Booking It at Work : Federal Funds Open Up Literacy Programs to Employees at Nine Businesses

Show Eric Sajdowitz a picture of a coffee table, and he’ll build it for you from scratch--the way he built a heart-shaped parquet floor for his wedding reception. But until recently he would not have even looked at an instruction manual.

Now the 35-year-old welder in steel-toed boots doesn’t fake it anymore, pretending to skim through manuals he can barely read, struggling to write notes to co-workers, tossing aside company memos because he couldn’t fathom the words.

Now he can’t wait for a new library to open at the company he works for, Steelcase Inc., so he can check out the simple 52-page paperback, “The Cat Who Went to Heaven,” which he saw at a display of materials the library will include.

Now he’s gung-ho about the company’s new reading classes.

“In the past, I just put reading off,” confessed Sajdowitz, who used to squint and pretend he needed glasses rather than admit to a reading problem. “This is great--I mean, what company does this?”

In August, Steelcase and eight other Orange County businesses started a pilot workplace literacy program to teach mostly blue-collar workers to read and write, to go beyond simply packing, stacking and shipping by rote as they had done for years, perhaps decades.

Under the federally funded program, businesses are paying employees to take literacy classes on company time and filling on-site libraries with “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Treasure Island” and other classics. One company puts on a lunchtime storybook hour in which a volunteer reads aloud; another is organizing a reading club.

“It used to be come to work, leave your brain at the door and punch a machine,” said Gloria Urone, a Steelcase manager. “We’ve raised the bar, and the expectation of what we want.”

The literacy program grew out of a training center called JobLink, a consortium of nine businesses and three community colleges that conducts math, English and other classes. Last year, JobLink won a $3.4-million workplace literacy grant, the only one in California and the fourth largest of 46 awarded nationwide by the Department of Education. (Because of federal budget cuts, the size of JobLink’s three-year grant is expected to shrink and plans to expand the program may go on hold.)

JobLink members are Coast Community College District, Irvine Valley College and Rancho Santiago College; and CDI-3M Health Care, Deft Inc., Newport Corp., Mallinckrodt Medical TPI Inc., Printronix, Rosemount Analytical Inc., Steelcase Inc., 3M Dental Products and 3M Surgical.

The companies say fierce global competition has forced them to figure out ways to work more efficiently, and no longer look the other way when a 25-year veteran welder struggles to fill out a report.

At Steelcase, for instance, warehouse workers once included packers, loaders and supervisors, each with distinct jobs. Now, each is called a “warehousemen” and works on a team with shared duties. A worker who once packed boxes must now be able to write safety reports and review time sheets. The old excuses don’t fly: Maybe you could just tell me. I’ll get back to you later. Can you read it to me, I have a headache.

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At one company, a worker never reported machinery trouble to the next shift because he was unable to write a report and too embarrassed to admit it, said La Vergne Rosow, JobLink’s literacy adviser and a USC adjunct instructor. Such workers hesitate to sign up for the 1 1/2-hour weekly literacy class or show up on their own time at JobLink’s reading lab, even though the company will pay child-care expenses while employees do so.

“They have gotten away with bluffing people very beautifully,” Rosow said, “and suddenly, you’re put in a place where you’re not going to be covering up--that’s a threat.”

So she starts slow. At Printronix in Irvine, Rosow read nursery rhymes to a middle-aged assembly worker, who wanted to get the rhythm and flow of words by listening to “Hickory Dickory Dock” and other children’s books.

JobLink’s program makes it easy for workers who don’t have the nerve to walk into a literacy class at the local library with a room full of strangers, the companies say; a total of 1,600 employees will take JobLink’s literacy classes. At Rosemount Analytical, for instance, about one-third of the company’s 250 employees have signed up for the voluntary classes on-site, said Dave Perea, director of human resources for the Irvine-based company, which makes scientific equipment.

“They all feel comfortable because they’re in it with their friends, with their co-workers,” he said.

At Rosemount recently, Rosow put books on tables for workers to browse through during breaks in the reading class. One man picked up a storybook on mice, read for a few minutes and then marked his place by setting his bifocals on top of the open pages. A woman in the front row looked up from a Nelson Mandela biography when Rosow pushed a slim paperback, “Uncle Jed’s Barbershop,” toward her.

“Andrea,” Rosow gushed, “this is a true story that will tear your heart out.”

After class, Maria Hernandez, 53, said she feels “excited and more important,” knowing that the company is behind the literacy classes.

“When something like this happens,” said Hernandez, who assembles water pumps and other parts, “you like your job. You know you’re learning, and you’re doing something better, and you can see that the company helps you.”

She left class with three books under her arm--two children’s book to read to her 2 1/2-year-old grandson, and one for her, a story on Christopher Columbus in big print.

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On a recent afternoon at Steelcase, dozens of machinists, upholsterers and press operators wandered into the cafeteria on “Take Your Book to Work Day,” toting lunch boxes, protective goggles and books. Workers, including 42-year-old Richard Vargas, thumbed through a display of books from the new library, which will open in a couple of weeks.

Before his 5 a.m. shift, Vargas packs a brown bag lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grabs a book so he can practice reading when he eats, his feet propped up a desk, until the bell rings, signaling that his 30-minute break is up. But it’s hard to read with the clatter of lathes and other equipment.

Vargas, 42, who assembles desks, gestured to the warehouse floor.

“You cannot be over there, working fast,” he said, “and suddenly sit down and get a book. No, you need a quiet place like this to get in the mood.”

He can’t believe the company will pay for him to brush up on reading and writing. He wants to make up for lost time.

“As an adult, it’s hard [to learn],” he said. “We have priorities, families and kids. That’s my priority for 15 years. I raised a beautiful family. Now they’re grown up. Now it’s my turn.”