Workforce Language Services

A brief article in the New York Times notes that very few U.S. companies offer language training for employees, despite the growing number of immigrants in the workforce.  While many immigrants come to the U.S. with marketable skills and degrees, only 40 percent speak English. 

To cope, many employers are now hiring bilingual managers, the survey found. Conference Board researchers say investing in a language training program allows employers to recruit the best available talent, regardless of their language limitations.

While this is a good way to go about recruiting talent, I wonder when employers will make the same commitment to providing opportunities for their English-speaking employees to become more competitive in the global business world.  This is especially important as more U.S. companies move off-shore, but it seems that managers in China, India, and Latin America are expected to learn English, not the other way around.