Research findings
User Segmentation
Bilingual employees can be categorized in these 4 segments:
Fluent English, little to no French
Fluent English, some French
Fluent Bilinguals
Fluent French, some English
To understand the communication issues each of these groups face I conducted user interviews, surveys, secondary research and extracted internal user data.
Finding #1: Bilingual speakers primarily operate in English, even when given the option of French language. Though, the inclusion of French content makes them feel positively towards RBC as an employer.
Finding #2: English-speaking employees translate materials into French only when absolutely necessary, using online tools like Google Translate, DeepL, Linguee, or contracting professional translators.
Finding #3: Official communication has always been translated by RBC. But, employee-generated content isn’t.
Finding #4: Most of the time, French-speakers had their computer settings in English but went out of their way to translate phrases/sentences/words they couldn’t understand. They tended to supplement their gaps in English rather than changing everything to French due to primary business operations in English.
Finding #5: Professional translators are very expensive for the company but people are discouraged from using online translation tools since private company information can be compromised. This makes English-speaking employees turn to French-speaking colleagues to clarify and translate content for them. This is frustrating and burdening for French speakers.
Finding #6: All informal communication at RBC can be categorized in these main ways:
1. External tools (Slack/Confluence/JIRA/Webex/Workplace) that RBC cannot modify
2. Outlook for emails (web app + desktop app)
3. RBC’s intranet websites
4. Connect: an internal blog where employees write articles/blogs
5. Word, powerpoint, and excel documents shared among employees