To be able to offer high quality bilingual services, organisations need to ensure their workforce have the right skills. Several standards place specific requirements on organisations to consider the need for Welsh language skills in recruitment and to assess the language skills of staff.
The Commissioner has published an Advice Document highlighting Good Practice in Recruitment.
The advice and good practice that follows is grouped under the following headings:
Frequently asked questions for organisations that implement the Welsh Language Standards
If the appointment of individuals with appropriate Welsh language skills is a problem for an organisation, consideration needs to be given to the recruitment process and where the body advertises jobs. Organisations need to adapt their recruitment methods in order to reach Welsh speakers in their areas.
Please feel free to contact your organisation's Liaison Officer at the Welsh Language Commissioner's Office if you have any further questions.
Training to develop staff skills
The standards require organisations to offer training that develop staffs’ Welsh skills at work.
The National Centre for Learning Welsh offers support to develop Welsh language skills and to develop confidence to use Welsh in the workplace.
Examples of good practice
A number of bodies are developing staff's Welsh language skills as part of their commitment to the Welsh language and to improve their capacity to provide services. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board was the first health board to employ an in-house Welsh language tutor. The tutor's role is to create and tailor suitable courses for the needs of health board staff. By working with the tutor, the learners improve their language skills and increase their confidence to be able to use their Welsh in the workplace and beyond.
Developing staff skills can contribute to increasing use of Welsh internally:
Coleg y Cymoedd was keen to increase the number of staff using Welsh at work. Many staff attended Welsh-medium schools and were Welsh speakers although they did not use it at work. The College decided to develop a scheme to encourage Welsh speakers to use more Welsh at work.
Staff Skills Assessment
The standards require all organisations to assess the Welsh language skills of their staff.
In the Code of Practice of Regulations no. 1, the Commissioner provides guidance on this and highlights why assessing staff skills is important.
The results of the assessment can enable a body to plan its workforce so that there are adequate levels of Welsh language skills to respond to any needs by:
- identifying what the workforce's current Welsh language skills are, and thereby, identifying who can provide services in Welsh
- identifying the body's Welsh skills needs, including assessing the need for skills in Welsh for a new or vacancy in accordance with standard 136, and
- planning to maintain and increase the Welsh language skills of the workforce to meet those needs.
We do not set requirements for the use of any particular framework or specify exactly how an organisation should go about assessing the skills of its staff, as that depends on the organisation's own resources and procedures to an extent.
The Code of Practice nevertheless states the following:
Welsh skill levels are usually recorded according to a recognised framework. The Commissioner wishes to see greater consistency in the recording of employees' Welsh language skills, to facilitate the collection of data about the bilingual workforce. To ensure national consistency in how bodies assess employees' Welsh language skills, bodies can choose to carry out the assessment on the basis of the future European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).