4 ways HR professionals can help dyslexic employees

Dyslexia is the most common neurodiversity. Statistically speaking, as many as 1 in 5 of your employees is likely to be dyslexic. So, it’s incredibly important that HR professionals understand it and support employees with the challenges they may face. And, crucially, support and nurture Dyslexic Thinking skills.

Traditionally, the focus has been on what dyslexics can’t do, rather than what they can

Measuring us by our challenges rather than harnessing our strengths is counterproductive. Because our brains process things differently, dyslexics often find things like spelling, reading out loud and memorising facts tricky.

These are often the skills we are benchmarked and assessed against, or which people link to intelligence. This can sometimes mean employers and colleagues misjudge us as careless or not as capable as other employees.

This had led the majority of dyslexics (3 in 4) to hide their dyslexia from their employer. If dyslexics hide their dyslexia, it can stop them from getting support and prevent employers from spotting and empowering their dyslexic strengths.

Dyslexics excel at the exact skills that are vital to the future of work

From creative thinking and problem-solving to collaboration and active learning, dyslexics thrive here, and have incredible leadership and people skills.

For instance, 80% of dyslexics are above average at connecting with people, 84% of dyslexics are above average at reasoning and 75% of dyslexics are above average at visualising and seeing the big picture.

It’s exactly these skills many companies are trying to recruit for right now, so we need to get better at attracting and retaining dyslexic talent. However, fewer than one in five dyslexics believes their employer understands the strengths of dyslexic thinking. 

So, what can HR do to support and empower dyslexic employees?

1.    Change the recruitment process. Standardised tests often don’t allow dyslexics to showcase their strengths and dyslexic thinking skills. Simple changes like offering dyslexic candidates more time will make the recruitment process more dyslexia-friendly.

2.    Show you understand the value of dyslexic thinking. This will encourage more dyslexics to apply for roles and also empower dyslexic employees to be open about dyslexia at work.

3.    Support dyslexic workplace challenges. There are tiny things every employer can do to make a huge difference – from keeping meetings short to minimising email overload (try sending voice messages instead) to presenting information in more visual ways and keeping instructions concise (all things that are brilliant for everyone).

4.    Empower dyslexic strengths. Empower dyslexics to do the things we excel at. Promote us into management roles, where our incredible people skills will help us build high-performance teams. Bring us in on big picture thinking. Get us involved in complex projects with reams of data where our ability to see things others can’t, will help us come up with breakthrough solutions. 

It’s time HR redefines dyslexia as a skill not a disability in the workplace and develop a skills-first culture. Let’s get better at supporting dyslexic employees and start empowering their incredible strengths.

Join the movement to show you recognise #DyslexicThinking as a valuable skillset by joining the conversation or adding the skill to your LinkedIn profile if you are dyslexic.