Dramatic Increase in the Need for English in Global Business
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As businesses look to expand into new markets and integrate global operations, they find that, more and more, their employees need to work together across regions and languages. This has increased the importance of English as the practical common business language. In addition, technology has connected employees like never before, and English is now part of the regular workday for many employees who are using English in their jobs for the first time.
In fact, with the rapid pace of globalization, there has been a sharp rise in the importance of English for many employees of global companies. In a recent survey of more than 25,000 employees of global corporations, the percentage of respondents who said that English was either "critical" or "important" to be successful in their current positions increased each quarter over an 18-month period.
The vast majority of those same respondents, however, also reported that their English language proficiency was insufficient to be successful in their current jobs. In sum, 91 percent of respondents said that English was either "critical" or "important" but only 9 percent said their proficiency was sufficient to do their current jobs. This is a massive and costly skill gap.
The Importance of English for Global Business
Global corporations are finding that a lack of English proficiency has a direct impact on them in several areas.
- Lost opportunities that affect revenues
- Sales forces face obstacles that impede their performance.
- Customer satisfaction suffers because of issues with customer service, call centers, and guest relations.
- Project teams are unable to deliver on time due to communication problems.
- Decreased productivity that impacts costs
- Process improvements take longer (for example, Six Sigma).
- Communication with the home office is frustrating.
- Best practices and standards are difficult to implement.
- Challenges in managing global talent
- Skills become less portable.
- Growing local talent for global roles is challenging.
- Hiring for English skills is more expensive than training for it.
Assessing the Cost
The need for English language training has never been greater, and companies that address the problem effectively now can save millions in gained productivity.
Key Questions to Ask
GlobalEnglish Corporation can help companies identify their business communication challenges.
