Global HR professionals rank English communication as vital skill

The TOEIC programme released results of a new study of human resources (HR) professionals through a report, "English Communication Skills for the Modern Economy: The Value of Quality Data to Support Talent Decisions".

The report presents data from a survey of more than 800 HR professionals from global corporations across 13 countries and measures the significance of English communication skills in the workplace, while exploring the trends and preferences of HR managers for English-language assessments.

"The study shows that HR managers believe English communication skills are critical to the success of their business - and 94 per cent believe they will only grow in importance," said Soumitra Roy, General Manager India and SAARC, Prometric Testing Private Limited.

"Given the high demand among companies to cultivate a workforce with the ability to perform vital work tasks in English - rather than just understand linguistics in English - HR managers are looking for reliable assessment tools to support talent management decisions that will enable them to thrive in today's marketplace," he added.

There are high costs associated with not accurately measuring English-language skills, from increased training expenses to communication errors to the loss of business and future opportunities. The report shows 72 per cent of survey respondents said reliable English-language assessment helps their business avoid costly recruitment mistakes.

"Accurate English communication measurement provides hiring professionals with a cost-effective tool to deliver quality data that they can rely on when making recruitment, placement and promotion decisions," said Roy.

Roy further said: "The TOEIC program meets this demand by providing quality-based, standardized assessments that help corporations in India elevate the workforce, organizations and reputation of the country worldwide."

The TOEIC program is becoming increasingly more popular in India with many top corporations relying on the TOEIC program to ensure they are hiring and promoting employees with the workplace English skills necessary to help their organizations successfully compete in the global workplace.

According to the report, corporations select independently developed, standardized assessments more frequently than any other evaluation method.

Furthermore, 79 per cent of HR professionals want internationally recognized test scores that are an accurate evaluation of English-language skills and provide consistency, reliability and fairness, while reflecting real-life work scenarios relevant to organizational needs.