Is English Upskilling in Your Company’s 2024 Budget? It Should Be.
According to LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report, 93% of companies, particularly those that depend on hourly and frontline workers, are concerned about worker retention — and with good reason: Employee churn is devastating to a company’s financial health, especially in times of economic volatility and low unemployment.
Staffing shortages can lead to lower productivity, diminished product quality, compromised job performance, and burnout. What’s more, the cost of replacing a worker falls somewhere between one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary.
But there’s good news: Companies that invest in skill building will expand their talent pool and retain workers at a higher rate. In fact, employees who have parlayed new skills into internal moves have a 75% likelihood of staying in that company, according to the LinkedIn report.
This budget season, savvy employers are prioritizing investments in learning and development (L&D) as both an antidote to churn and a boost to bottom lines. Read on to learn why upskilling with English should be part of your company’s 2024 budget.
L&D for All
Despite the growing emphasis on L&D, a recent study from McKinsey & Company suggests that there is a sizable gap between the skill-building opportunities employers say they are providing and frontline workers’ actual learning experiences.
According to McKinsey, 20% of frontline workers say their employers offer them NO resources for career advancement. And while nearly 30% of employers say they offer formal training opportunities outside of work, only 12% of frontline workers said these training opportunities are available to them.
According to the LinkedIn report, “those who aren’t learning will leave.” Yet employers who do invest in L&D for frontline employees are seeing promising trends: 89% of frontline workers surveyed by EnGen say they’ll likely stay with their company because upskilling is an employee benefit; another 84% will likely refer a friend to their company for the same reasons.
Language as an Essential Workplace Skill
Frontline workers are more likely to be immigrants, refugees, and speakers of other languages. In fact, adult English learners now comprise 1 in 10 working-age adults in the U.S.. Companies invested in offering equitable L&D access to their workforce should start by championing English upskilling.
L&D has traditionally viewed English as a prerequisite to participation in training opportunities: Speakers of other languages have long been required to demonstrate some level of English proficiency before participating in training and skill-building opportunities, a reality that has effectively blocked adult English learners from accessing these programs.
Forward-thinking companies now understand that English skills are workforce skills – and that integrating English instruction into L&D is both possible and practical. Companies of all sizes — Fortune 500 companies like Amazon, Gap, and Walmart, along with regional employers like Taziki’s Mediterranean Café and Rummel Construction — are experiencing the benefits of offering English upskilling as part of on-site training programs, connecting learners with both language and job skills simultaneously.
A 2023 survey of 6,000 workers shows the potential of English upskilling to power both employees’ career mobility and retention:
95% improved their confidence in using English.
93% saved time at work as a result of improved English skills.
92% improved their English proficiency.
87% achieved a career goal, like a pay raise or promotion.
L&D has positive impacts beyond the job too. Access to upskilling has been shown to boost employee mental health and well-being. And in the case of English upskilling, improved English proficiency supports individuals in meeting goals outside of work, like communicating with their childrens’ teachers, building community, and participating in civic processes like volunteering and voting. In fact, 87% of EnGen learners said they achieved a social goal as a result of English upskilling in our 2023 survey.
How to Fund English Upskilling
At EnGen, we’ve partnered with employers across the country, spanning essential sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, e-commerce, and beyond to offer industry-aligned, on-demand, and mobile-first English upskilling. EnGen was built to ensure easy implementation and customization for employers of all sizes and budgets.
As your organization begins critical 2024 budget discussions, is English upskilling for your workers a priority? It should be. Learn how EnGen can work for your organization: https://getengen.com/demo