the win-win: why you should evangelize neurodiversity at your company.

What is "neurodiversity," exactly? While the term itself isn’t a new one (it dates back to the 1990s), not everyone may be familiar with it, so here’s a quick rundown:

• People who are neurodivergent have brains that organize and process information differently than the majority of humans (who are referred to as “neurotypical”).???
• Neurodiversity subsumes a wide spectrum of behavioral traits — it isn’t any single thing or symptom — but ADHD, dyslexia, social anxiety, autism and other relatively common conditions are often present in people who are neurodivergent.
• Neurodiversity is widespread, affecting as many as one in seven people globally.??

Far more than a diagnosis, however, neurodiversity should fundamentally be thought of as an approach: a way of recognizing that differences — of learning styles, cognitive capabilities and more — often stem from normal variations in the human genome. The goal from there? Promoting more inclusive workplaces by openly addressing, and hopefully destigmatizing, those variations.?

Here’s how you can help lead the charge today.?

spotlight: renewed focus on neurodiversity in the workforce?

Neurodiversity has been getting a lot of attention lately, and it’s even being baked into the talent acquisition strategies at leading companies. But from an organizational standpoint, what’s the incentive??

Incentives are more like it. After all, consider the unique skill sets that neurodivergent employees can bring to the table:?

• People with dyslexia tend to have superior spatial reasoning skills compared to their non-dyslexic counterparts.?
• Research shows that those with ADHD exhibit consistently higher levels of creativity than the non-ADHD population.?
• Due to the learning challenges many neurodivergent individuals have had to overcome in their lifetimes, these employees often seem hardwired for innovation — they’re used to questioning the ways things get done. They know a thing or two about resilience, too.??

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.?

In light of strengths like these, what’s more, it isn’t hard to see why an increasing number of organizations, including SAP, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and Microsoft, are now rethinking their HR processes, with the express goal of more effectively tapping into neurodiverse talent.?

Hopefully, your organization is, too.?

laddering up: neurodiversity and mental health

Strengths like those mentioned above aside, however, are only one part of the story. On the flipside, there’s no denying that neurodivergent employees sometimes have unique requirements in the workplace — and that their unusual strengths are often accompanied by unusual challenges.?

This, in turn, has important — even urgent — implications for how companies look to address the mental health of their workforce.?

Why the sense of urgency? Three reasons stand out.?

First, neurodiversity, as the name makes clear, fundamentally connects to your organization’s broader efforts and goals around diversity and inclusion at work. Diversity takes many forms, after all, and neurodiversity is one.?

Second, research has found that people with neurodivergent conditions are more likely to experience mental health conditions, including depression or anxiety. It stands to reason, therefore, that even as the pandemic has increased the global prevalence of mental health conditions by 25 percent, your neurodivergent colleagues may be especially vulnerable.

Third, it’s worth pausing to parse the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which specifically stipulates that companies with 15 or more employees are required to make "reasonable accommodations" in order to enable qualified employees to carry out day-to-day work-related tasks.?

Yet, in the context of remote or hybrid working arrangements, what should those accommodations look like for neurodivergent employees? At most companies right now, the answer remains ambiguous — which is why we’re going to pivot to solutions next.?

the path ahead: supporting neurodiversity in your workforce

What can companies generally, and managers especially, do to better support neurodivergent team members in the age of mass remote work? With the goal of not only promoting mental health and wellness, but helping these employees thrive, we’ve got two actionable recommendations that companies across the board should look to implement today.?

start the conversation about neurodiversity and disclosure?

One of the central aims of most diversity and inclusion initiatives is the creation of organizational cultures where individual differences are embraced — and, ultimately, workplaces where everyone can be themselves. Neurodiversity is no different in this respect.?

However, unlike, say, racial differences, for example, which often can’t be hidden, neurodiversity isn’t out in the open. For this very reason, then, it’s important to initiate the conversation about disclosure — or the act of revealing one’s status as neurodivergent to colleagues.?

Unfortunately, this can be something of a chicken-or-the-egg problem: How can you convince team members that it’s safe for them to come forward if, for example, no one is out in the open right now? Isn’t that alone proof of the stigma?

There aren’t easy workarounds to challenges like these, and the right approach will likely be different from one organization to the next. What is clear, though, and equally imperative for companies across the board, is that disclosure must remain a matter of personal agency. It can’t come from above.?

Your neurodivergent team members should have the choice to disclose, or not to disclose, in other words, but either way, that’s up to them.?

take meaningful action?

It’s important to recognize that your neurodivergent team members may face unique challenges with remote work. For example, they might experience more difficulty focusing in a work-from-home environment than their neurotypical peers.?

What can you do to help?

First, needless to say, you’ll need to correctly diagnose the problem. And to do that, it’s a good idea to focus on root causes: Is the challenge a lack of structure, say, the absence of a boss who directly supervises and ensures that work gets done on time? Or is it more environmental, say, the presence of roommates during the workday??

If the former, you might discuss with the employee whether more intensive workforce management tools would help fix the problem. If the latter, strategize about potential alterations to their work environment. In the event that noise is a factor, for example, the solution could be as simple as purchasing noise-canceling headphones to help them cope.?

Bear in mind, that even seemingly minor improvements like improved lighting have been shown to ease sensory loads and improve job performance among autistic employees, which in turn promotes feelings of self-efficacy and psychological wellbeing.?

keep empathy in the foreground

Finally, as you undertake this important work, try to think of it as a valuable exercise in empathy — a chance to really push yourself to see how things look, and the way things feel, from the perspective of another person. As long as that remains top of mind, it’s hard to go down the wrong track.?

In the meantime, here are some actionable resources to help you start advancing neurodiversity — and building a more inclusive workplace culture — at your company today:

• For more information related to the ADA and neurodiversity, the Job Accommodation Network is a great resource.
• For best practices around recruiting and hiring autistic employees, check out this PDF.?
• For a nuanced analysis of neurodiversity, identity and disclosure in the workplace, this PDF is superb.?
• For hiring managers, this neurodiversity toolkit might come in handy.??