How Do Women Get Respect?

Many of you have immigrant workers. In a recent presentation I gave on Immigrant & Ethnic Workers to a group of landscapers and nursery people, the question was asked by a female supervisor about how to get employees to respect you when they come from countries where there are no female bosses.

What it boils down to is that it is critical to get the message across to the workers that in the U.S. female bosses are very common, and it must be accepted by them. They must understand this, if possible, before you hire them. I know it is difficult if you can't speak their language to communicate with them. If so, then write up an explanation of this and get it translated into their language. If they are going to work for you, they must learn the differences about working in their new country, and they must accept them. Sure there are things they can hang onto about their culture, but this is not one of them. Just always remember to treat them with dignity and respect.