Language Instruction: The High-Impact Benefit You Should Be Offering Your Employees
The labor pool in the United States has always been shaped by our increasing global connectedness, continuous stream of diverse immigrants, and growth in generations of citizens who are speakers of languages other than English. Historically, most businesses have been able to draw from this labor pool at their discretion with little attention paid to language gaps among their employees. Our post-pandemic job market, however, has especially turned in favor of employees in recent years as staffing shortages daunt many employers across various industries.¹ In response to these changes, even more so than in previous years, businesses are considering the necessity of offering corporate language training to their workforce. While some may think this expense should be the responsibility of the individual employee, the most successful companies are those whose adaptability and progressiveness keep up with the ever-changing economic climate and who, subsequently, reap the benefits of investing in language classes for their employees.
Language skills are no longer optional in the workforce. A 2019 study from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) reports that nine out of ten employers rely on their US-based employees to know more than one language, and of that, over one-third have high dependency on those employees.² Approximately 20% of Americans (including immigrants and native-born citizens alike) speak a language other than English, with 40% of that figure being less-than-proficient in English.³ While some businesses may be able to sneak by using Google Translate for quick conversational needs, this tool falls short for on-going communications among employees in day-to-day internal operations as well as for customer-facing interactions where capturing dialect and culturally-specific cues are extremely important.
Language skills are invaluable for employees, not only with high customer contact, but also for internal-facing positions. Managerial and HR staff struggle when language barriers are present, often having to rely on and pull other employees from their work for interpretation assistance. There is a reported average of 2-3 hours of extra work per week spent by employees attempting to navigate around a language gap.⁴ Increased costs from turnover, slowed production, and miscommunications around health and safety is a direct result of language gaps within an organization. The shortcomings of a company’s inability to communicate across language barriers has the potential to result in disloyal customers, and without a doubt, results in the loss of time and revenue. The obvious solution to many of these issues is to invest in language education.
Businesses large and small are finding different ways to invest in employee language education. While some corporations like T-Mobile and Uhaul offer self-guided materials on company intranets or reimbursement for language programs such Rosetta Stone or continuing education courses at universities, others opt to host regular classes internally with outside professional language instructors. Employees taking advantage of such offerings often feel rewarded and more engaged as a result of that investment as it provides benefits both professionally and personally.⁵ Satisfied employees increase retention and prevent costly turnover for their employers, thus allowing for a positive return on that investment. McDonald’s pilot program, Archways to Opportunity, proved successful in alleviating worker shortages and turnover by tapping into their existing employees’ potential with paid language learning courses and promoting internally.⁶
Shared language, in any capacity, tends to manifest stronger feelings of trustworthiness, and especially in the workplace, can boost team morale and camaraderie. It has also been shown that language learning fosters higher levels of confidence and creativity in individuals, which has positive effects on work performance.⁷ Furthermore, employees with foreign language training are less likely to experience cultural conflicts with those outside of their, otherwise, homogenous linguistic group. This allows these employees to act, in part, as cultural ambassadors – an invaluable asset to employers.
While the United States has arguably always been in need of better language inclusivity in the workplace, offering language learning opportunities in our current economic climate especially connects employees with employers who may find themselves in desperate need of those skills. While this may seem like a large financial investment upfront, the ROI from increased retention, stronger corporate culture and morale, and less time lost to navigation of language barriers more than pays for that cost and then some. Offering language education to employees is key to hiring and maintaining a versatile workforce, satisfying the needs of an expanding customer base, and building businesses that prosper in our post-pandemic economy.
Ferguson, S. (2023, August 10). Understanding America’s labor shortage: The most impacted industries. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/understanding-americas-labor-shortage-the-most-impacted-industries
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. (2019). Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers. Language Connects Foundation. https://www.languageconnectsfoundation.org/uploads/files/general/MakingLanguagesOurBusiness_FullReport.pdf
Jeanne Batalova, J. Z. (2023, February 14). Language diversity and English proficiency in the United States. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/language-diversity-and-english-proficiency-united-states
McMunn, R. (2017, August 7). 3 ways language training benefits your business. Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/starting-a-business/3-ways-language-training-benefits-your-business/296242
Gurchiek, K. (2019, August 16). Language training speaks to improved business results. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/pages/language-training-speaks-to-improved-business-results.aspx
Meinert, D. (2021, July 7). How to bridge the Language Gap. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0618/pages/how-to-bridge-the-language-gap.aspx
University of the Potomac. (2022, December 22). 9 benefits of learning a second language. University of the Potomac. https://potomac.edu/benefits-of-learning-a-second-language/