Back in September 2022, 56-year-old Susanni Egebech did not want to write her own responses to messages and letters without someone else reading it through. Since then, she has attended dyslexia classes once a week for ten weeks at VUC in Ringsted during working hours, and this has given her more courage to write herself.
- The lessons have given me the courage to open my computer, read emails and answer them on my own. I have always had help with that in the past. It's simply fantastic to get such an offer at your workplace, says Susanni Egebech, who works in the packaging department at Ringsted abattoir.
Susanni Egebech is one of the 41 employees at Danish Crown who have attended dyslexia education. At the same time, there is also a similar offer with Danish lessons, which 87 employees have completed so far. The next employees will start in week 4.
It all takes place during working hours, and therefore the employees receive a salary of DKK 165 per hour on the ten teaching days.
- As the labor market develops, the competence requirements also grow, and therefore we have chosen to offer our employees that they can strengthen their basic skills such as reading, writing, calculating and using IT through training during working hours. It develops them both professionally and privately, and I feel proud when I hear how much it means to the individual employee to be able to write, for example, a birthday card or read a newspaper article, says Andreas Friis, HR director at Danish Crown.
The offer is valid throughout Denmark
The employees are taught in Frederikshavn, Herning, Sønderborg, Horsens and Ringsted, where local educational institutions facilitate the teaching. The starting point for the training is that all employees in Danish Crown are offered a classic FVU test to clarify the level of the various skills, just as they are screened for dyslexia and informed about the options for further training both within and outside Danish Crown.
Afterwards, Danish Crown's so-called education ambassadors, who are found on all Danish sites, will help remind the employees about the offer and help with the practicalities, including registration, so that everyone gets a chance to get going.
- It's simply a great offer. I can really feel that I developed my skills, and it can actually be seen in something as concrete as my handwriting. I hope that more of my colleagues across the country take up the offer, because it gives great pleasure to be able to feel such a development in a relatively short time, says 53-year-old Jan Thomsen, who participated in the Danish lessons in Frederikshavn and works at the abattoir in Sæby.
In addition to Danish and dyslexia education, there will also be classes with digital education this year, which strengthen the employees' digital skills, which should also benefit them privately by teaching them more digital platforms such as e-boks, borger.dk, sundhed.dk etc.