Why Companies Offer Language Training Benefits and Employees Love It!

More and more frequently, companies are including language training in their employee benefit programs… and for good reason! Foreign language skills are a vital asset in today’s globalized world and having employees who can communicate effectively with clients and partners in their native language can be a driving force in closing deals and gaining customer trust. Plus, supporting your employees’ professional development goals is a fantastic way to show that you value them and their contributions to your business. Keep reading to find more reasons why companies offer language training benefits.

If your company works in the international arena, is looking to expand into emerging markets, or operates within a community where a significant portion of the population speaks a language other than English, it is clear that your business has the potential to benefit from offering employee language training programs. Be it Spanish, German, or Mandarin, having employees who feel comfortable conducting business in a critical language for your industry can create new opportunities in diverse markets and help communicate your message to desired client segments.

For one, making an effort to communicate in someone’s native language is a universal sign of respect. Whether it is leading a conference call or just going the extra mile to conduct greetings and introductions in your client’s mother tongue, the gesture and effort involved are sure to be noticed and appreciated. Language training also goes hand-in-hand with cultural education, and top corporate language training programs like CORE’s prepare business affiliates for success by teaching cultural norms and highlighting cross-cultural differences in social etiquette. By ensuring that learners are educated in both language and culture, CORE’s training programs position employees to get the most out of their relationships and dealings with foreign-speaking partners.

While hiring candidates with strong backgrounds in foreign languages is a great strategy, it is both practical and advantageous to consider offering language training benefits to employees in your organization. In addition to the many assets your company can glean from having employees with critical foreign language skills for your industry, offering language training benefits contributes to a strong and positive company culture. It can help your employees excel at their job by helping them strengthen cross-cultural friendships and business relationships, while bringing associates from different departments together, creating a sense of community, partnership and team-work.

Research has shown that more than 80 percent of U.S. employees rank an organization’s commitment to professional development as an important factor in their overall job satisfaction. Employees who feel that their personal and professional growth are valued often have a strong sense of loyalty to their company and tend to engage more productively with their work. Beyond opening up opportunities for your business to expand into new markets and client segments, offering foreign language training benefits can promote team bonding and raise employee satisfaction. And as your company culture is strengthened, you’ll also be drawing candidates with a global mindset into your hiring pool, solidifying an organizational vision for high-level international and multicultural engagement.

To learn more, or to start the process of setting up foreign language training benefits for your employees, contact CORE today.