Data gathered by Upwardly Global demonstrates that businesses with more culturally diverse executive teams are 33% more likely to see above-average profit. Without that ability to understand, communicate, and connect with other cultures, a lot of business opportunities may be lost.
Nurturing diversity through linguistic inclusion
While diversity inherently creates space for widened perspectives, without a deliberate effort to drive inclusion and belonging, this self-same benefit can be to the detriment of certain groups. For example, the native language of an office’s geographic location may dominate and create divisions in your workforce.
“If you come from a minority population, then there may be this weight of expectation that you should conform and integrate with the majority population because inclusion isn't taken on as a conscious exercise.” says Rishi. “So, there's a massive risk there that you end up with diverse populations whose gifts you’re not tapping into whatsoever, or worse, you're making them feel marginalized.”
Many companies seek to solve this problem by offering training in English to drive equal communication and opportunities.
Is English the answer?
The short answer is yes and no.
On the one hand, English is a great leveler, one that forges a tangible bridge between businesses across the world. Proficiency in English can often open doors for individuals, particularly for those whose work spans multiple countries, using English as the default business language.
Conversely, English proficiency can create a type of ‘glass ceiling’ when it comes to career progression. Often, there is an unspoken expectation or even bias at the executive level for fluent English, which risks preferential treatment of English speakers in opportunities for career progression
On top of this, a significant percentage of international workforces do not speak the language of the company headquarters, putting a strain on the capacity for full-workforce inclusion and access to opportunities. Training to cover this gap is still far less common worldwide than company-wide English training.
The only real approach for HR leaders, therefore, is to balance the global need for English and the localized need for inclusivity in workplace communication – something that Roche has experimented with:
"When we've pushed out [internal] global campaigns for the whole company, we've tried to translate those into 26 core languages,” says Rishi. “So that they are accessible for populations around the world, recognizing that Roche has operations in over 100 countries."
