Imagine for a minute you’re a salesperson. Now imagine that you have a call scheduled today with a very valuable client. Numerous agents from their offices have come together to talk about whether to employ your company for the job. All of the various voices get a little jumbled and hard to comprehend. But you’re getting most of it.
And it sounds distorted and even less clear when you continue turning the volume up. So you just do your best at filling in the blanks. You’ve become pretty good at that.
There comes a point in the conversation where things become particularly hard to hear. This is the stage where the potential client says “so precisely how will your firm help us solve this?””
You panic. You didn’t catch the last few minutes and aren’t certain what issue they’re trying to resolve. This is your contract and your boss is counting on you. What can you do?
Do you ask them to repeat themselves? They’ll think you were distracted. Do you start using a lot of sales jargon? No, that will be too obvious.
Every single day, people everywhere are dealing with scenarios like this while working. Sometimes, they try to pretend they’re okay and wing it.
So in general, how is your work being affected by your hearing loss? The following can help us find out.
Unequal pay
The Better Hearing Institute questioned 80,000 people utilizing the same approach the Census Bureau uses to obtain a representative sampling.
They discovered that individuals who have untreated hearing loss make about $12,000 less per year than those who are able to hear.
That doesn’t seem fair!
Hearing loss effects your general performance so it’s not difficult to understand the above example. Sadly, he didn’t close the deal. Everything was going great until the client thought he wasn’t listening to them. They decided to work with a company that listens better.
His commission on this contract would have been over $1000.
The situation was misconstrued. But how do you think this impacted his career? If he was wearing hearing aids, imagine how different things may have been.
On the Job Injuries
Individuals who have neglected hearing loss are almost 30% more likely to incur a significant workplace injury according to a study carried out by the American Medical Association. Studies have also revealed a 300% increased danger of having a serious fall and winding up in the emergency room.
And it may come as a shock that individuals with minor hearing loss had the highest chance among those who have hearing loss. Maybe they don’t recognize that hearing loss of any type impairs a person at work.
How to have a prosperous career with hearing loss
Your employer has a great deal to gain from you:
- Skills
- Empathy
- Experience
- Personality
- Confidence
Hearing loss shouldn’t overshadow these. But it is frequently a factor. It could be having an effect on your job more than you know. Take actions to minimize the impact like:
- Speak up when a job surpasses your abilities. Your boss might, for instance, ask you to go and do some work in a part of the building that can be really loud. So that you can make up for it, offer to undertake a different job. By doing that, your boss won’t think you’re just trying to get out of doing work.
- Requesting a written outline/agenda before a meeting. Discussions will be easier to follow.
- Never neglect using your hearing aids while you’re at work and all of the rest of the time. When you do this, many of the accommodations aren’t necessary.
- Know that you aren’t required to disclose that you have hearing loss during an interview. And it’s not okay for the interviewer to ask. Conversely, you may need to think about if your untreated hearing loss will impact your ability to have a successful interview. In that case, you may choose to reveal this before the interview.
- Write a sincere accommodations letter to your boss. By doing this, you have it in writing.
- Make sure your work area is brightly lit. Even if you don’t read lips, being able to see them can help you understand what’s being said.
- Request that you get a hearing aid compatible (HAC) phone. The sound goes directly into your ear instead of through background noise. In order to use this technology you will require a hearing aid that’s compatible.
- When you’re talking with people, make certain you face them. Try to keep phone conversations to a minimum.
Working with hearing loss
Even if you have minor hearing loss, it can still impact your work performance. But having it treated will often get rid of any obstacles you face with untreated hearing impairment. We can help so call us!
