Report: Workers who are foreign born – and receiving English upskilling on the job – experience greater retention and career mobility

A first-of-its-kind report from EnGen reveals - from the immigrant and refugee points of view - the impact of this language benefit

By Laura Aka

June 11, 2024

Last year, workers who are foreign born accounted for 18.6% of this country’s civilian workforce, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up from the 18.1% tally in 2022.

The foreign-born population includes legally admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents such as students and temporary workers, and undocumented immigrants, according to the BLS.

A new report from EnGen – Powering Local Workforces, Building Cohesive Communities – shares the survey results of roughly 2,500 adult English learners on the benefits of English upskilling they’ve been afforded through employers. According to the report, “English upskilling uses career-specific content customized for working adult learners to help them acquire the English and job skills needed for career and economic mobility.”

For some background, EnGen’s online language platform offers English upskilling that’s tailored to meet workplace needs for more than 130 industry-focused pathways.

The report notes, “The results of this survey are designed to equip employers, adult educators, state governments, and other workforce leaders with data and tools to understand the potential of high-quality, career-aligned English instruction to effectively support workforce development initiatives across the country.”

Barriers to learning the English language and other systemic obstacles – contribute to the unemployment or underemployment of 2 million immigrants and refugees. Currently, only 4% of adult English learners are being served.

There has been much discussion around workforce shortages, but there is little research around English upskilling in the workplace.

Key Findings

The main takeaways include:

Employers that invest in English upskilling see stronger employee recruitment and retention in return.
English instruction powers more engaged and productive workplaces.
English upskilling and digital upskilling go hand-in-hand.
English upskilling opens pathways to new credentials, certifications, and careers.
English skills build more cohesive local communities.

The report also references insights for specific stakeholders – in addition to employers – including adult education, community college, government, and nonprofits.

‘Promise to power local workforces’

The report states, “The U.S. workforce system misses a critical opportunity to connect this growing labor pool with a foundational workforce skill – English.”

It also notes, “A growing number of employers, adult education programs, state and local government agencies, and other workforce leaders are making investments to fill the gap.

“Upskilling with English – an on-demand, career-aligned, AI-powered approach to English instruction – is showing promise to power local workforces and build more connected local communities.”

To read Powering Local Workforces, Building Cohesive Communities in greater detail, click here.

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.