The challenge

When Julia Ullenboom, Manager Central Services, started at ORAYLIS a few years back, she realised that employees lacked confidence when engaging with projects in English and in speaking the language in general. To address this, she initially rolled out a language training programme with a different provider. While it was effective, the methodology was rather conservative. Given that ORAYLIS prides itself on being a youthful, forward-thinking, and modern organization, Julia sought a language learning solution that aligned more closely with the company’s ethos.

With the growing number of ORAYLIS clients using English as their primary mode of communication, the need for the consultants to be proficient in English became essential. Client meetings are often held in English — both with German clients who use English as their corporate language and with clients abroad.
The significance of English proficiency is also growing within the Marketing, Sales, Central Services, and HR departments. As the ORAYLIS workforce is becoming more international, some job interviews are conducted fully in English. One ORAYLIS employee, for example, reports that he already has level C1 in English. However, he utilises Babbel to improve his fluency and confidence in the language even
further.

“Language learning with Babbel for Business is useful for all employees and in all areas of our company.”

Julia Ullenboom, Manager Central Services, ORAYLIS

Why Babbel?

Compared to ORAYLIS’ previous provider, the Babbel for Business offers a
much broader and more modern blended learning solution at a similar cost. The ORAYLIS team can access the Babbel app at any time via the app and learn on the go without being tied to a specific time or location. ORAYLIS is also benefiting from the virtual 1:1 and group classes from Babbel for Business. Here, learners can practise speaking, revise the content from the app and receive personalized feedback from their teachers.

Julia also feels well-supported by the Babbel for Business team and can approach them with any questions. She says, “Our Customer Success Manager is very flexible and helpful and provides us with additional materials, e.g. email templates for employee onboarding.”

Julia and the team at ORAYLIS particularly appreciate Babbel’s flexibility: employees can learn as much as they want and switch between languages as they please. In addition to English, international employees, for instance, also use Babbel to improve their German. The learners don’t feel pressured, but enjoy their training — an important factor for intrinsic motivation. The employees have shared the feedback with Julia that they find Babbel very easy to use, and they like that they can learn at their own pace. They can choose their individual level and the topics that are relevant to their job — and they can apply what they have learned directly at work.

One ORAYLIS employee says that he takes part in the virtual group classes weekly to practise speaking and revise grammar. “I think it’s great that people from all over the world take part in the virtual courses. It’s fun to connect and exchange ideas,” he says. Although it took a bit of courage at first to speak English in front of others, once he had done it, his inhibitions were gone. “All participants are motivated and want to learn. This creates a nice learning environment — very different to language classes back at school.” He also thinks it’s great that there are many teachers: “All the teachers have a slightly different way of conducting the classes and bring their own personality to it. So there’s a lot of variety.”

Conclusion

After six months, Julia asked the learners whether they wanted to continue learning with Babbel. The answer she received was a resounding “Yes”. Thanks to the Babbel language programme, the confidence of the ORAYLIS employees in speaking English has grown noticeably. They not only enjoy the learning process but also recommend Babbel to their colleagues. They use the app to review language content, expand their cultural knowledge and practise pronunciation, while the virtual classes with professional teachers perfectly enhance their learning.

When projects or presentations are now requested in English, employees are more confident and successful in their work. According to Julia, the Babbel language learning offer has definitely contributed to the fact that ORAYLIS is regularly recognised as one of the best employers in Germany.