I have seen similar things several times. When the business language is say english and there are people who use any other langauge at work that is a big red no-no. This applies to any language not just english.
First, people do gossip and "talk shit" about other team members in their presence by using another langauge. I have seen an english speaking team member who was previously married to a speaker of a certain language but at her current role several team members were speaking that language at work and she heard all the terrible comments they made about her and it was overall a terrible situation. That person was the only person I have ever seen get bullied at work and I am truly ashamed for not having done something about it at the time.
Second, even if what is discussed in the second language is something innocent, it will be interpreted as anything but eventually. You will never have adequate trust and synergy between teams and team members because of this. I had a person who spoke yet another language on the team tell me his conspiracy theory about the second language speakers and how they conspire. he even told me a person who started in the company at the same team as him and did everything he did but got ahead of him because he learned a certain language.
Third, even if no one interprets the second language conversation as malicious in nature it will make team members feel excluded.
There is simply no need for it, if everyone is required to speak the first language. Work is work, off work no one cares what langauge you speak.
The last sentence you said about discriminatory hiring practices, I believe you even if it may be hard to prove. In the US you have a lot of options to fight this, generally speaking HR would do a lot for you just to stop a potential lawsuit.
In my experience, this issue is mainly caused by english speakers who are afraid to be considered racist or something for requiring english. They only see racism as coming from a white english speaker while in reality just about every person is racist unless taught otherwise and it gets worse when nationality and race are the same thing to some people. The same standards that apply to prevent discrimination by majority white english speakers should apply everywhere.
If I was betting on diversity of departments blindly at any US bigcorp I am fairly confident my guesses would be mostly right. This isn't right or sustainable.
Tribalism is a cancerous disease at the work place.
For any corporation, people who work within a specific country should be required to use a specific language while at work unless speaking to a client. This should be an immediate firable offense.
First, people do gossip and "talk shit" about other team members in their presence by using another langauge. I have seen an english speaking team member who was previously married to a speaker of a certain language but at her current role several team members were speaking that language at work and she heard all the terrible comments they made about her and it was overall a terrible situation. That person was the only person I have ever seen get bullied at work and I am truly ashamed for not having done something about it at the time.
Second, even if what is discussed in the second language is something innocent, it will be interpreted as anything but eventually. You will never have adequate trust and synergy between teams and team members because of this. I had a person who spoke yet another language on the team tell me his conspiracy theory about the second language speakers and how they conspire. he even told me a person who started in the company at the same team as him and did everything he did but got ahead of him because he learned a certain language.
Third, even if no one interprets the second language conversation as malicious in nature it will make team members feel excluded.
There is simply no need for it, if everyone is required to speak the first language. Work is work, off work no one cares what langauge you speak.
The last sentence you said about discriminatory hiring practices, I believe you even if it may be hard to prove. In the US you have a lot of options to fight this, generally speaking HR would do a lot for you just to stop a potential lawsuit.
In my experience, this issue is mainly caused by english speakers who are afraid to be considered racist or something for requiring english. They only see racism as coming from a white english speaker while in reality just about every person is racist unless taught otherwise and it gets worse when nationality and race are the same thing to some people. The same standards that apply to prevent discrimination by majority white english speakers should apply everywhere.
If I was betting on diversity of departments blindly at any US bigcorp I am fairly confident my guesses would be mostly right. This isn't right or sustainable.
Tribalism is a cancerous disease at the work place.
For any corporation, people who work within a specific country should be required to use a specific language while at work unless speaking to a client. This should be an immediate firable offense.