Few constructs in language teaching are as important as communicative competence: The term has for many decades informed how teachers design lessons and address student needs. Its central role in informing language teaching has resulted in communicative competence being defined and operationalised in multiple ways in the literature. The different iterations of the term have, however, led to some ambiguity with regard to how the existing notions of communicative competence reflect the current needs of English-speaking professionals. To this end, the current paper examines how different interpretations of communicative competence present opportunities to address the needs of workplace English learners. Specifically, the paper investigates the extent to which two offshoots of communicative competence – that is, pragmatic competence and interactional competence – can be used to teach workplace English. This chapter demonstrates that awareness and understanding of both terms are needed to adequately address contemporary workplace issues that require workers to increasingly communicate in global contexts where English is spoken as a medium language. In such contexts, interpersonal skills are needed to adjust communicative practices according to diverse cultural and linguistic norms and expectations.