Tag Archive for: Senses

neurodiverse

Neurodivergent Traits at Work: How to Retain and Empower Your Team

Research from the British Dyslexia Association estimates that at least 15% of the working population has neurodivergent traits. That means in a team of twenty, at least three people are likely to be navigating the workplace through a different lens. Some will know it. Many will not. Most will have spent years developing strategies to manage in environments that were not designed with them in mind.

For managers and HR leaders, neurodivergent traits are not a problem to manage. They are a resource to understand. The organisations that get this right retain talented people, unlock genuine performance, and build cultures where more people can do their best work.

TL;DR: Neurodivergent traits are the characteristics associated with conditions like ADHD, dyslexia, autism, and dyspraxia. They include significant strengths as well as genuine challenges. This post explains what those traits look like in practice, how they affect performance, and what managers can do to support neurodivergent employees effectively.

What are neurodivergent traits?

Neurodivergent traits are the characteristics associated with neurological conditions including dyslexia, ADHD, autism, dyspraxia, and dyscalculia, as well as acquired conditions such as PTSD and migraines. Crucially, research by Professor Amanda Kirby shows that co-occurring traits are more common than single-condition profiles. Most neurodivergent individuals carry traits from several different conditions in combination, which means no two people present in the same way.

This matters for managers. If you have met one person with neurodivergent traits, you have met one person. Applying a single solution to a varied population will not work. What works is understanding the individual.

Neurodivergent traits that benefit your organisation

A strengths-based approach to neurodivergent traits is not just good for wellbeing. It is good for business. The traits that create challenges in some contexts are often the same traits that drive exceptional performance in others.

Creativity and lateral thinking: Many neurodivergent people think differently by default. They make connections that others miss and find solutions that a more linear thinker would not reach. In environments that value innovation, this is a competitive advantage.

Hyperfocus and depth: When interest and motivation align, many people with ADHD or autism can achieve extraordinary depth of focus. The challenge is creating conditions where that focus can be directed productively.

Pattern recognition: Many neurodivergent individuals are exceptional at identifying patterns in data, systems, or behaviour, skills that are highly valuable in analytical, technical, and strategic roles.

Emotional intelligence and empathy: Particularly common in autistic people, a heightened awareness of fairness, ethics, and the experiences of others can make neurodivergent employees exceptionally valuable in client-facing, coaching, and leadership roles.

Persistence and resilience: Having navigated systems that were not designed for them, many neurodivergent employees bring an ingrained resilience and a capacity to persist through difficulty that neurotypical colleagues may not have been required to develop.

Common challenges and what they mean in practice

Understanding neurodivergent strengths is only half the picture. The other half is understanding where the workplace creates unnecessary difficulty, and what can be done about it.

Memory and information processing: Many neurodivergent individuals have limited short-term memory capacity. Think of a bookshelf that holds three books instead of nine: when a new book arrives, an old one falls off. In environments where information is shared verbally, in long meetings, or without written follow-up, this creates a significant and entirely unnecessary disadvantage. Written agendas, follow-up notes, and the option to record meetings are low-cost adjustments that make a material difference. For more on how technology can support this, read Is Being Technology Agnostic Important? (https://theneurodivergentcoach.co.uk/neurodiversity-and-being-technology-agnostic/)

Organisation and process: Many neurodivergent employees find it hard to navigate organisational systems that rely on implicit knowledge. Knowing when to prep for a meeting, how to manage a shared calendar, and how to build buffers into a working day are skills that neurotypical employees may have absorbed unconsciously. Co-building processes with the individual, rather than assuming they will work out how, makes the difference between someone struggling and someone thriving.

Time management: Time blindness is common in ADHD and affects some autistic people too. It is not poor attitude or a lack of professionalism. It is a neurological difference in how time is perceived. Practical adjustments like alarms, visual timers, and clearly structured working days reduce the cognitive load significantly without requiring the individual to do something their brain is not wired to do. Read more about this in Time Mastery for Neurodivergent Executives (https://theneurodivergentcoach.co.uk/time-mastery-for-neurodivergent-executives/).

Masking and wellbeing: Many neurodivergent employees spend significant energy appearing neurotypical at work. This is known as masking, and its cumulative effect on mental health and performance is substantial. An employee who masks heavily may appear to be coping well while working twice as hard as their colleagues just to keep pace. When change happens, that person has no reserves left to adapt. Understanding masking is one of the most important things a manager can do. Loneliness and Masking:

What HR Leaders Need to Know (https://theneurodivergentcoach.co.uk/masking-loneliness-and-neurodiversity-at-work-what-hr-leaders-need-to-know/) goes deeper on this.

What good support looks like

Support for neurodivergent employees is not about sticking plasters. It is about building an environment where people do not need them.

That starts with awareness, but awareness alone is not enough. Training needs to be supported by practical processes, accessible to everyone, and embedded in day-to-day management rather than buried in a policy document.

Good support means employees know where to go for help, what to expect when they ask, and that asking will not be held against them. It means reasonable adjustments are straightforward to request and reliably followed through. For guidance on what reasonable adjustment actually means, read Reasonable Adjustments: So What Is Reasonable? (https://theneurodivergentcoach.co.uk/reasonable-adjustments-so-what-is-reasonable/)

For many organisations, a Workplace Needs Assessment is the most effective starting point. It gives the individual and their manager a shared, structured understanding of what is needed and why. Read more about the manager’s role in a Workplace Needs Assessment (https://theneurodivergentcoach.co.uk/manager-role-in-workplace-needs-assessment/).

The organisations that do this well do not just retain neurodivergent employees. They create the conditions where those employees can contribute at their highest level. The costs of not doing it are real: attrition of talented people, legal risk under the Equality Act 2010, and the loss of the competitive advantage that genuine cognitive diversity brings.

If you would like to explore how to build better support for neurodivergent employees in your organisation, get in touch (https://theneurodivergentcoach.co.uk/contact/).

Related reading

Reasonable Adjustments: So What Is Reasonable? – Find out more here

The practical follow-up to this post. What reasonable adjustment actually means, what it does not mean, and how managers can act on it confidently.

Loneliness and Masking: What HR Leaders Need to Know – Find out more here

Understanding masking is an essential context for any manager supporting neurodivergent employees. This post explains what it is and why it matters.

Manager Role in Workplace Needs Assessment – Find out more here

If this post has raised questions about how to support a specific employee, a Workplace Needs Assessment is the structured next step.

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aesthetics

Why Aesthetics Matter to Neurodivergent People

How does your workplace feel?

I remember walking into a large London charity for my first day at work after being interviewed in a beautiful glass-fronted office. My actual office was a complete mess of papers, out of date banners, marathon running kits, damaged chairs and what felt like total chaos. This destroyed how I felt about that place and as a result put me in a completely negative position about that workplace, breaking the mystique of what I had been expecting.

This was my first job out of corporate life where everything was pristine, and I had certain expectations about what the aesthetics of the workplace would be like. Reflecting on this I recognise that when I saw the office, I was going to be working in that I felt my personal value had been reduced and so had myself esteem.

When we talk about aesthetics in the workplace, we mean how our five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch (plus our gut feeling) are influenced by our environment.

Here are some things that I think are important to consider that can help make workplaces more aesthetically pleasing:

Organised spaces

Though the very nature of work dictates there can be some untidiness from time-to-time, it can be incredibly distracting and sometimes tormenting if workspaces are not kept tidy periodically. For example, some individuals with dyslexic traits find having things in a mess often causes them stress and anxiety and takes the focus away from what they want to be doing.

Lighting

Studies have shown the amount of natural light in an office has a direct impact on employee productivity attention and alertness. This is also true for many neurodivergent individuals as natural light helps the brain work better.

Variability in lighting

In addition to natural light, it is also important to be able to vary the amount of light in your working space. For example, task lighting is essential when working on detailed pieces of work. What is also useful is the ability to change the intensity of the lighting based on your mood and the type of activity you are undertaking. What can often be difficult to deal with is intense lighting that cannot be changed, think back to those classic 1970s offices with intense strip lighting – not great!

Seating

Materials are key in terms of things that don’t make you sweat or squeak when you move the seat. It is also important that seats work for the individual in terms of providing them support and avoidance of pain and long-term injuries. Changing seating position is also critical as studies have shown being able to stand up for example when performing certain tasks really enhances the quality of thinking in addition to movement.

Add plants that grow

Plants add life to the office, though they may not be everybody’s first choice they do also have some important health benefits, including giving you a focus away from your immediate work tasks. This can often create a much healthier and calmer work environment.

Colour

For some individuals, colour is incredibly important in terms of the impact it has on their social and mental well-being. For example, some extremely bright vibrant colours can cause migraines and other neurological responses in the workplace. When this becomes particularly tricky is when brand colours are very strong and the organisations that we are working in use these brand colours in particular areas. An example is a cafeteria in a large bread manufacturer that has strong brand colours used in this space, and as a result, an area designed for relaxation and recovery is now for some a high-stress environment.

Allowing personalisation

It is important individuals are allowed to make their workplaces their own, this can be achieved by having things that help motivate them and stay on task during their workday. This will often include items like family photos if appropriate, or other reminders and tools like whiteboards that they can use to help plan and deliver their day. For some individuals, this can also involve the use of fiddle toys that allow them to do other activities that do not inhibit their processing to stay focused on what they are doing. For example, some individuals with ADHD traits find it incredibly helpful to be able to doodle or fiddle with a piece of blue tack during conference calls and conversations as it helps them to stay focused on what is happening and not get distracted.

To open plan or not to open plan – that is a very big question

Many of us are not currently back in the office, when we do return this question is not going to go away.

When it comes to aesthetics, there is a lot to be said for open plan working in the benefits that it can give in terms of collaboration, but unfortunately for some neurodivergent individuals, it can often be incredibly distracting and debilitating. I would argue that this far outweighs any benefit that is potentially gained by the organisation by having a continuous open collaborative space. What I believe is a far better approach is to have zones within the work environment where it is possible to have collaboration when needed, but then an individual can retire to a quieter more personal space, and they do not need to collaborate in such an open way.

With aesthetics, choice matters

With all the senses constantly in play, updating us on the environment and giving us feedback on what is going on, for some individuals with neurodivergent conditions, this feedback can be heightened to the point of being uncomfortable. For example a chair fabric may make your skin feel spiky or a particular colour scheme may give you a headache or disorientate you. The position of your desk may expose you to excessive noise and distractions or make you feel that everyone is looking over your shoulder. I believe with simple changes and common sense thinking many of these issues can be avoided.

There is a perception that when you need to change the aesthetics of an office environment that there would need to be a huge financial investment, and this can put organisations off . I would argue that the biggest investment is talking to your people to understand their needs and preferences. I’m not suggesting for a minute you will be able to meet everyone’s individual unique preferences but as with all these things, there is a compromise to be had, as with sensible planning and thinking we can all make office environments better for everyone.

Here is to a neuroinclusive workplace!

If you would like to know more about how to make your workplace more neuroinclusive and how to implement these aesthetics changes effectively please get in contact.