The Commissioner always addresses the principle that persons in Wales should be able to live their lives through the medium of Welsh if they choose to do so. We spend a significant proportion of our lives at work; therefore, we want to enable people to use the Welsh language at work to the greatest extent possible.
The Welsh Government strategy, Cymraeg 2050, mentions the workplace as a key space for increasing the use of the Welsh language. It says that “the workplace is central to our day-to-day lives and provides an important context for an individual’s linguistic development”, as it is an opportunity for speakers at every level to use and practice the language. The strategy states that “some bodies are already leading the way in this respect and use the Welsh language as the language of internal administration, subsequently increasing the demand for, and opportunities to use, Welsh language skills”.
Organisations subject to Welsh language standards are required to develop a Policy on using the Welsh language in the workplace, explaining how that Policy with facilitate and promote the use of the Welsh language.
Here are a series of model policies that are relevant for organisations at different places on the language continuum or who operate in specific ways. These model policies are a foundation for organisations to drive change and to meet the objective of increasing daily use of the Welsh language.