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Who are the best cabinetmakers in our shop right now? Well, those would be José, Manuel, Gonzalo, Leung and Luis.
Indeed, the future of shop labor is here, and it has a different face. For the manual work we do, the people who are willing, able and skilled are often people not born in this country. And, this will bring new challenges to the way you manage your shop.

The U.S. has always been a nation of many different nationalities, and immigrants now make up more than 12% of the population, or over 35 million people – at least 11 million of whom are of Hispanic origin.

If you haven't already done so, you will eventually be hiring Spanish-speaking employees. On both coasts and in the South, the construction industry has seen a huge influx of skilled Spanish labor. We need to think about how a non-English-speaking labor force will impact our business.

GETTING AN EDGE
What’s the best way to get an advantage over your competition? By having the better team, of course.
So, a tight, hard-working labor force is the best road to making consistent money in your shop. If you want to get that rift-sawn oak kitchen built in three weeks and not five, it’s your employees who can make the difference.

We’ve found at our shop that the work ethic of most immigrants is very high. They want to make it in their newly adopted country, and are prepared to put in the time, energy and effort to see that it happens. They’re not afraid of a solid day’s work. Many of the kids coming out of our own high schools are not prepared to do that. You may find, too, that your non-English-speaking employees will be a lot more ready to work overtime to get things done. Some of our Latino workers joke about “La Semana Inglesa” (“The English Workweek”) being only five days long, while they’ve been brought up to always work six days, including Saturdays. Having employees who are willing to work overtime is a good way to punch out work when you need to.

As their skills increase, these folks will become the core of your shop, doing the complex work – the curved doors, the one-of-a-kind cabinets, the veneer or shaper work.

Some Hispanic workers will help you find other employees, too. There’s a tight and extended family network going on in many immigrant communities, and that can be a great employment agency for your shop. Good employees often have a brother, a cousin or a friend looking for work. And there’s another advantage here – the process can be self-policing. If someone gets his buddy a job, the last thing that buddy can do is mess up, because it shows the person who got him the job in the first place in a bad light.