What started as a partnership to overcome language barriers in the workplace has evolved into a broader opportunity to strengthen client-facing communication skills for anyone in UHY’s growing workforce.
Addressing Communication Barriers
UHY wanted to find a way to address some of the communication barriers that exist with non-native English speakers in the workplace. With less language obstacles, career paths broaden for employees and overall progress thrives.
Peter Sawchuk, Director of Learning and Development at UHY-US, explains the need for programs like these in the workplace. Within the UHY culture, it’s integral to “encourage those that may have doubts about their future because of their ability to communicate professionally or communicate as a non-native English speaker.”
One of our firm’s models is we’re always looking to provide the next level of service. And that doesn’t just mean for clients we serve. It’s for our internal clients as well, so they can get to where they want to go in their career at UHY.”
– Peter Sawchuk
Partnership Beginnings
The first pilot initiative was built around convenience and began with introducing basic professional development topics. With the courses conducted virtually, Peter notes that “[The participants] appreciated [that] the sessions were on whatever best fit their schedule. People didn’t have to travel over far distances or anything like that.” Overall, the pilot course resulted in positive feedback from employees, as well as an increased interest in meeting etiquette and leadership communication.
A new curriculum to reflect new needs
With this increased interest and partnership meetings with MLC, UHY saw an opportunity to support employees not only with language fluency, but with the everyday communication and people skills that help professionals participate, lead, and serve clients with confidence. Peter says,
[Professional development] is helpful for anyone from a learning and development perspective. We want to offer something like this to everybody where they can develop mastery of competency and be successful in whatever their venture is.”
Building naturally off of the first pilot topics, MLC and UHY collaborated to create a curriculum that supported a broader audience– anyone who could benefit from a range of professional communication training. Topics of the new program curriculum include:
- Foundations of Professional Communication
- Speaking Up with Confidence in the Workplace
- Presenting with Clarity and Impact
- Digital Skills & AI for the Workplace
- Managing Difficult Conversations
A Culture of Communication
With communication becoming increasingly important in an age of digitalization, UHY and MLC’s evolving partnership provides a way to combat general trends of declining in-person skills.
Peter explains, “I hear from managing directors and partners that some of the junior staff members do a lot of communication over email and they’re very adept at that or instant messaging,” which can allow in-person communication skills to become out of practice. The ability to get in front of a client, answer tough questions in the moment, and read facial cues or body language is integral to any company now. “It’s not until we’re face to face with people where we truly start to understand how they’re really feeling about something versus what words are on a piece of paper,” Peter states.
Support for employees with practical communication skills that improve confidence, collaboration, and client readiness prove to be vital in a digital age. This partnership exemplifies the importance of professional, client-facing communication resources for everyone in a workplace.
If you work at UHY, email Peter Sawchuk for a schedule of upcoming classes