Establishing a Neurodivergent-Friendly Workplace

Creating a supportive environment for neurodivergent employees can be a challenge, but with the right strategies, it can be very beneficial for your business.

Neurodiversity is a catch-all phrase which describes the different ways people interact, work, and experience the world around us. There is no ‘correct’ way of thinking or interacting, however recognising, and positively welcoming these differences can allow for an inclusive and safe workplace.

‘Neurodiversity’ refers to the diversity and difference in all people, however, is often used within the context of Autism, and other neurological or developmental conditions like ADHD and other learning disabilities. An autistic person, or a person with ADHD can be referred to as ‘neurodivergent’, people who do not have these conditions are known as ‘neurotypical’.

Autism is a developmental disability created by the difference in levels over time in the development of brain tissue within the cerebellum in the brain. This disability impacts people differently: autistic people can have difficulties with communication, interaction, behaviours, or interests.

Autism presents in several different forms, and some people prefer not to think of it as a disability. Social interaction can be impacted if someone has been diagnosed as autistic; they may have difficulties maintaining or creating eye contact or there may be difficulties displaying emotions like happiness or sadness through a lack of facial expressions.

And in this case, we must ask ourselves, why do we feel eye contact is indiciditve of a person being engaged and paying attention? Is it because that’s what we’ve been taught by society as we’ve grown up through a neurotypical lens?

As with neurotypical people, neurodivere and ausitc people can present differently. For example, autism is typically harder to diagnose in women as they are known to ‘mask’ their autism more and can make it hard for a diagnosis. Some autistic people are very social, are happy to make eye contact, and don’t have special interests – all forms of neurodiversity are different. It is important to understand these characteristics of autistic people within a working environment in order to implement reasonable adjustments to help that person feel comfortable and protected within the workplace.

Additional characteristics that autistic people may present include restrictive or repetitive behaviours, for example, echolalia is a form of repetitive behaviour where words and phrases are repeated over time. Speech patterns such as echolalia is often and most commonly known as ‘stimming’ and is used as a calming strategy in order to help autistic people cope with an overwhelming sensory challenge. As we mentioned above, a person who prefers not to make eye contact may stim to help them concentrate, like neurotypical people would make eye contact to help them concentrate. Sensory difficulties could happen at any time. However, there are heightened experiences which could make these sensory challenges worse such as bright lights or loud noises. Recognising these issues within the workplace and reducing a risk of sensory overload for autistic people could be one step your workplace takes to ensuring that the environment is as welcoming as possible.

By creating a workplace that’s inclusive, you lessen the chances of sensory overwhelm and burnout, and therefore makes the workplace more comfortable (and also more productive)!

Other characteristics may include delayed movement or language skills, difficulties engaging within conversations or scenarios, hyperactive or inattentive behaviour, increased amounts of stress or anxiety and other difficulties such as bad sleeping or eating habits. It is important for employers to understand these characteristics and ensure that they are accommodating for people with autism within their working environment.

Understanding neurodiversity is vital for creating an open-minded space where everyone feels accepted and safe, in order to do their best possible work. A lack of awareness, stigma around neurodiversity and a lack of appropriate measures can cause an exclusion of people with neurological differences.

Managers and employers should always strive to create a workplace culture that is positively sensitive and supportive to the needs of their neurodivergent employees creating a safe and friendly space.

How can employers make their workplace more neurodivergent friendly? Accommodating sensory needs such as offering a quiet break area for people with sensory needs, disclosing when there will be fire alarm drills in order to allow people to prepare themselves, and offer items such as noise cancelling headphones or other equipment to reduce sensory overload.

Additional adjustments such as allowing an employee to make changes to their uniform should be considered, this is important as a neurodivergent person may have sensory needs that impact the way they wear their uniform.

A material could be particularly irritating or annoying for autistic people, and this could be eliminated by allowing members of staff to make alterations to their uniform to suit their needs.

Moreover, allowing extra room for breaks throughout the day may accommodate for reducing the feeling of being overwhelmed during long periods of time, which is common for people with neurological or developmental disabilities. Other useful resources include detail and in-depth breakdowns of workloads, to give clear and concise instructions of the tasks given. There are lots of things about autism that make people amazing at their jobs: hyperfocus, being extra passionate about things, naturally talented in certain areas. In other words, if you make reasonable adjustments, you’ll see the benefits of a neurodiverse workplace.

If you would like to continue learning more about creating a safe space for neurodiversity within our workforce, we offer two courses at Level 2 and 3 about Understanding Autism, covering how autistic people process sensory information, how characteristics present in autistic people, legislation, guidance underpinning support, and more.

For more information about our courses In Understanding Autism, click here.