6 tips to support people with dyslexia in the workplace

Who at work has dyslexia?

Dyslexia brings challenges as well as strengths. Not everyone is open about their diagnosis; others don’t know they have dyslexia.

Here is a checklist to identify dyslexia, ADHD and others with reading difficulties in your workplace. The list’s purpose is to indicate the need and size of the hidden dyslexia statistics in the workplace. We believe that everyone at HR can benefit from the checklist; it will help find the right way to support staff who are not feeling well or have not yet reached their full potential.

1. Potential. We notice that there is often a “mismatch” between the expected outcome and the actual outcome. An employee seems to have everything in place, but for some reason, the performance does not quite live up to expectations. The feeling is that, for some reason, the person is not living up to their full potential.
2. Spelling. Does the spelling get wrong sometimes? Are letters thrown around and words left out?
3. Creativity. An ability to overview and connect things that do not have an obvious connection. To have an ability to see things from new angles and find unconventional solutions more often than average.
4. Slow reading hampering reading comprehension. The text often needs to be reread, which can drain the person with dyslexia of all energy and cause headaches/sickness. It is familiar with escape behaviour in connection with reading.
5. Courage and determination Dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence, and many people with dyslexia become highly successful at university and in the workplace. Regardless, they have often struggled much harder than their classmates while growing up because of their reading difficulties. This may have created inner strength and determination, meaning they often succeed in carrying out the things they set out to do.
6. Foreign languages are challenging. If the texts are written in the person’s second language, they are often very slow to read for the person with dyslexia.

We see significant opportunities to increase efficiency, improve the working environment, and reduce employee stress.

Read more about how TorTalk can change a workplace and make it more dyslexia-friendly