company is teaching its employees how to speak English before their shifts as many new hires are immigrants and cannot speak the language.
"We had as many as 30 some open positions," said Good. "If we can't get the orders out the door, our customers have down equipment. They can't get their product out the door."That is when the longstanding company turned to an immigrant-based employment agency to gain workers. The strategy led to a robust labor force but also a barrier when it came to communication. Many new hires could not speak English.
"Immigrants, many times, are left out of the diversity conversation," said Kim Emch who founded FESTA which is partnering with Kimball Midwest for the 12-week class English instruction. "A basic economic principal is the more humans, the better the economy."