A study, commissioned by Education and Learning Wales (ELWa), showed that more than 80% of employers questioned said they had seen financial benefits as a result of providing a bilingual strategy.

The demand for Welsh medium education has grown

But despite this, many firms still do not provide both English and Welsh language services to the public.

The aims of the project were to discover to what extent the Welsh language was used in the workplace and to evaluate the advantages.

Companies and voluntary organisations in a specific area of Carmarthenshire - which has one of the largest areas of Welsh speakers - were targeted.

The research, published on Friday, was carried out by Dr Lowri Lloyd from Trinity College, Carmarthen.

"One of the research's main findings was that managers and business owners in the area show goodwill towards the Welsh language," said Dr Lloyd.

The research did prove that employers do see the value of the Welsh language with 80.5% reporting financial benefit as a result of providing bilingual services

Dr Lowri Lloyd

"But often this support is not reflected in their actual provision of bilingual services to the public.

"The research did prove that employers do see the value of the Welsh language with 80.5% reporting financial benefit as a result of providing bilingual services," she added.

Members of the public were interviewed about the importance they felt on receiving a bilingual service.

"The research found that Welsh language is valued by the public.

"But if a bilingual service was not apparent, then the public were not confident enough to request it," added Dr Lloyd.

Ineffective services

A total of 40 businesses and 120 members of the public were surveyed as part of the research.

"The outcome of this shows there is a great deal of support for the use of Welsh from businesses and the public," added Dr Lloyd.

But results showed that many firms who said they had adopted a Welsh language policy had not provided an effective service.

Many employees used Welsh only when speaking to each other informally and not during meetings and presentations.

An ELWa spokeswoman said the survey will be used to identify learning needs.

"We commissioned the research to find out the demand for the Welsh language in business so we can build the learning provisions," she said.

"It's about giving people additional choice - with more choice offered, businesses are more likely to see a positive impact," she added.