Incorporating language learning into your employees’ training is easier now than ever before. There’s a wealth of both free and paid options available, which means more tools at learners’ disposal and better levels of convenience. But which one constitutes the right model for your organization?
Convenience and flexibility play an important part in choosing a corporate language training program, and often swing the balance in favor of online solutions.
With employee language learning options ranging from face-to-face lessons, to online courses and apps, and blended methods that combine the two, the challenge comes in identifying a solution that accommodates your corporate structure and meets your training needs.
Take your time and do your research
The benefits of language learning in the business world are never-ending. They improve your company’s global positioning, drive employee engagement and enhance career development to name just a few. They also give your teams transferable skills that will feed both their career and personal opportunities.
With an endless list of language learning benefits, it serves to choose a platform that truly offers the best value in terms of learning opportunities and cost efficiency.
Take the time to understand and research which different types of training programs are available and what they offer. There’s plenty of accessible information about the pros and cons of different applications which encompass freemium apps, paid single-user solutions and multi-facetted subscription packages offering both face-to-face and online learning.
Crucially, it’s important to understand the full range of employee benefits that unfold when you choose a fully comprehensive experience like Rosetta Stone for Enterprise, which allows you to deliver independent and live online training in the specific skills your employees need and to track and monitor their progress.
Take learning English as an example: the business world’s most widely spoken language. Many English Language training options are based on a “freemium” software model but are intended for personal rather than business use. They cover the basics, drill key vocabulary and phrases, and provide ample preparation for simple tasks like ordering a coffee and a return ticket from the capital. They promise pain-free language learning, which is great if you’re going on a vacation or quick business trip. But what about if you need to achieve a higher level of language, or apply your knowledge in a business or industry-specific context?
Learning a language for business is a different kettle of fish. With single platform, independent language learning, your language abilities extend perfectly to everyday, common situations. These limited and often “free” learning methods don’t suit corporate learners because they lack the breadth and depth of content needed for employees to perform competently in a professional context.
Many free apps lack practical training in high-level skills. Most have a ceiling limit to the level and breadth of language you can learn, and are limited in the number of languages they offer. In business, the last thing you want is to be restricting your employees’ learning when they’ve just embraced and started to enjoy studying a language.
Furthermore, and possibly most importantly, single user platforms don’t allow business leaders to manage their learners. You assess your employees’ progress in every other aspect of their performance, so why should language learning be different? It’s also important to have access to these metrics when considering employees for promotions or projects where they need to use their new skills, and for measuring the return on investment (ROI).
Provide your employees with an optimum language learning environment
Language learning is a journey that offers increasingly valuable rewards over time. As with learning any other skill, the more fun that journey is, and the more feedback you get along the way, the more engaged and intent you become on reaching your personal or professional targets.
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise provides its learners with all the flexibility and versatility of online learning, but with advanced features to develop high-level language skills as needed. Rosetta Stone also offers unlimited small-group and individual tutoring as an option to deepen and accelerate learning. Just as language learning through an online platform and mobile app is available anytime and anywhere, tutoring sessions can be scheduled on demand. This makes it easy for employees to fit training into their busy schedules.
Significantly, Rosetta Stone for Enterprise’s subscription packages offer integrated admin features that generate performance data, to effectively measure and monitor employees’ usage, and to work language learning into company culture, targeting goals that align with your company values.
Connect learning language skills to your company objectives, and you are killing two corporate birds with one productive stone.
Like any key performance indicators, if language learning can be planned, its participants fully supported and managed, and the skills employees are learning tested and tracked, the growth and performance of your workforce will gain maximum momentum.
Like with any new skill, if the learner is excited about what opportunities their new talent can offer them, their enthusiasm will grow, and like a juicy piece of gossip from the company party, spread like wildfire throughout the team. Since learning a new language enriches both your employees’ professional and personal growth, the fuel for that fire is two-fold.
Will online language training work for my scale of business?
If you’re looking to reap the rewards of corporate language training over time, then taking the time to choose an adequate language learning platform is essential. You need one that meets the specific requirements of your employees and takes account of the scale of your language training programs. Whether you’re catering to multilingual staff in the same organization or looking to improve connections to multilingual customers, the scope and depth of content in platforms designed specifically for business reach every business need.
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise contains content that relates specifically to certain roles and industries, and goes all the way up to a CEFR (Common European Framework for Reference of Languages) C1+ level, which is very close to native fluency. It also offers training in up to 24 languages. Free apps fall a long way short of developing that level of language competence.
Their role and level of seniority may determine the level of language training they need and the speed at which they’re able to obtain it. In addition to their language learning goals, you’ll need to accommodate varying points of departure. While some individuals will have had little to no exposure to the language, others will be closer to their final goal. By choosing a single provider with the ability to match the multiple language training needs of every corporate language learner you will simplify training logistics and save money.
Lastly, transferable licenses and access to user management features is key to addressing staff turnover, keeping track of where everyone is, and accessing the communication challenges associated with emerging niche markets. A platform like Rosetta Stone for Enterprise enables you to manage and meet new language training needs as and when they arise.
“In order to understand the needs of every customer, we’re seeing a need to expand language training in certain areas of the business. Rosetta Stone has enabled us to do that.”
SILVIA JUAREZ – DIRECTOR OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT, HSBC MEXICO
Measure employee progress
When researching your language training program, check out what functionality and benefits you will get in terms of user management. What admin and access features will you have access to, and how do those enable you to optimize the impact of language learning through your organization? Transferable licenses tie into your ROI, because employee churn, a lack of engagement or evolving training needs can otherwise result in wasted investment.
Use administrative features to track multiple users
So why do you need administration features in your corporate language training? What are the benefits and why are they going to elevate your employees’ potential language learning level?
It’s widely accepted that tracking employees’ learning in any area is crucial to career development. Language learning in the workplace should be no exception. The more employees learning languages are held accountable for their progress, the more they will engage in their training programs and begin to excel.
In Rosetta Stone for Enterprise, program administrators can upload and remove users either individually or in cohorts. They can also set programs up in a way that matches the corporate focus, by opening or restricting access to the 24 available languages, and defining the cadence of progress tests, or removing them altogether. They can also make manual changes to learner levels where needed.
Crucially, administrators can also measure employees’ use of the language learning program and track their growing proficiency. It’s easy to see who is progressing and who needs more support through overarching reports displayed on the screen and detailed user reports which can be exported.can monitor and measure employee progress. Like with any other aspect of your business, you need to be able to track and follow how your employees are doing, and offer feedback along the way.
Progress and proficiency tracking adds value for employees as well as their leaders. While business leaders reap the benefits of internal talent development, employees can support their career advancement and access opportunities for promotion by obtaining a recognized and recorded level of their new language skills.
With Rosetta Stone for Enterprise some corporations choose to have a single administrator, while others assign the administrator role to several regional directors or line managers charged with coordinating a subset of users to . For larger organizations, this simplifies complex and large-scale language training deployments and makes keeping on top of your training investment (ROI) more straightforward.
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise supports the needs of multiple organizations. It houses straightforward user management tools that accommodate the size, scale and structure of each of its customers, and offers variable subscription models to match different language training requirements.
Keeping the team engaged – it’s all about integrating language learning into your work culture.
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise helps business stakeholders contribute to a positive work culture. By using the admin tools available, it’s easy to celebrate your employees’ linguistic achievement. Send out an internal newsletter, add to the staff bulletin board, social groups or use any other means suitable for your company. Throw a language office party and announce the highest performing employee – whatever works for you.
Some organizations even choose to set “graduation” goals which allow employee earners to gain further privileges, like increased access to live tutoring. All of these incentives contribute to the success of your language learning programs.
Flexibility to work anytime, anywhere
One of the greatest advantages of Rosetta Stone for Enterprise is its flexibility. With increased numbers of employees pursuing a hybrid or remote work model, the ability to deliver consistent training to remote workers across multiple global regions is more important than ever.
With seamless access through the online platform and mobile apps, employees can learn with Rosetta Stone for Enterprise wherever and whenever they choose, and can even download audio content to support on-the-go training offline. Live tutoring sessions can be arranged at any time of day to support independent learning through real-time conversations with highly trained native-speaking tutors. This model provides the perfect blend of independent study and personalized instruction to suit every employee.
Give your team the boost they need when working overseas
For employees who travel a lot for work or spend extended periods of time overseas, language training can help them to feel better connected and more confident in new environments.
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise can support global mobility for employees, and also facilitate the transition for family groups by extending training to partners and children. This added corporate gesture can greatly enhance employee satisfaction and retention.
Why paying for language training is worth it
The advantage of choosing a subscription – or ‘paid-for’ language learning platform is that you will reap the rewards of your investment year after year and to a greater and greater extent over time. By choosing a single provider to address all of your language training needs and provide the consistency and scope needed to ensure success, you’ll achieve an optimal return on your investment in language training.
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise provides a flexible and convenient blended learning experience for busy employees, and enables you to manage your learners in a way that works in unison with your corporate goals and objectives.
Lastly, enterprise level support from Rosetta Stone’s account management do wonders for maximizing the impact of your language training programs. A specific account manager is assigned to each customer, so that they can deliver the guidance needed to ensure the growing success of your language training programs through implementation and beyond, by truly understanding your organization and its requirements.
Choose Rosetta Stone for your corporate language training today
Rosetta Stone has worked with thousands of organizations to enhance communication and empower global expansion.
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