attempting to comply with legislation when it comes to communication and understanding of employment conditions by offering pre-employment testing of English abilities for new non-native speaking recruits.

It has never been more important to ensure your business stays legally compliant when it comes to HR policies and procedures.

ISS Recruitment in partnership with the E-learning Hub has brought to the market a test which can be used as a valuable tool in the assessment of employee’s comprehension of employment duties and regulations. This test, which has been developed by the European College of Management, is designed to assist employers with judging and certifying an employee understanding of English in the workplace.

The test is designed to examine language comprehension in a work environment in terms of a person’s ability to read and understand:

• Contracts of employment
• Health & safety documentation
• Company handbooks

Incorporating this test into the recruitment procedure ensures that the employer is doing their due diligence as far as is reasonably possible and for a cost effective fee of just €80.00 euro per test. (Discount available on volume)

Watch the video