On this week’s all-new episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast, sponsored by Stoke RGA, Heather Chantelois-Kashal of Fox Valley Literacy unpacks the findings of the nonprofit organization’s most recent study on literacy in Northeast Wisconsin and dives deeper into some of the workforce issues discussed in Insight’s October issue “Deep Dive” on the topic of literacy.
Chantelois-Kashal tells co-hosts Kate Bruns of Insight and Ann Franz of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance that literacy issues in the manufacturing environment are so much more than just reading grade-level; there are issues of digital literacy, financial literacy and English and a second language that all have an impact on job satisfaction, job performance and ability to advocate for oneself, follow HR processes and maximize their employee benefits.
“The goal is for people to live full lives that are meaningful to them … and to remove literacy as a barrier to that,” Chantelois-Kashal says of the 36-year-old nonprofit, which provides free services to adults across four counties.
More than half of Americans read at our below the sixth-grade level, Chantelois-Kashal explains on this week’s episode, and the majority of organizations, including healthcare practices, write at the eighth-grade reading level. Closing that gap is a critical part of Fox Valley Literacy’s work.
“Literacy is a big barrier to engagement,” she says, adding that, in particuarly, the introduction of robotics in the manufacturing environment carries with it an opportunity to help employees level up their careers through digital literacy.
Learn more about Fox Valley Literacy’s research, work and impact by downloading NEW Manufacturing Insights on Spreaker or anywhere you listen to audio podcasts. NEW Manufacturing Insights is a joint project of Insight and NEWMA, produced by Woodward Community Media. New episodes are released every Thursday.
