In our previous blog post, “Bill 101 and Your Business,” we briefly discussed the various categories of written material (business name, product packaging, Website, advertising content) that needed to be produced in French as stipulated in the Charter of the French Language. We also touched upon French being the language of the workplace. So what does this entail for your business?
If you have 50 employees or more, you will need to work with the Office de la langue française on obtaining a Francization Certificate to ensure the generalized use of French in the workplace. While we cannot go into the specifics of this process here, let’s start with just a few of the documents you can expect to have to translate into French.
- All want ads and promotion notices (Francophone employees must have access to the same employment opportunities as their bilingual counterparts)
- Collective agreements
- Company newsletters
- Software how-to manuals (you must also install French-language hardware and software at employee workstations)
- All formal communication with staff or among managers (memos, notices, correspondence, announcements)
- Forms, quotes, reports, work plans and processes
- Office equipment inscriptions
- Internal signage
Be sure to have these documents translated by a professional, preferably one specialized in your area of business or in human resources. Keep in mind that producing low-quality documents in French could reflect poorly on your brand image. Be safe, not sorry!