:: Earning trust has benefits
Spanish-speaking immigrants often don't invest in their companies' retirement plans. Juan Chavolla is one of the exceptions.
Juan Chavolla was initially reluctant to join the 401(k) retirement savings program offered by his employer.
An immigrant from Mexico, Chavolla said he feared the money he earned as a warehouse worker for building products distributor OrePac would be lost if he changed jobs. He also figured a savings program in which the employer contributes matching dollars sounded "too good to be true," he said.
"There are some that say it's better to have the money in my pocket than to have it in the program," he said.
It's an attitude shared by many immigrant employees and one that a Denver company, Futuro Sólido U.S.A., is working to conquer.
OrePac hired Futuro Sólido, which specializes in translation services and workplace training for Spanish-speaking employees - to do a presentation on its benefits options. While the company offers many types of translation services, Futuro Sólido owner Melissa Burkhart is particularly interested in helping workers like Chavolla take advantage of the benefits that are available to them.
Chavolla, who had never saved money before, liked what he heard from Futuro Sólido and enrolled in the 401(k) plan. In two years, the 38-year-old had built up a $10,000 nest egg.
"I see my money growing," he said. "It's a good program for my future."
Among Spanish-speaking immigrants eligible for company-sponsored benefits, Chavolla remains in the minority.
Overcoming obstacles
About 56 percent of all wage and salary employees ages 21 to 64 had an employer or union-sponsored pension or retirement plan last year, according to a report released this month by the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.
Overall, about 53 percent of full-time, full-year workers participate in such plans, but the Institute's analysis of 2007 U.S. Census data found non-native Hispanics were less likely to participate
Melissa Burkhart and her husband, Ferney Colorado, founded Futuro Sólido U.S.A. to help immigrants understand their benefits packages. (Post | Hyoung Chang)
than whites, blacks or non-immigrant Hispanics.
Matthew Gnabasik, managing director of Blue Prairie Group, a human resources and investment consulting firm in Chicago, said there is a "generally accepted truism" in the industry that in companies with large Spanish-speaking immigrant populations, participation in retirement savings plans is low.
"It's often said that there is a cultural element to that," he said.
Human resources directors, he said, repeatedly tell him that among Spanish-speaking immigrants, those who are working feel a greater responsibility to care for older family members than to invest in a retirement plan.
In addition, Gnabasik said, it is difficult to get lower-income workers to participate in a plan.
Burkhart is working to change that.
A former English, Spanish and social studies teacher in Denver Public Schools, Burkhart launched Futuro Sólido in 2001 with help from her Colombian-born husband Ferney Colorado, who is also her consultant.
Her mission is to help companies tear down the myths and cultural obstacles that keep Spanish-speaking employees from enjoying robust benefits and to help them perform better in the workplace.
"We address the common misconceptions that are prevalent in the Spanish-speaking community in such topics as employee benefits and safety so that after the translation, the employees actually change their behavior," Burkhart said.
"Our emphasis is not just on translating accurately, but getting the results the client wants, whether that's understanding and compliance of safety regulation so their workers' compensation claims stay reasonable ... or whether that's having people participate in their 401(k)."
The reasons Spanish-speaking immigrants don't take advantage of benefits can sound bizarre to those outside of the community, Burkhart acknowledges.
Some male Hispanic immigrants, for example, don't want to enroll in a life insurance plan because they don't want to leave their hard-earned cash for the "Sancho," - a term for the man their wives remarry when they die, Burkhart said.
"I explain to them you don't have to leave it to your wife," Burkhart said. "You can leave it to your children ... This is to protect the people that you're supporting."
Earning workers' trust
Meanwhile, others would rather hide their cash under the mattress than in a 401(k), she said.
"There is a lack of trust of banks because of volatility in their countries of origin," she said. "They're afraid if they can't see the money and can't count it themselves, that the bank will say, 'Oh sorry, it went away."'
And, health plans are sometimes seen as unnecessary because some immigrants will wait until they're seriously ill and just go to the emergency room, said Burkhart.
In a report released earlier this month in the health care journal Inquiry, researchers found that many Spanish-speaking Latinos are in low-wage jobs that don't offer health insurance plans.
For those whose companies offer a plan, the report, entitled, "Why do Latinos Have So Little Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance," found the cost of premiums to be a deterrent.
Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the Washington, D.C.-based New America Foundation and a co-author of the report, said a higher priority for them is to be able to send money home.
"In that sense, making sure you have as much cash now is at a premium in that community," he said.
Nichols said Burkhart appears to have a niche company; he knows of no other company that is targeting Spanish-speaking immigrants to get them enrolled in employer-sponsored benefits.
Burkhart said there are incentives for employers to get all employees, including Spanish-speaking immigrants, to take advantage of benefits. One is employee retention.
"They'll think twice before going to look for another job," she said. "They'll realize that they might not get this good a deal somewhere else, even if they're getting another dollar or so, they may not be getting as good a package."
And with health plans, high enrollment gives the company leverage to negotiate better rates and packages for all employees, Burkhart said.
Pick messenger wisely
But it's all in the message, Burkhart said.
She suggests that companies hire professional translators to explain benefits, rather than a computer program or bilingual employee - a big and common mistake.
"The guy they have to interpret might not even be participating in the plan," she said. "There is all this technical terminology like 'stocks,' and 'bonds' and 'deductibles' and 'inpatient services' and this guy doesn't know what that means."
With benefit plans, employees are usually more open to enrolling once they understand how they work, Burkhart said.
"For 401(k) plans, when they see examples of what you can have for the price of a cup of coffee every day at retirement - $250,000 or $350,000 - it very often clicks," she said.
Carlos Gonzalez, a Spanish-speaking immigrant at OrePac, said he recommends the 401(k) plan to his co-workers.
"I've told them if they have that option to take it because if they have that money in their pocket, they're not going to save it," he said.
"The way I see it, when I'm on the age to pull it out, I don't know if I'm going to be able to work, if Social Security is going to exist. I have that money there in the long run."