TABLE OF CONTENTS Failure to retain culturally different employees can have a negative impact on organizations.
Companies miss their affirmative action targets (in the United States) or fail to make progress on their employment equity numbers (in Canada).
Culturally different employees who feel their skills are not being fully used and rewarded may leave the company. These skills then are utilized by competitors or, in some cases, by the former employees as they create a competing organization.
The feeling of not being rewarded for one s efforts can stem from a combination of many cross-cultural dynamics located way below the water line (using the iceberg analogy presented in Chapter 1). These cultural dynamics are described in this chapter; suggestions on how to overcome the obstacles are presented at the end. The good news is that once your organization figures out how to execute the strategies for retention, culturally different employees will typically be among your most loyal. The orientation programs, coaching, and mentoring suggested in Chapter 5 are a great start to improving retention.
When hierarchical recent immigrants work in egalitarian North American organizations, they often feel their efforts are not recognized adequately.
Even though they are working very hard, they are not given promotions. In the minds of their managers, they are not doing what it takes to be promoted. In their own minds, they are doing exactly what it takes to be promoted, so they do not understand why others, whom they perceive as not being as deserving as...
