An Award-Winning Learning Initiative: How WAGO Made Language Training a Strategic Pillar of Global People Development

Together with Speexx, WAGO has created a global framework for continuous learning that gives more than 1,600 employees across administrative and production roles worldwide access to language training. At the same time, the company has significantly improved the efficiency of its learning ecosystem: by rolling out Speexx globally, WAGO has reduced language training costs by up to 50%, depending on the country. The successful implementation also earned WAGO and Speexx Gold in the Best Learning Technology Implementation category at the Brandon Hall Excellence Awards.

About

WAGO GmbH & Co. KG is one of the world’s leading providers of connection and automation technology and interface electronics. The family-owned company is the global market leader in spring pressure connection technology. Since its founding in 1951, WAGO has grown steadily and will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2026.

Today, WAGO employs around 9,000 people worldwide, including approximately 4,400 in Germany. In the fiscal year 2025, the company generated revenue of €1.34 billion. With a presence in more than 80 countries, communication, knowledge sharing, and international collaboration are critical to its success. To connect global teams and strengthen cross-border collaboration for the long term, WAGO set out to establish language training as an integral part of its global people development strategy.

Challenge

WAGO needed a solution that could reach a large number of employees, address a wide range of learning needs, and scale flexibly across locations and countries. It also had to engage employees in both administrative and production roles. Production employees in particular required new ways to access training, as they often do not have regular access to company systems or email. At the same time, administration needed to remain manageable for a large user base and support the company’s data protection requirements, for example by automatically deactivating user accounts when employees leave the organization.

Solution

With the Speexx Core4All enterprise language training license, every WAGO employee can learn a language at any time. A dedicated WAGO landing page gives learners direct access to the platform, registration, supporting resources, and practical tips to help them get started. The Speexx app enables learning anytime, anywhere, making it particularly valuable for employees working in different environments and shift patterns.

For more advanced learning needs, WAGO can upgrade licenses to Smart, Expert, or Expert Pro. These options include additional features such as live one-to-one or group sessions with certified language trainers.

A key priority was to make the learning content as relevant to employees’ day-to-day work as possible. To achieve this, technical vocabulary lists covering electrical engineering, automation technology, and industrial applications were created specifically for WAGO and integrated into the program. That way, employees build not only their general language skills, but also the precise terminology they need for international projects, customer interactions, and everyday collaboration.

The combination of Core4All and flexible license upgrades gives WAGO company-wide access alongside targeted opportunities for deeper learning. This allows the company to tailor learning to individual needs without compromising the scalability of the overall program. Centralized delivery and administration also simplify the global rollout and management of the program, creating a strong foundation for sustainable, data-protection-compliant scaling.

Outcome

More than 1,600 WAGO employees now learn with Speexx, making language learning an established part of the company’s people development strategy. The key to the program’s success is the combination of reach and flexibility: WAGO can build language skills across its global workforce while offering more intensive learning formats where the need is greatest.

Strong adoption is also reflected in more than 2,000 group sessions attended. These sessions encourage practical exchange and create additional learning opportunities for employees around the world.

The program has also delivered measurable financial results. By rolling out Speexx globally and reducing traditional face-to-face training, WAGO has lowered language training costs by up to 50%, depending on the country. Overall, the implementation has generated savings in the high five-figure range. It has also opened access to language development at locations where comparable programs had previously been unfeasible due to limited budgets or administrative complexity.

The successful implementation has also received external recognition: WAGO and Speexx won Gold in the Best Learning Technology Implementation category at the Brandon Hall Excellence Awards 2025. The award highlights the program’s strategic importance and its contribution to international collaboration, employee development, and organizational efficiency.

Looking Ahead

In the long term, WAGO aims to further develop holistic people development as a strategic driver of global collaboration, leadership development, and sustainable growth. Alongside the continued evolution of its language learning program, the company expanded its partnership with Speexx to include Business Coaching following a successful pilot at the end of 2024. The partnership is increasingly evolving into an integrated development approach that purposefully connects language learning, personal development, and international collaboration.