Being a dyslexic HR professional: 4 tasks and what works

Only 41% of dyslexic adults in Scotland received workplace adjustments, and only 25% of those called them very or extremely helpful (Dyslexia Scotland and University of Glasgow, survey of 1,420 adults, launched October 2024). If you work in HR, you've seen how a generic adjustment lands. Your own job runs on text, and nobody has asked what you need.

Why HR is hard on a dyslexic reader

HR work is almost all reading and writing under scrutiny. Letters go out under your name, meeting notes become evidence, and a wrong date in a contract gets quoted back at you. Few jobs make small text errors so visible.

The profession's own view of dyslexia lags behind. A Randstad Enterprise and Made By Dyslexia survey of more than 900 HR leaders and 1,500 dyslexic employees in 18 markets (15 June 2023) found that 64% of HR leaders believed their recruiting process could identify dyslexic thinking skills.

Your colleagues may assume HR already has dyslexia covered. That means you have to name the tasks yourself. The piece on the gap between HR and dyslexic employees covers how to open that conversation.

Name specific tasks when you ask for support, because "HR already handles this" is the default assumption in the room.

Task 1: letters and policy documents

Outcome letters, offer letters and policy drafts carry legal weight. One missing "not" or a wrong clause number changes what the document says. You also can't easily spot your own slips, because your brain fills in what you meant to write.

A study of 220 UK office workers found that self-reported dyslexia traits predicted more workplace cognitive complaints in all six areas measured, with language showing an association more than five times that of any other area (Smith-Spark and Lecca Dianderas, Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, published 7 December 2025). It measured complaints people reported, not error counts, so read it as a signal and not a verdict.

What works: dictate the first draft, then have text-to-speech read it back before anyone else sees it. Your ear catches missing words that your eyes skip. Keep a library of approved clauses and paste them in rather than retyping. For any letter that starts or ends a formal process, ask for a named second reader.

The email tone checker is useful for the softer messages, such as a reply to an upset manager, where wording matters as much as accuracy.

Pick one letter type this week, build a template for it, and run the read-back every time you send it.

Task 2: investigation and hearing notes (UK)

ACAS guidance says that if there is an investigation meeting, someone should take notes. The witness checks them and signs at the end, and the signed notes can serve as the witness statement. ACAS does not say the investigator has to be the person writing (ACAS, investigations step 4, checked 12 October 2026).

That gap is your opening. A separate note-taker leaves the investigation intact: you listen, follow up on what you hear, and leave the writing speed to someone else.

Records matter because a tribunal can raise or cut compensation by up to 25% for an unreasonable failure to follow the ACAS Code in claims such as unfair dismissal and discrimination (DLA Piper, 2026). ACAS published a draft updated Code on 30 July 2026 and the consultation closed on 23 September, so check for the final version before you change any templates.

In the US there is no ACAS Code, so follow your employer's investigation policy and check state recording-consent rules before you record anyone. In both countries, the practical routine is the same. Agree a note-taker, prepare your questions in advance, read the notes back to the witness, and let them sign.

Ask for a note-taker on every formal meeting, in writing, and point to the ACAS step 4 text if anyone asks why.

Task 3: long case files and document bundles

A grievance file can run to hundreds of pages of emails, policies and statements. Reading a bundle line by line is slow for many dyslexic adults, and formal-process deadlines don't move to suit you. Skimming is riskier too, because you can't be sure the skipped line wasn't the one that mattered.

Ask for the bundle as searchable files, not scans, so that search and text-to-speech both work. Have the case manager write a one-page chronology first, then read the source documents against it. Work in 25-minute blocks and jot your questions in the margin as you go, not at the end.

Free tools such as Immersive Reader in Microsoft Word and Edge can voice the files, and paid options like Read&Write add more control. In the UK, Access to Work can fund software and support tied to your tasks, but waits have been long in 2026, so ask your employer to pay first while the application runs. The Access to Work guide and the Access to Work calculator show what to claim for.

Request every bundle as searchable files with a chronology on top, and listen to the long documents instead of grinding through them.

Task 4: dates, figures and system entries

HR systems hold dates and numbers that move money or end employment: start dates, notice periods, pay changes. Transposed digits and swapped day-month order cause the errors that end up in complaints. They also pass every spell check.

A worked example

A 12-week notice period starting 14 October 2026 ends on 6 January 2027. Typed UK style, that is 06/01/2027. A US-configured system reads the same string as 1 June 2027. Both look plausible on screen, and only one is right.

What works: let the system or a spreadsheet formula calculate dates instead of counting in your head. Write months out in words in letters, so it reads 6 January 2027. Have a second person check any figure that changes pay or ends a contract. Read numbers aloud, or use text-to-speech, before you press save, and copy IDs and amounts from the source rather than retyping them.

Treat every date and amount as a field that gets a second check, not a detail you're expected to catch alone.

What to say when someone asks why

You don't owe anyone a medical explanation. A plain, task-based line works: "I make fewer errors in meetings when someone else is taking the notes, and the record is more accurate." Colleagues rarely argue with a better record, and a line like that keeps the conversation on the work.

If your manager asks for more, name the task and the change, and stop there. "Letters to employees: I need a second reader before they go out." That is a request they can approve in one reply. For the full decision on how much to say and to whom, the disclosure guide walks through the options.

Keep the ask short, task-first and in writing, so it reads as a process improvement and not a confession.

What to ask for this week

Ask your line manager for a named note-taker on formal meetings and a second reader on outbound letters. Put both in one email, with each task named and the change you want. You don't need a diagnosis letter to start: in the UK, the employer's Equality Act 2010 duty arises when they know, or could reasonably be expected to know, about the disability, and in the US you can make an ADA request in plain words.

Start dictation and read-back yourself today, on your own drafts, before any of the formal asks are agreed. They cost nothing and need no permission. If you also handle other people's adjustment requests, use your own process as a test: where it slows you down, it slows them down.

Send the one email this week, and start the tools that need no sign-off today. Other role guides are in the articles library.