The challenge

Due to the growing internationalization within the company, language learning became more and more important for promoting the company culture and supporting communication between employees. At the headquarters in Nuremberg, the company started by offering in-person classroom-style courses, which didn’t prove to be successful. Training Coordinator Jasmin Werblinski explains the outcome: “In an in-person group class, individuals don’t have the chance to speak a lot and some people find speaking a new language in front of their colleagues uncomfortable. Important meetings can also get in the way, so it happens that employees miss classes and fall behind.”
That’s why GfK looked for a more effective method and decided on one of Babbel’s Blended Learning solutions, Babbel Intensive. Combining the Babbel e-learning platform with 1:1 video lessons with a professional teacher and an accompanying learning plan, this language learning package offers an excellent possibility for goal-oriented learning.

And the best part: GfK can meet all employees’ needs: International employees can learn German, and German-speaking employees have the opportunity to improve their English.

“We wanted everyone to feel comfortable and confident communicating with each other — that’s exactly what Babbel helps us do.” 

Jasmin Werblinski, Training Coordinator at GfK

Why Babbel?

The Customer Success Team at Babbel for Business gave GfK a personal introduction to the product, after which GfK started a 3-month trial phase with a group of employees. They were enthusiastic about it, especially about the virtual 1:1 lessons: Each learner can choose a language teacher from the online platform and book 30-minute lessons where they practice speaking in a personal conversation or talk about lessons. The effectiveness and flexibility convinced Werblinski. She also tested Babbel herself and gave her own assessment:

It was also important to Werblinski to have an overview of the employees’ learning progress. Since in-person courses hadn’t been successful, it was all the more important that Babbel would ensure effective language learning and offer a high ROI. With the usage reports, she could see which employees used the language courses. For her, it wasn’t about control, but about making sure that the courses were in fact useful for the employees. Unused accounts could be transferred to other users — practical and cost-saving.

Furthermore, with Babbel’s e-learning format, the company could now offer language learning on a global scale. Employees abroad could also have the chance to access and use Babbel.

Conclusion

Babbel offered GfK a more effective language learning method than the original in-person courses. With Babbel Intensive, employees can learn in a goal-oriented way, and learning progress can be followed with usage reports.