My husband often tells me that whilst his salary could be better, his benefit package is very good and therefore an incentive, amongst others, to stay in his current company. I would have argued quite ferociously on that point until very recently. If it wasn’t extra money on our joined bank account for shoes, holidays or kids’ treats, then what was the excitement about?
So why did I come to change my mind? Have I matured? Hopefully I have! But the realisation came when several ‘business’ customers pushed the door of the Academy in recent weeks, all very eager to learn to speak or at least get by in a foreign language. They came from different industries, and wanted to approach a different foreign language but all had in mind the same goal: being more productive whilst doing business abroad.
They mentioned their inability to create close rapport with their colleagues and felt ill at ease in an environment where the language was unknown. They all, without exception, explained that whether they went to sell a product or service or work with branch offices in Paris, Madrid, Rome or Berlin… They all wanted ‘to be part of the same gang’.
To my delight, all of them were taken by VICIExec’s Language Coaching Programmes and enrolled immediately, choosing the most comprehensive and high value language programmes. They clearly were extremely motivated.
To my surprise, they all paid for their own course; it was a personal and not a corporate decision.
There is undoubtedly always a close link between job satisfaction and productivity in any organisation. How do you motivate and retain the right staff? If my husband’s attitude is a true representation of how employees feel, benefits are certainly a great motivator.
And if those gentlemen, impatient to learn German, Portuguese and Arabic show a trend in employees’ benefits’ preferences, it seems that companies should perhaps focus on helping their staff to further their education.
So the goal post might have moved. Could learning a language be sat next to medical and dental care on your next Employees Benefits’ wish list?