Inclusive Company
Language

English dominates the business world as its lingua franca, while its native and non-native speakers’ base almost reaches 2 billion people. Speaking English has thus become for many companies a symbol of adaption to globalized business mechanisms.

In the 2021 EF English Proficiency Index, Germany ranked high placing itself at the 11^th place out of 112 countries. However, having to adapt to a corporate language (e.g., English) that is different from its headquarters’ mother tongue (e.g., German) can create some communicative struggles in multilingual teams.

Language, far from being an obstacle, should represent a shared cooperation tool and a welcoming space that allows everyone to express themselves and feel included. It is important for every company to find its unique linguistic combination, considering their employees individual needs and psychological safety.

We want to share one Inclusion Nudge that helps overcoming communicative boundaries:

• Invent a signal that people can use in meetings, chats, e-mails, etc. to remind each other not to exclude colleagues with language. For example: Onelanguage

Do you know or use any other tool or trick? Share it with us in the comments on our LinkedIn channel!