The challenge
Previously, OneShare Health was only able to provide customer service in English. In the United States, however, the second most commonly spoken language is Spanish. To cater to this wider market, the organization decided to train a number of employees to learn Spanish, creating new business value and opportunities for the organization.
We spoke to Mary Arfeli, VP of Sales, who took on this initiative and made it her mission to get a group of employees up to speed in order to provide good service via phone and email. She and her team selected a number of employees who were motivated to learn Spanish or had a basic level, but were not fluent, lacking business vocabulary as well as good pronunciation.
As providing excellent service is key for OneShare Health, the organization wanted the learners to reach an advanced level as soon as possible. They needed a language learning solution that was effective and would get them there quickly. “In health care, you have to be fluent, customers’ questions need to be addressed clearly as the industry lingo can be challenging,” Mary explains.
Furthermore, the language training had to fit the company’s working style. As most employees are working from home due to Covid-19, the Mary looked specifically for online training. She was soon convinced that Babbel was the right solution for her team.
Why Babbel?
She chose Babbel, as it was affordable, user-friendly, and allows for seats to be transferred from one employee to another. The team had access to Babbel Intensive, combining individual learning in the app with 1:1 video lessons with professional teachers. This option was a key factor in the decision, as OneShare Health wanted learners to make fast progress.
Mary is happy with her choice: “Our onboarding was very smooth, our account manager Juan has been phenomenal,” she says. “He set clear expectations from the beginning and helped us formulate goals for our learners.”
She also explains: “One of my doubts about online training was that some employees might not be as tech-savvy, but a virtual meeting with our account manager cleared up any questions they had and they were able to have a smooth start.”
“The 1:1 lessons are very easy to organize. I could conveniently choose a teacher and schedule a class at a time that worked with my schedule.”
Customer support employee at OneShare Health
To ensure learners would stay on track and would learn the most relevant vocabulary first, they started off with Babbel’s Latin American Business Spanish course including lessons for phone conversations, emails, presentations, and more. To show their progress, they could download certificates after finishing the lessons. After completing the course they were encouraged to spend as much time as possible on the learning platform to reach an advanced level.
The feedback from learners has been positive — they especially enjoy the video classes:
“I love the 1:1 lessons. My teacher is very accommodating and encouraging. She walks me through new grammar and helps with the pronunciation of new words.”
Enrolment employee at OneShare Health
As Mary wanted to make sure her learners were making progress and reaching their goals,
she was able to follow along with usage reports and see how many lessons and minutes each learner spent on the platform and follow up with the employees.
Conclusion
Babbel offers OneShare Health a flexible language learning solution that employees can use while working remotely and fit into busy schedules, enabling them to learn Spanish effectively and create new business value for the organisation. Mary concludes:
“I would recommend Babbel to other companies: It’s practical and very interactive. I would encourage the combination of 1:1 lessons with the app for the most efficiency.”
Mary Arfeli, VP of Sales, OneShare Health
