Employer Concerns: Productivity 

People who are blind or partially sighted can be as productive as their sighted co-workers with appropriate accommodations. They may perform a task differently than a worker who is fully sighted, but they should be able to get the task accomplished in approximately the same amount of time and with the same level of accuracy as any other worker on the jobsite.

If you are at all concerned about the quantity or quality of your workers’ efforts (whether they are blind or partially sighted or not), you’ll want to address those concerns with the worker and provide concrete examples of how you think the worker can improve.

People who are blind or partially sighted need feedback just like sighted people do; the only difference is that they will prefer verbal and written feedback over non-verbalized cues such as frowns, raised eyebrows, or other such facial expressions that they may not be able to see.  

You can expect your workers with vision loss to follow company rules and policies, meet quotas, and do everything that you expect of workers without vision loss. If you have questions about what your worker is doing or how the worker’s performance could be enhanced, ask.

People with vision loss are used to people needing to ask them about their techniques for performing tasks or managing complex workloads – it’s better to ask than assume that you know how to help someone without good sight improve his or her work productivity.

There are many tools that can facilitate productivity for workers who are blind or partially sighted. You may want to read about these specialized tools in the Workplace accommodations​ for workers for who are blind or partially sighted section​.​​​​​