Comprehensive onboarding for ESL employees: Start with language awareness
Imagine starting a new role with one clarity every day to reduce ramp-up time in half. Most corporate onboarding programs are not designed with English in mind as a second language (ESL) learner. However, accessible and culturally aware onboarding can support inclusion, improve employee retention, increase productivity and help build stronger global teams.
Missed opportunities for multilingual onboarding
I have spent years teaching English to adults, including IT professionals, engineers, project managers, and medical professionals. Many of them started new jobs in unfamiliar environments where expectations were not only implicit but also embedded in languages that they didn’t fully understand. And now, as an education designer involved in e-learning and workplace training, I have been seeing repeated problems.
The corporate onboarding program is not designed for multilingual employees. They are designed for fluent, culturally familiar English speakers, whether the company recognizes it or not. For ESL experts, for those who are stepping into new roles, onboarding is often the first test of whether they are confident, included, isolated and overwhelmed. And the stakes are high.
These first days and weeks of failure lead to misunderstanding, release, slow ramp-ups, and high sales. Good news? Fixing this does not mean starting from scratch. That simply means getting closer to onboarding with an ESL-based perspective.
The numbers tell the story
According to the US Census Bureau, more than 67 million people in the United States speak languages other than English at home. Additionally, the Pew Research Center reports that over 18% of the US workforce are foreign-born workers.
In industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality and logistics, more than a third of frontline workers are non-native English speakers. A 2022 Gallup poll revealed that only 12% of employees face language barriers, as well as that the organization, including all employees, strongly agrees to handle onboarding effectively.
Imagine navigating onboarding in a second language! Most of the material is written at a read level or higher for 10th grade and over packed with HR and legal terminology, and is distributed through text-heavy e-learning or fast-paced live sessions, and is full of assumptions about workplace norms, communication styles, and implicit expectations. For ESL employees, this is not just a mess. It is isolated for them.
What ESL learners face on the first day
During onboarding, new recruits must absorb policies, navigate unfamiliar systems, interpret workplace culture, ask questions, and pay trust in the project from day one. The experience becomes even more challenging, especially for ESL employees, when training is slow, outdated, or misaligned to how adults actually learn.
Plus, along with linguistic processing, unfamiliar accents, idioms and extra layers of implicit cultural norms, it’s no surprise that many multilingual experts are quietly fighting this process. If training design overlooks these challenges, the impact extends beyond the individual, undermining team cohesion and reducing overall performance.
Onboarding inaccessible for hidden business costs in language
What companies often experience when onboarding does not meet the needs of ESL employees (whether or not they connect dots):
Longer ramp up times
ESL employees may need more time to learn the procedures when language barriers make instruction more difficult. Increased dependency on peers
Reliance on peers can lead to coworkers as informal translators or guides, which can slow down the overall team’s efficiency. Low retention
If communication is unknown and inclusion is lacking early, new hires are more likely to leave within the first 90 days. Compliance risk
If language barriers lead to misunderstandings of safety, HR, or data privacy policies, businesses can face significant legal and compliance risks. Missed engagement
ESL employees can hesitate to participate in early investigations, onboarding activities, and Q&A sessions, rather than indifferent or fear of causing language errors.
According to the Human Resources Management Association (SHRM), up to 20% of employee turnover occurs within the first 45 days of employment. For ESL employees who are confused, excluded, or isolated by language, this is rarely measured, but turnover rates can be even higher.
What does ESL information look like?
So here is the shift. Comprehensive onboarding does not mean rewriting everything in multiple languages. This means designing onboarding with language learners in mind. As both an ESL teacher and an ID professional, I recommend starting with these basic shifts.
V: Vocabulary support
Before you appear in training, start by introducing important workplace terminology. Define them in context and provide glossary or word banks to support understanding. By making information easier to understand, we support ESL employees, and support their needs to be confidently adapted to new roles and improve their language skills.
Use English directly on plain. Choose short sentences, familiar vocabulary, and active voice. Avoid legal and HR terminology whenever possible. A clear language respects a diverse workforce. For example, instead of saying “escalating the problem,” they say “report the problem to the manager.” Replace “PTO” with “paid leave” and use “employees eligible for overtime” rather than “non-exempt employee.” These small changes can make a big difference in clarity.
I: intentional visual
Use vision intentionally and intentionally, not decoratively, to enhance meaning, especially for procedures, safety steps and system navigation. The visuals are not decorative. They help support understanding. Diagrams, step-by-step screenshots, photos and icons help ESL learners to create meaning faster. Particularly with procedural content or safety protocols, a well-placed image can reduce confusion.
T: Tone and Pacing
Deliver spoken and written content in a clear, neutral, accessible pace and tone for ESL learners. Avoid idioms and fast-paced delivery. Include a short “word” section at the beginning of the module or video. Select unfamiliar workplace-specific terms (e.g. “badge-in”, “escalate”, “HR portal”) and define them in context. Doing this will help you build confidence and eliminate unnecessary friction and understanding.
A: Active Language
Uses plain direct language with active voice. Clarifying instructions and reducing complex sentence structures can help prevent confusion and improve understanding.
L: Layered scaffold
Scaffold your experience by dividing content into manageable steps. Use repetitions, summaries, and regular checkpoints to enhance learning without overwhelming learners.
Instead of presenting your onboarding course at once, divide it into smaller, more focused sections. Use review questions to reinforce important ideas and give learners time to absorb and reflect the material. Provide useful support from the start, including optional glossary, video captions, and downloadable summaries, making the experience more accessible to ESL employees.
Design for variety in listening. If you use video or narration, consider pacing, clarity and accents. Many onboarding videos are delivered quickly by native speakers using conversational idioms. For ESL learners, this may not be understandable. Provides captions, slow-paced narration, or optional transcripts. Better yet, include bilingual subtitles for teams with larger English Proficiency (LEP) groups.
S: A safe question culture
Create a culture where asking questions is welcome from the start. ESL employees are worried that they may be suppressed early and may appear unprepared. It helps to normalize this by making it clear that the question is encouraged and providing a sentence starter or example. It builds trust and encourages learners to speak up when they need help.
Tip: Include a sample sentence starter in the onboarding module and say, “I don’t know if I understand that. Can I explain it again?” or “Is there a list of words or references that I can use?” This little act builds confidence with the agency.
Actual inclusions begin on the first day
Comprehensive onboarding is not about checking boxes or giving favors. It’s about setting up employees for success. ESL experts bring valuable skills and experience, but if they are confused or excluded from the start, their possibilities become unexplored.
To maintain global talent, reduce early turnover and build a truly inclusive team, you need to embed language awareness and culturally responding strategies from the first day of work. These approaches are easy to implement, but often overlooked. If onboarding fails to support ESL employees, the results expand beyond the individual, creating friction that slows the entire organization.
Final Words: Designs like ESL teachers
Working with hundreds of business English experts, we know first hand that small changes can lead to important outcomes. In our global workforce, you may be, so design your onboarding as if you are teaching it to someone who is learning English.
The ESL edge is clear
A well-designed, comprehensive onboarding experience won’t slow things down. It speeds everything up. It increases productivity, engagement, and retention, helping all employees feel like an important part of their team. If you are serious about setting up all your employees for success, you need to move beyond the assumption that “expert” means “fluent.”
It’s time to design with the rich, multilingual talent that’s the ESL edge in mind. Are you ready to increase your onboarding and drive real results? Create ESL-based programs that bring out the best in today’s team.
