Pleasant Prairie-based Uline, a distributor of shipping, industrial and packaging products, is offering English as a second language classes to its native Spanish-speaking employees.
The 8-week ESL program offered to night shift warehouse employees includes a once-weekly, two-hour session and a subscription to the online language learning service Rosetta Stone. Some warehouse managers are also using the service to learn Spanish, according to a press release.
Classes are held on Wednesday nights from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and are instructed by an outsourced instructor, according to Sergio Trevino, warehouse department manager at Uline.
“As our business grows and we seek bilingual employees for our warehouse and customer service teams, we’re committed to providing the ongoing learning and support needed to ensure everyone feels welcome, can effectively communicate, and ultimately advance in their career,” Uline vice president of branch operations Travis Szwast. “It is our hope that all our employees can learn and grow together as our Spanish-speaking coworkers establish themselves with our company.”
Some Spanish-speaking employees participating in the program moved to the area from Mexico and Colombia, including some who had worked in fields such as health care, engineering, accounting and business prior to moving to the United States, according to the press release from the company.
“The enthusiasm for this opportunity is great to see, and the engagement in the program is high,” said senior director of redistribution Wade Goff. “We are doing everything we can to support employees’ conversational skills, and it’s exciting to hear the progress so far.”
