Whole Foods responds to AP story about Spanish speaking team members
Article is misleading; company celebrates and honors our diverse team members
AUSTIN, Texas (June 6, 2013) – At Whole Foods Market, we do not have “no foreign languages spoken” policies in any of our stores. Our policy is that the default language is English, for consistent communication, inclusion, and especially for safety and emergency situations. We want our team members to use their judgment about when it’s appropriate to speak other languages. We are proud of our multilingual team members and try to work with customers in other languages whenever needed!
The facts are: two team members in New Mexico became upset when they believed they were told in a team meeting they could not speak Spanish at work. That was not what was communicated. They were suspended with pay due to rude and disrespectful behavior. Their suspension was due to their behavior alone, not for speaking Spanish.
Nevertheless, the store leadership launched a full investigation and seventeen team members who also attended the meeting confirmed that the language policy was discussed, and at no time were the two team members told they could not speak Spanish.
We will be looking at written guidelines across our multiple regions on this front to ensure clarity.
###
[Photo by bookgrl]
