There are many actions employers can take to support their neurodivergent employees. Gaining an understanding of both neurodiversity and neurodivergence is the first step toward learning how to support them. Here are the basics to start with:
No two minds are alike. As individuals, we have our own ways of learning and thinking, experiencing interactions with others, getting things done, and processing sensory input.
Neurodiversity is the range of differences in our brain functioning. We are all neurodiverse.
For many individuals, their minds function in exceptionally different ways. While it is a normal variation to have an exceptional mind, such minds are not considered typical. The term neurodivergent refers to those individuals with exceptional minds.
The term neurodivergent originally applied to autism but has a much broader definition now. Defining sources now tend to agree it also includes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, and giftedness. A wide variety of other characteristics and diagnoses may also be included depending on the information source.
While everyone has challenges and strengths related to how our minds work, individuals who are neurodivergent have much greater challenges and/or greater abilities, usually a combination of both. In the workplace, this can mean exceptional contributions and a need for modifications that address one’s unique challenges. As an example, individuals who process and think differently may have ideas, insights, and solutions no one else would think of, but they may also need to interface with presented information differently to help them focus or fully grasp the content, or have the work environment modified to help their mind thrive.
The need to support neurodivergent employees has become a belatedly recognized need in the workplace. Employer competition for talented employees coupled with the rise in the number of individuals identifying as neurodivergent has created this recognition, although the need is not new. So how do we as employers provide that support?
Creating an environment where neurodiversity is recognized and valued helps everyone. On work teams, the awareness of our strengths and challenges can promote the effectiveness of the team by capitalizing on the individual strengths, while providing additional training or support for challenges or aligning work with the abilities of the individual team members. For example, if one teammate has exceptional ideas but is not good at understanding how to implement, and another is effective at finding ways to implement, pairing the two and openly appreciating these strengths can be an effective strategy. As another example, people have preferred ways of communicating. If one colleague doesn’t mind being interrupted and another colleague cannot work effectively with interruptions, knowing this and acting accordingly acknowledges and supports different working styles, promoting effective communication. To reach this level of effectiveness, neurodiversity training is an important first step to promote a mutual understanding. Learning about individual needs is a good second step. Something as simple as asking in a team meeting, “How do you prefer to receive communications: e-mail, phone call, instant message, scheduled meetings?” can help a team learn how to work more productively together.
While the golden rule, “treat others as you want to be treated,” has been a common teaching, to support neurodiversity, the platinum rule, “treat others as they want to be treated,” can be more effective. While one colleague may love a celebration at work for their birthday, for example, another may find this recognition anxiety-provoking. To employ the platinum rule, an environment is needed where employees are encouraged to state what their needs are and have their needs supported.
One employer, Puget Sound Energy, recently began offering a neurodiversity training covering the content above. As a result, more employees have requested accommodations that enable them to work more effectively. Many employees have reported feeling better understood and validated. The training includes supportive resources such as benefits and an internal, online neurodiversity toolkit that provides self-help with links to a variety of online tools and educational sites.
In addition to training, employers can promote employee well-being through universal design, job modifications, an employee resource group (ERG), and benefits. Here are details about each one:
Universal design refers to creating communications, environments, and products suitable for all. Communications in size 8 font that are white-on-gray are going to be difficult for many to see. Using larger plain fonts, black on white, in the languages best known to the audience, is more universal in design. Designing the work environment for maximum productivity and comfort promotes effectiveness. Noise, bright light, temperature issues, and distractions, while ignorable or annoying for some, can mean the inability to work for others. An environment that promotes focus and comfort will boost productivity. Products used for work can be hindrances or work effectively for everyone. A photocopier that is hard to operate and jams vs. one that is easy to use effectively is a simple illustration of this. Striving to provide the latter is in everyone’s best interest.
For individuals who are neurodivergent, the better they are understood and the more they encounter universal design, the less they will need to seek special accommodations. For many neurodivergent individuals, each day at work can be an energy drain if they have to mask their traits to be accepted by others or wage an internal battle to be productive in the face of sensory aggravations.
Accommodations
When job modifications are needed, the Job Accommodation Network offers a variety of recommendations. Some common examples include:
Adapting sensory input
Reducing sensory input with noise-canceling headphones, reduced lighting, blue-light-filtering glasses, and proper ergonomics. For jobs that allow for it, working from home affords the individual more environmental control.
Aiding social challenges
Educating colleagues about individual communication needs, providing clear and supportive feedback to colleagues with social communication challenges, coaching, and social skills education can all help.
Accommodating attention, retention, and learning
Providing documentation of instructions, recordings of meetings, and software that aids functions such as reading focus and task planning can aid learning and retention.
Employee resource group
Employee resource groups are voluntary and employee-led. They offer meetings that help employees connect with other employees they share life experiences, identity, or interests with. These groups foster belonging, support, and education. For neurodivergent employees, these groups help foster a community at work among people who may not have otherwise found each other.
Benefits
Coaching, not only for the employee but also the supervisor who may not know how to best support their neurodivergent employees, can help. There are vendors that provide this service specifically for neurodivergence, including some Employee Assistance Programs.
Anxiety, depression, and burnout are common experiences for many neurodivergent individuals whose challenges impact their lives frequently or continuously. Benefits such as counseling from professionals who understand the neurodivergent experience can increase employment retention and success.
Taking leave to recharge and recover while having the security of an income, benefits, and a job to return to may be necessary. A leave/accommodation that has helped many stay at work or return is intermittent leave on Wednesdays. This arrangement enables the company to plan for intermittent absences and give the employee the knowledge that they will have a break after two days of work.
Medical plans that offer testing and services to support autism, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, and psychiatric issues can help the employee better understand themselves and the medical aid available.
Through education, we can better understand our needs and the needs of others. By being thoughtful and intentional about how workplaces are designed, we can create environments where employees are better able to thrive. By offering accommodations, we can support individualized needs in ways that boost employee effectiveness and comfort. And by offering benefits, employees can receive the additional help they need for both every day and the rough times. Employers can have a significantly positive impact in the work lives of their employees while in turn benefiting the overall organization. Employers who have made efforts specifically to aid neurodivergent employees have reported benefits such as boosts in productivity, innovation, reputation, and organizational savings.
1 https://hbr.org/2017/05/neurodiversity-as-a-competitive-advantage
2 https://www.fertifa.com/post/roi-of-investing-in-neurodiversity-support
