How Busuu can Help Encourage Diversity and Intercultural Communication in the Workplace

HR departments of consumer goods companies throughout the world are prioritising diversity and inclusion. Organisations, especially international ones, are rising to the challenge of fostering diversity. These are no longer seen as buzzwords or a box-ticking exercise, but as the bridge to a company more in touch with its workforce and client base.

The workplace of today differs significantly from that of earlier generations. It is populated by people of all ages, educational levels, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and abilities. Increasingly, business owners are recognising the benefits that encouraging diversity and intercultural communication have, not only on a company's culture but also on its bottom line. 

Language learning can, not only, help with raising the awareness of various cultural differences, it is also a key way of communicating values and group solidarity; which are of huge importance for any company. Busuu offers language courses to improve both aspects simultaneously. Our Live Lessons, self-paced learning, and community engagement are all hosted on an engaging online platform that uses AI to help students learn critical new language skills that have a tangible impact on an organisation. Our Live Lessons are taught by friendly, knowledgeable teachers who make it possible for employees to broaden their horizons. This means they are more adept at encouraging diversity and inclusivity and gaining valuable insights from the wide-ranging and diverse community itself. 

HR Directors at companies recognise the critical role that language plays in our ability to connect, communicate, and exchange ideas. For increasing inclusion at work, language acquisition is also crucial.

Importance of intercultural communication

Diversity and intercultural communication in the workplace is extremely important because every person has a different background, set of experiences, and set of abilities that affect how well they perform at work. Because of their employees' diverse perspectives, ethnically diverse businesses outperform less diverse competitors by 36%.

When you have a diverse team, you can: 

• Talk to and work with a wider range of customers more effectively. As a result, there are greater customer connections and public perceptions of the brand.

• Ensure diversity and intercultural communication are no longer merely advantages but necessities in a global workforce. More and more companies are switching to a model where people can work from home. This lets them hire the best people from all over the world. When building a team of people from different countries and places, you must be aware of and respectful of their cultural and social norms.

• Prioritise communication skills, making sure they always stand out. Having a staff that feels comfortable speaking in various languages can only benefit your company as a whole.

• Showcase the importance of globally orientated, multilingual abilities and that they are becoming more crucial for success. Prioritising language learning for worldwide expansion improves your chances of acquiring new clients, expanding your product line, and increasing your revenue through global sales.

How can Busuu help you to grow?

Busuu assists businesses and employees in keeping up with the pace in the increasingly global market. 

Our succinct, educational courses can be listened to at your employees' desks or at home, using our modern, intuitive web platform. 

We offer a wide range of flexible, open-ended language programmes that can be taken individually or as a group and have a dependable worldwide learning community of over 120 million students.

Intercultural Communication Course

In addition to the language programmes, our course on Intercultural Communication helps employees to understand cross-cultural English language learning, as well as strengthening team connections. Managers will gain insightful skills in how they can improve multicultural and international communication throughout the workplace. As well as an understanding of vocabulary nuances within cross-cultural communication.

With the course curriculum being created by experts and endorsed by industry leaders, this ensures relevance to all market sectors. Topics within the course will include:

• Negotiation skills, and how to offer opinions across cultures
• Building support to strengthen international teams
• Explaining and delivering feedback in cross-cultural contexts

Employees at Busuu can learn up to 14 languages, such as English, Japanese, Polish, Korean and Italian. This encourages diversity and communication across cultures in the workplace, plus, Busuu gives employees access to a worldwide network, feedback, and online tutors around the clock, making the platform available to everyone, wherever they may be.

Busuu for Business also offers a management platform so that administrators can keep track of their employees' growth, evaluate it, and give them material that is tailored to their needs. 

These courses demonstrate your company’s commitment to, and appreciation of, its diversity, opening up new chances for employees, eliminating communication and cultural obstacles, and enhancing working relationships. The benefits truly do compound as the culture of your company broadens to meet the demands of the modern world and workplace. 

With intercultural communication helping to encourage diversity and inclusivity within businesses, it ensures that all backgrounds and experiences are considered, bringing so much more expertise to a company. Contact us now to find out more about how Busuu can help you.

Image source - Busuu