Did you know that businesses in the United States need more multilingual employees than ever before? Are your bilingual employees truly qualified to meet the insurance needs of your diverse clients? Can you ensure that your employees can accurately deliver their insurance expertise in their clients’ preferred language?
According to a recent national survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for ACTFL, titled “Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers”, the demand for employees with foreign language skills is crucial in this global economy, and it is not expected to decrease. As stated by the report, about 10 percent of the labor force in the United States is of limited English proficiency. Employers who want their businesses to succeed in our multicultural and multilingual economy need to include strategies and resources in their organizations to meet the language needs of their customers. Otherwise, there is a possibility of losing business due to lack of language skills as indicated by about 23 percent of all participants in the study.
Millions of people in the United States prefer to communicate in a language other than English at home. Among the languages most in-demand reported by U.S. employers are Spanish, Chinese, French, Japanese, German, Russian, Arabic, Italian, Korean, Hindi, and Portuguese. All major departments of organizations require multilingual employees; the two top departments with the highest demand include customer service and sales.
As featured in a Lead with Languages campaign video titled Leading with Understanding: Bilingual Insurance Agents Build Strong Working Relations, bilingual New York Life insurance agents develop strong rapport through clear communication, while demonstrating compassionate treatment and the management of linguistic and cultural skills. No agent is exempt of the use of these skills since non-English speaking clients are also homeowners, victims of atmospheric events, or health plan members who are looking for an insurance company they can trust. Bilingual and multilingual life insurance agents can generate effective feedback by overcoming language and cultural barriers for their employers and consequently turn a prospective customer into a loyal client.
For leaders in the insurance industry, it’s becoming more and more imperative to prevent losing business deals due to language gaps. Oftentimes it becomes difficult for organizations to recruit bilingual talent, contemplate a partnership with external language providers (LSPs), or assess the proficiency of agents who claim to be fluent in other languages. Language Testing International (LTI) has three decades of experience conducting language assessments as the exclusive licensee of ACTFL, helping employers globally incorporate language certification for bilingual and multilingual professionals into language training for their employees or in their hiring process. The best way to guarantee that your current or prospective employees have the confidence and appropriate level of language proficiency to perform their responsibilities effectively as bilingual insurance agents is through a reliable measurement tool such as the trusted ACTFL language proficiency assessments conducted by LTI. The goal is to offer the best customer experience and achieve company growth by utilizing the language abilities of your team.
LTI is an exclusive licensee of ACTFL, a leader in language assessments and credentialing in over 120 languages. LTI can administer language assessments anytime, anywhere through remote proctoring. Each assessment accurately determines the specific proficiency level of speaking, reading, writing, and listening of the test-takers.
To measure your employees’ language abilities, contact LTI today!
