HR toolkit Operational efficiency
Back to basics...
Support for deafblind employees
support someone then just ask them,
even if it feels like an awkward
conversation. It’s better to ask than to
get it wrong.
Don’t...
Assume you’ve got it right.
Never assume that you’ve done
things right without checking with
your employee. Say for example that
there are six people attending a
meeting. You would book a meeting
room big enough for six people but
what if one of them is an interpreter
and needs to be a good distance
from and visible to the person who
is deafblind? Check in with your
employees regularly and give them the
chance to feed back.
Assume they can’t do
something. It can be very easy
to assume that your employee can’t do
certain things. It might seem easier for
you to give the task to someone else, or
to even do it yourself. But is this fair on
the individual who is deafblind? Most
things have a solution, it just might
take time and some creative thinking
to get there.
Forget that things change.
For people who are deafblind
levels of sight and hearing change
depending on the environment: how
light it is, how noisy it is, how tired
they feel, how familiar the situation is
to them, and so on. It is important to
remember that you might have to alter
your arrangements as you go.
Forget about everyone else.
You might need to educate
other staff about deafblindness and
the specific requirements of the
individual who is deafblind. You might
also need to make some small changes
to make your organisation more
accessible and inclusive. For example,
can they access their pay advice or your
online learning platform?
Naomi Dainty is marketing
manager of Deafblind UK
toolkit...
strategic without getting the basics right
products
Flow
Medical device
company Flow has
launched a new
chatbot therapist to
help employees with
depression. Based
on psychology
and neuroscience
research, it uses
Transcranial Direct Current
Stimulation technology. Flow consists of an app that aims to
engage users with daily chat conversations and offers
self-help techniques, mood tracking and mental exercises,
and a medically-approved brain stimulation headset that
activates brain cells.
Price: £399 for the headset
Visit: www.flowneuroscience.com
Aggregate Industries
it chose Vevox
organisation and human resources
Aggregate Industries
Who would you
recommend it to?
Any business that is genuinely
committed to ensuring all of
its workforce feels engaged,
included and that their voice
is heard.
What’s been the
result?
Implementing the Vevox app
has made it much easier for
Aggregate to capture the
views of people within the
organisation in a way that is
non-intrusive and fully
anonymous and confidential.
Having this kind of
technology in place has also
helped us to kick-start a
change in our meetings
culture. If we went back three
or four years our meetings
typically took the form of
an update pitch from senior
leaders on how the business
was performing. Today they
are far more participative.
Where now?
The Vevox app has helped
with team building and
fits well with the collaborative
environment we want
to nurture. Technology in
isolation cannot drive a
positive culture but it can
help facilitate it. At Aggregate
we are focused on cutting
through barriers, sharing as
much information as we
can and knowledge and
enabling our employees to be
more effective.
Why does it matter?
There are around 400,000 people in the
UK who are affected by deafblindness –
so it’s likely that you will work with
someone who is affected, either now or
in the future.
Deafblindness is the loss of sight and
hearing to the point where your
communication, mobility and ability to
access information are affected. It
comes on a huge spectrum ranging
from struggling to see and hear the TV
right through to not being able to see or
hear anything at all.
Although it affects everyone
differently, many people with
deafblindness are able to hear and/or
see something.
Deafblindness is a hidden disability
and therefore not always easy to spot.
Employees might not feel it necessary
to tell you that they have problems
with their sight and hearing so look
out for some key pointers, such as
struggling in certain lights or asking
you to repeat yourself.
Do...
Learn about deafblindness.
Make sure that you fully
understand deafblindness and what it
means for your employee and you
as a manager. Deafblindness affects
everyone differently, so take the time
to understand individual situations.
Think about accessibility.
This doesn’t just mean making
sure your employee has the tools to do
the job, but also the physical and social
environment. How can you involve
them in office chit-chat, lunchtime
strolls and after-work drinks?
Allow more time. For people
who are deafblind everything
takes a little longer. Try to be patient
and give them the time that they need.
You might want to plan for the impact
that this will have on the rest of the
workforce and operations.
Ask the employee. If you
are in any doubt about how to
hrmagazine.co.uk April 2020 HR 45
/www.flowneuroscience.com
/hrmagazine.co.uk