According to an article by Forbes.com, Global Mobility: A Win-Win For You And Your Employer, Global Mobility is an increasing phenomenon with employees eager to travel across the world in order to boost their personal and professional progress, thus enlarging the distance of Employee Mobility. However, as said by Cheryl Conner (Forbes), businesses and employees operating internationally don’t just need to comply with the profile of the clients but also need to be able to communicate with them successfully.
As more and more businesses spread worldwide, the employee market needs to keep up with the changing environment and customer demands in order to provide high levels of productivity, and just knowing more than one language can make the difference. Apart from adding value to the business and achieving high levels of customer satisfaction, the knowledge of more than one language can also increase the returns that an employee gets, such as a salary increment in comparison to the monolingual competition. Those who enter the workforce with a second language fluency could expect 10%-15% more pay than the norm.
According to a recent article in The Guardian, being bi or multi-lingual not only improves a person’s employment prospects but it also broadens the scope of availing better opportunities and therefore widen their horizons to accomplishing employment in other parts of the world. Employers today are looking for workers with appropriate skills to support the notion of a growing, international market with clients and partners from different parts of the world so as to keep up with the trend of globalization and create a successful program for employees wishing to be mobile in their career.
Dori Clark states that despite the fact that English is the language of the business world today, one needs the knowledge of more than one language in order to become an effective and global leader. This justifies the need for the awareness of more than one language for prosperous employee mobility, for the company as well as the worker. Apart from cultivating the career aspect of a person, one that allows them to achieve and retain the added skill of being mobile, knowing another language has various further benefits; improved decision making skills, better attention and memory span, and protection against dementia are just a few of them (TNW, 2015).
Languages are known to be a direct link between cultures and their understanding can bridge the gap between nations in a tremendously positive fashion. An employee’s familiarity with a client’s language can also aid in building and sustaining a strong foundation for a long-term business relationship as it is seen as a sign of respect, knowledge and creating comfort.
Business Insider reported the findings of a research conducted by the Boston Consulting group and stated that over 90% of Jamaican and French citizens (cross-section group for the study) were willing to move abroad for work while another study suggested that over 59% of American millennials also intended to do the same. These demographics cover only a handful of countries yet go on to verify that a majority of people are diminishing the barriers of borders and cultures to incorporate a more global and mobile working environment. This increase emphasizes the importance of language learning among professionals and businesses in order to carry on work proceedings in a competitive and profitable manner.
According to The Guardian, businesses can get their employees on the language learning trend by using various forms of training and learning, a popular one being e-learning through its novel tools and unique methods. While many companies can choose to use translation services, the genuineness that comes with having a one-on-one conversation in the same language remains unbeatable.
E-learning allows employees to continue learning in spite of having a fast-paced and busy schedule. Likewise, employee mobility and learning isn’t halted when using e-learning solutions, therefore, allowing them to continue advancing professionally and personally. Employee Mobility and Language Learning may be poles apart in their definition yet both affect each other a great deal. The success of employee mobility depends on multiple factors and a key factor is communication; a feat that can be improved with practice and knowledge and is extremely fruitful when done in the language of the consumer.
When looking at it from another perspective, language learning can actually create employee mobility as more and more businesses seek employees with fluency in two or more languages to carry out operations abroad.
Whether employees choose to start learning the local tongue after arriving at their destination or are placed in a country because of their language proficiency skills, the interdependence of the two aspects cannot be ignored.
Cudoo – shortlisted for the Forum for Expatriate Management’s (FEM) Expatriate Management and Mobility Awards (EMMA) 2016, a prestigious forum recognizing the contribution that businesses have made to develop and improve the global mobility of employees and their families, under the following category: Most Innovative Use of Technology in Global Mobility- Bespoke.
Andrie Steliou
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