Imagine a perfect world, where your global mobility program leaves employees feeling fulfilled and successful while on an international assignment, driving productivity from day one.
They adapt seamlessly to the new surroundings in their host country, both professionally and personally, with very low risk of early repatriation, project failure or turnover.
But it’s the real world, and as a global business leader, you’ve no doubt seen instances where expats couldn’t settle into their new role or community, reducing their impact, or resulting in them leaving the company altogether. Maybe you’ve even managed an early repatriation, and understand the costly impact it has on the overall department budget.
You’re sure your mobility and support programs are on point…
Which begs the question: How does your company prepare its executive expats to relocate to a foreign country?
As a business, you want your employees to make an early impact on the job without losing productivity. But an employee who doesn’t speak the host country language will feel anything but confident or productive at the start.
Consider this: Bilingual employees are better at prioritizing, and are analytical problem solvers, distancing themselves emotionally from the issue, relying on the facts for decision-making as opposed to intuitive biases.
And when your employees confidently contribute to productivity, they feel more comfortable and impactful during their international assignment. Confidence while living and working abroad results in a successful project and a positive experience for the company, the employee and their family.
Give your expats that early confidence by starting the language learning process before they relocate abroad. It can be calendar-friendly and effective by using an eLearning platform, breaking free from the traditional teacher:student education approach.
Benefits of using eLearning to help your employees learn a foreign language include:
- Reducing communication barriers in the workplace increases productivity
- Speed to proficiency translates to speed to productivity
- Employee skills development gives the whole team an advantage
- A budget friendly option that also supports your employees’ needs
Let’s explore these eLearning benefits and how you can set up your employees to hit the ground running when they start an international assignment.
Reducing communication barriers in the workplace increases productivity
Learning the language is a fantastic way to feel settled-in at a new job, and your employees shouldn’t wait until after they relocate to start.
The importance of reducing language barriers is highlighted in a study by Growing Science, which uncovered that 67% of companies experience workplace inefficiencies because of language miscommunication, and 40% reported reduced collaboration.
An executive who comes to the table with even basic language skills reduces communication barriers making the team more productive in the process.
The good news is, an eLearning module allows the employee to start language lessons in their home country as the international assignment is being designed and agreed upon. No reason to wait! Learning the new language helps the employee assimilate faster once they move, in turn increasing productivity during the assignment.
Speed to proficiency translates to speed to productivity
Most mobility packages offer the employee a budget to take in-person language courses after moving to the host country. But imagine setting your employee up to learn faster by offering eLearning language modules ahead of time – lessons that can be reinforced by in-person tutoring after relocating.
Naturally, the benefit remains when you look at it the other way around. The employee might learn a new concept with an in-person tutor that is complex, and they can use eLearning modules and exercises to practice the concept on-demand when they have time.
eLearning software customizes content, allowing students to bookmark concepts they want to review, take quizzes to see if they are progressing, and share results with a tutor who can review and adjust the lesson plan.
It’s all upside for your business when your employees can quickly engage in the host country language and culture as soon as possible by combining eLearning with tutoring.
Employee skills development gives the whole team an advantage
Skill development that benefits both the company and the employee is a win-win for everyone involved.
Employee development is a way for you as a senior leader to show that you value your team members, directly impacting their willingness to perform at a high standard. Study after study shows that productivity and engagement are driven by employee development. Providing your employee with language lessons prior to their assignment is an investment in their development that company and employee will both see a return on.
Interestingly, employees tend to earn more in salary if they speak more than one language at a proficient level. Language learning might be an easier sell to a relocating employee if they know that the skill is marketable and transferable for them in the future.
eLearning isn’t just a way for the company to benefit from an executive who can hit the ground running in a new country. It’s a way for the employee to feel valued, and to learn a new skill that can help their career advancement. Learning a new language might be a welcome challenge to someone whose experience has been hyper-focused on corporate goals and achievements.
A budget friendly option that also supports your employees’ needs
This scenario might sound familiar: Your company has offered language tutoring in the past, but your executives ended up canceling at the last minute. And the company ends up paying more in cancellations than for actual learning.
Most tutors charge a fee for last-minute cancellations. After all, their time is important, too. But executives are pulled in many directions and need a flexible approach to learning that meets the needs of their schedule.
Often your employee is only available late in the evening after the workday ends and time enjoyed with family is over. But a tutor may not be amenable to late-night classes.
Providing an eLearning module not only saves your company from wasteful cancellation fees, but it gives the employee flexibility to learn when it’s convenient for them, not the tutor.
eLearning is the ultimate in high customer service. It’s available 24/7, 7 days a week, whenever your employee has the capacity and focus to learn, for any duration that meets their needs at that given moment. The employee learning experience has markedly improved with the use of eLearning methods.
Not to mention, as 98% of companies already use a learning management system (LMS) to deliver other online trainings, chances are your company has an LMS that you can leverage for language learning. Give your international assignees a head start with language learning by leveraging technology you already have access to.
eLearning: Give your execs a head start with early, on-demand language learning
Can your executives successfully complete an international assignment without having first been introduced to the language? Of course. In fact, most of your relocation packages have likely offered language lessons after arriving in the host country.
But as assignees increasingly move home early because they couldn’t successfully assimilate to the new role and culture, you should prepare yourself for the unexpected cost of early repatriation plus an unfinished project that you’ll need to backfill. You’re also setting up your mobility program for bad feedback and a negative reputation among would-be international candidates.
An eLearning platform will prepare your executive’s language skills before relocating, reducing stress on the employee so they can focus on integrating in the office, the local culture, and productivity in the job.
This is an original piece of work from Lauren Halonen, GMS-T, B2B writer. Find Lauren on LinkedIn.