Language barriers rarely lead to problems on the job

Most employees working in multilingual environments in the Netherlands say language differences seldom cause misunderstandings, according to new figures from national statistics office CBS and research institute TNO.

In total, 36% of workers say more than one language is spoken between colleagues at their place of work. Multilingual workplaces are most common in the IT sector (59%), followed by industry (57%) and agriculture (54%). They are least common in public administration (15%) and healthcare (12%).

When multiple languages are spoken at work, English is the most common language after Dutch, used by 23% of employees.

Among workers who operate in multilingual environments, just over one in three (36%) say colleagues do not always understand each other well. Miscommunication is most frequently reported in the construction sector (49%), agriculture (48%) and industry (46%).

Problems caused by language-related misunderstandings vary. The most common issue is mistakes in the work or tasks not being carried out properly, cited by 10% of workers in multilingual teams. In addition, 4% say they feel excluded, while smaller numbers report conflicts (2%), discrimination (2%) or dangerous situations (1%).

Language barriers can also lead to misunderstandings with customers, which may include patients, parents, passengers or students. In total, 37% of employees report that they or their customers do not always understand each other well when faced with language differences.

This occurs most frequently in healthcare (50%), hospitality (44%), retail (43%) and transport (42%). In 15% of such cases, the misunderstanding resulted in work not being properly carried out while conflicts or arguments occurred in 6% of cases.