[argella]

Question for ESL people here.

One of my direct reports is a non-native English speaker. He has a pretty thick accent and talks fast. Common feedback I get from customers we work with is that he can be hard to understand.

I plan on giving him some career advice that he should work on this. Talk slower, consider working on reducing his accent.

Any suggestions on how to do this in a way that is sensitive / not-offensive?

My first instinct is just to say it, share comments I’m getting from our customers, etc. but I don’t want it to be hurtful. It’s really a “you could be more effective if … “ thing.

[bojan]

> Any suggestions on how to do this in a way that is sensitive / not-offensive?

Offer him a course or private lessons paid by the company (with the company investing ideally both money and time). They are probably aware of their accent and shouldn't refuse the possibility to improve.

If they do refuse, then it's a bit questionable if you want to work with a person that is not open for feedback.

[Adverblessly]

> Any suggestions on how to do this in a way that is sensitive / not-offensive?

Wouldn't that depend on what culture he is from and what that culture considers offensive?

Either way, I've heard good things about "Accent makeover" classes, so if they are available to him, maybe it is worthwhile to pay for him to take such a course?

[thriftwy]

You could say that some of the customers, who are not native speakers themself, havd trouble keeping up with his speed of speech.

That would likely both be true and remove entitlement from the question.