As a provider of Business English Courses and Business Spanish Courses, we see firsthand how companies thrive when employees enhance their language skills and communicate more effectively. Today, we share with you how Fluency Corp helped a multinational client, Ferrovial, with customized culture and language training.
Ferrovial: A Multinational, Multilingual Workforce
Ferrovial is a 12 billion euro (about $13.5 billion) company with almost 100,000 employees worldwide and thirty-plus subsidiaries. The company is involved in the construction, financing, design and maintenance, and operation of transport infrastructure and urban services. Since the company originated in Spain, most of its Spanish-speaking executives and engineers are relocated from Spain to other countries.
In 2012, Ferrovial began expanding into the Dallas-Fort Worth area, specifically North Tarrant Infrastructure (Fort Worth, TX). They brought over some talent from Spain, but strategically (and smartly) hired most of the talent locally.
English Language Barriers at Work
Ferrovial wanted to make sure that local and international employees worked together at top productivity and that they could ensure safety out in the field.
To work efficiently and to be as productive as possible with the typical strict deadlines and long hours of construction, Ferrovial’s international employees needed to be able to communicate clearly and confidently to the many local networks and employees they were working with.
The company wanted to improve the daily overall English proficiency of the many Europeans — non-native English speakers with varying levels of English skill — who had just arrived.
Customized Corporate Language Courses
Ferrovial reached out to Fluency Corp within weeks of opening their doors. They understood the importance of communication and wanted to get started right away. We were asked to put together business English classes on a convenient schedule for the five Spaniards at one of their Texas subsidiaries.
A Fluency Corp project manager (Fluency Manager) interviewed each employee separately and put together a customized, curated English course for each of them.
Since each employee had different needs, each customized English course incorporated materials that pertained to that employee’s job, interests, community involvement (assimilation for successful relocations), current level of English, goal at the company, who they would be communicating with daily, what they specifically would need to say and explain, and accent reduction (clear communication) needs.
For example, some employees were in accounting. With their Fluency Partners (expert language instructors), they practiced what they would say in future meetings or upcoming presentations. They worked on how to speak up on conference calls, how to enunciate to ensure understanding when speaking to native speakers, how to explain the finance reports, and role play what other employees would ask and how to answer clearly.
Fluency Corp also helped the expats feel at home in their new community. Each Fluency Partner gave suggestions on how to make friends, put down roots, get involved at their children’s school, join a gym, find a local soccer team to play on, and much more. This can help keep employees from cutting international relocations short.
Ferrovial Added Spanish Language Training for English Employees
Ferrovial truly believed in the power of teams being able to communicate at 100%. So, in addition to English language training for Spanish employees, the company also began offering Spanish lessons to American employees who wanted to expand their horizons, understand what it felt like to learn a second language, and connect with their Spanish-speaking colleagues on a deeper level.
Not to mention, they put themselves in the running for more trips to headquarters in Spain, classes at the company’s university, and possibly more leadership roles in the future.
The Results: Language Training Helps Drive Expansion
The results? Ferrivial is now working on projects in locations including California, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, and Colorado. They have expanded throughout the U.S. at warp speed. We believe that their investment in high-quality, customized language lessons — instead of a software program or cookie-cutter lessons — is one of the factors that have catapulted them to success in the U.S.
Also, every relocation has been finished to completion – not one employee who took language training went home early. Today, they offer both Spanish and English lessons to employees at all locations in the U.S., and Fluency Corp has created customized courses for over 100 employees.
The company continues to bring in talent from Spain and hire local talent. With each hire, they entrust their second language communication training needs to Fluency Corp. The relationship has continued since 2012 and continues to grow every year.
“The foundation of Fluency Corp’s approach to education is customization and enjoyment of the experience. The Fluency Corp team takes personal involvement in finding out every student’s needs in an individualized manner through interviews and case-by-case study, works with the teacher in planning how to address those needs, and regularly follows up to track progress. They also make sure that the learning process includes methods and experiences enjoyable for the student, maximizing the involvement and commitment.”
– Ferrovial North Tarrant Infrastructure CEO, Alvaro Muro Gomez
Now that you’ve learned what Fluency Corp did for this client, think about how we could help your company! For a free consultation, contact us at getfluent@fluencycorp.com or (800) 401-3159.
