It is not necessary to be skilled in sign language to understand Michael Connolly’s feelings regarding his autoworkers’ attempts to remove the obstacles that his deafness presents.
The 45-year-old autoworker at the Nissan plant in Sunderland, England, gave a universal thumbs up and smiled when asked what he thought of his teammates’ decision to learn British Sign Language.
Connolly enjoys joking around with his coworkers and discussing common topics like the kids, upcoming trips, and TV shows. And he can now, because at the start of the year the whole 25-person bumper-paint crew at Sunderland began learning BSL.
“I’m glad they have all learned sign language for us because I can talk and I lipread the hearing person, but I have my limits,” Connolly signed in an interview. “If you reverse the situation and the hearing person can sign and speak, they have no limits.”
The program originated from a larger drive to increase productivity at the Sunderland facility, which produces sport utility vehicles like as the Juke and Qashqai. According to supervisor John Johnson, the bumper-paint crew chose to learn sign language in addition to improving training and using more visual aids during briefings.
Connolly is one of four individuals with hearing loss who work in a less busy region of the facility where it is safer for employees who are unable to hear approaching cars.
According to Johnson, learning the complex mix of movements, expressions on the face, and body language that make up BSL was intimidating. However, it made it easier for him to understand how Connolly and the other deaf employees struggled to master their tasks and function as a team because they couldn’t exchange the kind of intimate information that fosters friendships.
“So as a team, we thought how can we knock that barrier down? And obviously sign language was the solution, or at least the start of an opportunity,” Johnson said.
Teri Devine, associate director for employment and inclusion at The Royal National Institute for Deaf People, described the team’s choice as highly exceptional. Few employers, she claimed, actually learn sign language, despite the fact that many try their best to interact and communicate with their deaf employees.
According to research, a lot of deaf people especially those who use BSL feel alone at work, according to Devine. Even the most skilled lip readers will only catch 30% to 40% of a conversation, thus it’s critical to increase the number of hearing persons who are conversant in sign language.
“It’s absolutely crucial that deaf people are included in everyday conversations, and it’s very easy to include them in those conversations,” Devine said. “The fact that (workers at) Nissan have gone and learned some BSL to support their colleague is actually fantastic. I take my hat off to them.”
Kindness in the workplace boosts productivity and benefits those who have their noses to the grindstone, according to an abundance of research, according to Cary Cooper, an organizational psychology and health professor at the Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester.
Before learning sign language, Cooper said, the workers on the bumper-paint team had few communication skills. You can see that at work. However, they’ve now made a conversation possible.
“You can find out: What did you do this weekend? What about the football results,” he said. “In other words, you’re cementing the relationship – the team building. And that’s important. It goes far beyond, you know, ‘you haven’t painted that bit of the bumper.'”
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