It’s highly likely that you have at least one employee with dyspraxia - 5% of the population are dyspraxic, and the difficulties associated with dyspraxia are lifelong.

Many dyspraxic adults report finding the workplace the most challenging environment of all. As an employer, you can make a positive impact to your dyspraxic employees with some very simple changes that won’t cost a penny.

The most impactful way of making change like this is realising that these approaches will benefit all employees, not just those with dyspraxia or neurodiversity, so apply this to your company culture and see the positive change!

Ask

Don’t assume you know what difficulties your employee is facing – ask them what they find difficult and what you can do to support them. Everyone is different and this is especially true for people with dyspraxia. Not all dyspraxics find the same things challenging, so asking the individual what they find difficult and what would be helpful for them will go a long way.

Sometimes they might not know exactly what will be helpful for them, especially if they’ve never had support or resources to help them before. Spend some time talking about what they find difficult and brainstorm some ideas to try – it might be a case of trial and error until they find a solution that works for them.

Be patient

Having dyspraxia doesn’t mean someone isn’t capable or competent. They may just need a bit longer to complete a task, might make a few mistakes along the way (but who doesn’t, dyspraxic or not!), or need information repeated. Being patient will allow your employee to feel more relaxed in completing the task, rather than stressed and under pressure, and will therefore be more efficient with their work. Be patient – the job will still get done.

Be flexible

Having flexibility in the workplace benefits everyone, not just dyspraxics. Everyone is individual and has individual needs and preferences to how they can achieve their full potential. By being flexible in the workplace, you might allow people to choose where and how they work best (hybrid working, for example), allow flexible working times to avoid the rush hour commute which can be overwhelming for someone with dyspraxia, or getting rid of strict work attire rules so that someone who has sensory overload can be comfortable in their place of work.

Be open to learning

No one is expected to be an expert on everything, but being willing and open to learning is the first step. It shows you are committed to your employees and their wellbeing at work if you are open to learning about their neurodiversity, how it impacts them and ways you can support. The Dyspraxia Foundation has lots of free resources to increase understanding of dyspraxia, or you can book various training courses to train staff in more detail. The easiest and cheapest way to learn about dyspraxia for your employee is to ask them!

Understand the hidden challenges of dyspraxia

Dyspraxia is primarily a movement and coordination disorder, but adults most often find the ‘hidden’ challenges more impactful in their lives. These could include:

• Slower cognitive processing speeds – needing more time to understand and remember instructions
• Poor working memory – difficulty remembering lots of information at once and multitasking
• Poor organisation and planning skills – such as poor time management, missing deadlines, forgetting to complete tasks

Breaking down the instructions or information you give to your employee into smaller chunks, writing information down for them to refer to later (rather than giving instructions only verbally), sending calendar invites with reminders for key milestones or scheduling regular catch ups can be hugely beneficial.

Be a safe space

Many dyspraxic adults tell us that they don’t disclose their dyspraxia or the things they find difficult in the workplace for fear of rejection, judgement or being labelled as incompetent. Create a safe workspace where vulnerabilities and mistakes are OK so that your employees feel safe to disclose when they need help, are finding something overwhelming or too difficult, or share information with you that will help them in their job. Dyspraxia brings a whole host of brilliant skills to the workplace, but a dyspraxic employee needs to feel safe to bring their whole self to work to truly allow their strengths to shine.