Breaking language barriers: How roofing companies can build stronger teams

By Jesse Sanchez.

Clear communication is essential for ensuring job site safety, retaining skilled workers and maintaining profitability.

At the Western Roofing Expo, Roofing Road Trips® host Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Monica Vornbrock and Melissa Chapman, co-founders of The GLO Group, to discuss how communication challenges, especially language barriers, are holding back many roofing companies. In a fast-paced industry where safety, precision and efficiency are critical, breakdowns in communication can lead to costly mistakes — and even dangerous situations.

"Some of the challenges that we're seeing is labor shortage continues to be an issue, adoption of new technologies and platforms and communication," Monica said, pointing to the ways poor communication often ties directly into broader workforce struggles.

One major issue Monica and Melissa address with contractors is the divide between English- and Spanish-speaking crews. In many companies, these groups work side by side, but without effective ways to communicate, mistakes and frustration can build. "We've done workshops where we have half of the attendees are Spanish speaking and speak very little English. Whereas the other part of the team is only English speaking," Monica explained.

The problem runs deeper than just words. Monica shared her personal insight as someone who had to learn English as an adult, saying, "You add the language barrier, but it all goes back down to that communication piece, communication styles, being able to say, ‘hey, I don't understand what you're saying.’ Instead of saying ‘yes, yes.’ Which is something that we tend to do."

By creating environments where workers feel safe to ask questions and clarify instructions, companies can dramatically improve both safety and efficiency. Monica added, "Once you break down those silos and you create that safe environment, people are able to say, ‘hey, I don't understand. Can you repeat that?’"  

Melissa also pointed out that a company's culture sets the tone for how teams interact. "If leadership is really intentional about creating an environment where I want to hear what you have to say, I want to understand your challenges and I want us to solve these together, that is the first step to a journey of success," she said.

The GLO Group focuses on helping roofing contractors implement these kinds of cultural shifts, offering workshops and tools designed to improve communication and leadership from the top down. These efforts don't just solve interpersonal issues — they reduce costly mistakes and turnover. "If you have a culture that creates that environment, you're going to retain your employees," Melissa noted.

Melissa stated that this cultural work connects to broader issues like mental health and burnout. "If you have a culture that creates that environment, you're going to retain your employees," she said. "Not only that, but you're going to have built-in recruiters for you. You're going to have your employees that say, this is a great company. You want to work for us. And you're not going to lose laborers over a dollar to the competitor because your culture is set in a way that I don't want to leave here because they care about me."

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn how The GLO Group is working with roofing contractors to overcome language barriers and foster better communication on the job site!