Corporate language policy: rules for your company language

What is a corporate language policy?

A corporate language policy, known in German as a Sprachenrichtlinie or Sprachregelung, sets out which language applies when in a company. It answers very practical questions: which language is a meeting held in when a colleague from Lisbon dials in? Which language is the intranet maintained in? Which documents must be bilingual? And what does the company expect of its employees linguistically, and what does it offer them in return?

Many companies have such a policy without ever having written it down. Whatever has become established simply applies. That is not bad in itself, but it becomes a problem as soon as teams grow more international. Grey areas appear: who decides when to switch to English? Does the production manager have to get their emails translated? May someone give a presentation in German if two guests do not speak German?

For me, a corporate language policy is one building block of a wider language strategy. It should not be drafted at a desk but based on data, ideally from a language audit that shows which languages are actually used and how skills are distributed across the organisation.

English as the company language: reasons, opportunities and risks

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the debate about a language policy usually revolves around one question: should English become the company language? Many firms would like it to. In a survey of 200 decision-makers from German SMEs (the Mittelstand) published by HR WORKS, 43% said they would like to introduce English fully or partly as a working language but were meeting resistance. At the same time, no English at all is spoken day to day in 38% of the companies surveyed.

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Tsedal Neeley described how international groups such as Airbus, Nokia, Renault, Samsung and SAP use English as a common corporate language. Her central argument: a common language makes collaboration across countries and functions easier, but it needs a deliberate strategy.

Two examples from Germany

The magazine Human Resources Manager has described two different routes. At the Hamburg games developer Innogames, where a large share of the workforce comes from abroad, switching to English was mainly a response to the skills shortage and the make-up of its teams. At the industrial company Weidmüller in Detmold, the change happened gradually over many years: meetings switch to English as soon as someone does not speak German, safety instructions stay in the local languages, and the required level depends on the role.

My position: English as the company language can be the right choice, but never as an announcement from the top without support. The question is not whether, but how, for whom and at what pace. The article on English as a corporate language covers this in detail.

Building blocks of a corporate language policy: the template

A corporate language policy needs ten building blocks: purpose and scope, company language(s), rules for meetings, written communication, safety-related and legally relevant content, external communication, language requirements by role, support through training and learning time, transition periods, and ownership and review. In practice, the requirements by role and the support are most often missing.

A good language policy fits on a few pages. It should contain at least the following building blocks, and you can use this structure as a template for your own document.

1. Purpose and scope: why does the policy exist, and which companies, sites and departments does it cover?
2. Company language(s): which language is the official working language at group, site and team level?
3. Rules for meetings: when do you switch? Who decides? How do you handle participants who are less fluent in the language?
4. Written communication: the language of the intranet, policies, minutes, systems and contracts.
5. Safety-related and legally relevant content: always in a language that everyone affected understands reliably.
6. External communication: principles for the customer’s language, quotations, the website and support.
7. Language requirements by role: target levels on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), derived from a language needs analysis.
8. Support: training, learning time, translation aids, glossaries.
9. Transition periods: what applies by when, and how are hardship cases handled?
10. Ownership and review: who maintains the policy, and how often is it evaluated?

Points seven and eight are missing from many policies I have seen. Yet they are decisive: if you set requirements without offering support, you shift the problem onto your employees.

Sample rules for your company’s language policy

Good sample rules are tied to specific situations. If one person without German takes part, the meeting and the minutes are in English. Safety briefings take place in the local language, plus the employees’ native language where needed. The intranet and policies are bilingual, and the staff assembly is held in German with an English summary. Concrete rules beat abstract principles.

Abstract principles are of little help when the meeting starts at 9 o’clock. Concrete rules create clarity. You can adapt the following examples to your organisation.

A note on Switzerland: multilingualism is part of everyday life there anyway, and English comes on top. According to an analysis by the Federal Statistical Office reported by SRF, around 23% of employed people used English as a regular working language in 2023. A language policy there often has to balance three or four languages.

Introducing a language policy: a five-phase approach

A language policy is introduced in five phases: an inventory of language use and skills; a draft developed with HR, communications, managers and the works council; a pilot in an area with a high international share; a rollout with training, glossaries and learning time; and a review after six to twelve months. Involve the works council early.

The way you introduce the policy determines whether people accept it. A staged approach has proved its worth:

1. Inventory: which languages are used where, and how are skills distributed? The basis is a survey and a placement test in the relevant areas.
2. Draft with participation: HR, communications, managers and, where one exists, the works council (Betriebsrat) develop the rules together.
3. Pilot: one area with a high international share goes first. The experience feeds into the final version.
4. Rollout with support: communication to everyone, with training, glossaries and rules on learning time launched at the same time.
5. Review: after six to twelve months, survey, observe and adjust.

In many companies, the works council plays an important role in the rollout. Under section 98 of the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG), it has co-determination rights in the implementation of in-company vocational training and can make proposals on who takes part. If you roll out language training as part of the language policy, involve it early. In my experience, the works council often becomes an ally this way, especially when it comes to fair learning time and equal opportunities.

Bringing employees with you when the language changes

A language rule touches on identity, status and career. Someone who negotiates confidently in German but searches for words in English can quickly feel demoted. Take these concerns seriously. You cannot simply communicate them away, but you can cushion them with realistic targets, learning time during working hours, safe practice spaces and managers who lead by example.

What helps in practice

• Realistic targets: not everyone needs to reach C1. Target levels by role take the pressure off.
• Learning time during working hours: training after work signals that language learning is a private matter.
• Safe practice spaces: small groups of four to six people or one-to-one training, where mistakes are allowed.
• Role models: managers who are learning themselves and say so openly change the culture more than any policy.
• Intercultural awareness: English as a common language does not mean everyone communicates the same way. There is more on this in our article on intercultural communication at work.

And what about German?

One point that often gets lost in discussions about English as a company language: for international professionals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, German is the key to integration and to staying with an employer. A language policy that only covers English misses this opportunity. I recommend explicitly including German courses for international colleagues in the policy.

Checking whether your language policy works

A policy only works if people actually live it. You can check this with a handful of indicators and some qualitative methods. Alongside employee surveys, it is worth deliberately observing meetings, video calls and communication with international partners. The table below shows five areas, one indicator for each and a practical way to measure it.

How to turn these figures into a report for senior management is shown in the article on language training reporting for HR. For progress in English, the Global Scale of English is a good fit, as I have also described in my articles for Pearson Languages.

Four language policy mistakes to avoid

Four mistakes keep appearing in language policies. The policy regulates the language but not the skills. Exceptions, for instance for employees close to retirement or for apprentices, are not covered. Management does not lead by example. And there is no date on which the policy will be reviewed. Each of these can undermine an otherwise sensible policy.

Over the past few years I have read a number of language policies, good ones and less good ones. Their weak points are surprisingly often the same.

1. The policy covers the language, not the skills

“From 1 January, English is our working language” is a decision, but not a policy. Without saying which levels are expected and how employees will get there, the sentence remains a declaration of intent that mainly creates uncertainty.

2. Exceptions are not covered

What happens if an experienced master craftsman close to retirement does not want to learn English? What applies to apprentices? If you do not clarify these cases in advance, you create conflicts that later have to be resolved one by one, and emotionally.

3. Nobody leads by example

If the managing director declares English the company language but the management team keeps meeting in German, nobody believes in the rule. Credibility starts at the top.

4. There is no expiry date

Markets, teams and technologies change. A policy that is never reviewed will no longer match reality after three years. Decide from the outset when and by whom it will be evaluated. Other typical pitfalls in the analysis are described in the article on language audit mistakes to avoid.

Next steps towards your corporate language policy

A corporate language policy can be in place within a few months if it rests on solid data, clear rules and real support for employees. The next steps: record language use and skills, check the ten building blocks of the template for gaps, choose a pilot area, involve the works council, and plan training and learning time alongside the policy.

• Carry out an inventory of language use and skills
• Go through the ten building blocks of the template and mark any gaps
• Choose a pilot area and involve the works council
• Plan training and learning time in parallel with the policy

The choices® methodology team supports you with a language audit for your teams, both for the inventory and for deriving target levels. The audit is a paid service with no obligation to book a course afterwards, and we sign an NDA on request. For the implementation, we offer Business English courses, online German courses and many other languages, flexibly online and in small groups. You will find an overview under language courses for companies.

Sources

1. hrworks.de: sprachbarriere englisch deutscher mittelstand verliert den anschluss
2. hbr.org: global business speaks english
3. humanresourcesmanager.de: unternehmenssprache in english please
4. srf.ch: englisch als arbeitssprache nicht landessprachen auf dem vormarsch
5. gesetze-im-internet.de: 98
6. pearson.com: gse roi business english measurable advantage 11 25

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Łukasz Pakuła

Head of Studies at choices®. Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus, lecturer at HM Business School Munich and Kempten University of Applied Sciences. Doctoral studies in applied linguistics, publications with Springer and Equinox, among others. More about us