Bilingual employees increasingly sought to improve business prospects

News Article - 23 September 2011
Category: Business

An increasing number of employers are considering language-learning programs in order to improve internal and external communications, according to research commissioned by language training provider, Rosetta Stone.

Four hundred and ninety-three senior and upper management-level business professionals within a number of functional roles at leading international corporations were surveyed by MarketBridge, to learn more about their company's language-learning requirements.

Senior and upper management-level business professional believed this was a vital issue, with 80 per cent agreeing it was either very or extremely important.

The importance of communication among employees was regarded as even more important than communication between employees and clients/customers. Businesses were keen to implement language learning to encourage company expansion into new geographies (48 per cent), as well as relocate staff members overseas (32 per cent).

The ultimate aim of acquiring and training employees to become bilingual is to improve productivity and collaboration, with almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of respondents agreeing this is the most important reason for adopting language-learning programs in the workplace.

The majority of senior business professionals (83 per cent) believed just beginner to intermediate language proficiency would be enough to meet employer demands.

Sylke Riester, managing director for Europe, Rosetta Stone, said: "It is clear that language barriers are presenting a major challenge in today's globalised world.

"However, it is very encouraging to see that business leaders believe these are barriers that can be quickly overcome through employment of a language-learning program to raise employees' level of proficiency."

Business HR solutions can address the issue of employee development such as the implementation of language-learning programs. HR software modules retain all necessary employee details for training with the ability to schedule and manage training events, manage correspondence as well as analyse the cost and effectiveness of learning programs.

Particularly at leading international corporations the focus for HR managers at the top level is to equip themselves with the right tools to succeed.

Article keywords: Language training, Rosetta Stone, MarketBridge, HR software modules, employee training

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