But most of the Spanish-speaking workers Chipotle brought on board had little or no proficiency in English. She developed textbooks and an audiotape and set to work. After one year, the program proved so successful Gowins was hired to oversee it full time. Today she teaches eight classes weekly, ranging from beginning to advanced, to 60 Denver employees. Any Spanish-speaking Chipotle employee can take the classes, which are conducted free of charge in the morning before the restaurants open.
Employees are on the clock during classtime.
One offshoot of the program has been a desire on the part of Chipotle's English-speaking employees to learn Spanish. Gowins now teaches a Spanish class at corporate headquarters. Chipotle believes the program will go a long way toward instilling company loyalty. For the industry, these are the best and worst of times. They've had to put enormous effort into doing a better job of compensating all employees on a unit level.