How to Make Global Employee Communications Comply with Overseas Translation Mandates

摘要

Decades ago, whether a multinational had to translate overseas employee communications rarely amounted to a pressing problem. Multinationals used to run their global HR operations as siloed units with little day-to-day involvement of headquarters. Headquarters issued very few messages directly to rank-and-file overseas staff. A multinational's instructions to local staff at its plant in, say, Montreal mostly came from onsite Quebecois personnel administrators-in French. Work rules for an office in Tokyo tended to come from local Japanese management-in Japanese. Benefits plans for employees in Guadalajara originated with in-country local Mexican HR-in Spanish. Employment contracts in every locale got generated locally in the local language.