Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Unlocking Potential and Fostering Inclusion

The Neurodiverse Safe Work (NDSW) Initiative is a pioneering social enterprise dedicated to fostering inclusive and safe workplaces for neurodivergent individuals. By addressing neurodiversity, work health and safety (WHS), and employee well-being, NDSW empowers organisations with the tools and knowledge to create lasting, meaningful change. Neurodiversity is not always obvious and, as awareness and scientific understanding increases, more people are getting diagnosed as adults (where before some diagnoses used to be seen as primarily related to childhood). A diagnosis can help people to find an answer to “why I am the way I am”, but it often bears no relationship to their experience at work—that is, whether they struggle or thrive in their chosen fields. Sometimes the path to and beyond diagnosis is peppered with distress, discrimination, anxiety, and burnout at work. Other times, organisations intentionally seek out and support individuals with diverse brains, recognising that these differences are a source of competitive advantage to their business.
This course will give practical advice on supporting neurodivergent workers, including workplace adjustments, communications strategies, and how to develop sensory-friendly environments. In conclusion, a workplace needs assessment is a crucial step in creating an inclusive workplace environment that supports the diverse needs of all employees. By identifying potential barriers and making necessary accommodations, organisations can improve productivity, retention, and foster innovation. We will work with you and your employer to ensure that any workplace adjustments are made as smoothly as possible, and we will provide on-going neurodiverse support to both you and your employer throughout the process. In many countries, employers have a legal duty of care to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, their employees’ health, safety and welfare. Undertaking risk assessments and providing suitable information, instruction, training and supervision are also common legal requirements.

If you know that someone identifies as neurodivergent, you should factor this into their induction, taking the employee’s lead. They might find it useful to work through a Workplace Adjustments Plan in advance, covering how they like to be communicated with, receive new information, be introduced to the team etc. so that you can use this to inform your induction planning. To truly unlock the potential of a diverse workforce, we need to embrace the concept of neurodiversity - recognising and valuing the unique strengths and perspectives that come with a range of cognitive styles. With a growing understanding of the many different ways our brains can work, it's becoming increasingly clear that traditional approaches to hiring, managing, and supporting employees may not be the most effective.
Beyond legal compliance, making these adjustments is key to fostering an inclusive, productive, and mentally healthy workplace. By shifting away from one-size-fits-all expectations and embracing individual strengths and working styles, organisations can build truly inclusive cultures. When employers actively support neurodivergent staff, they don’t just improve wellbeing – they unlock new levels of creativity, productivity, and potential across their teams. Today, more and more employers are making space for this diversity through a concept known as Neuroinclusion – creating environments that welcome and support neurodivergent employees. With around 1 in 7 people in the UK estimated to be neurodivergent, it’s not just  good practice – it’s essential. A workplace needs assessment is a process that reviews the working patterns of employees who may need extra support to carry out their roles.

If you use personality testing, consider how relevant and useful they are for assessing candidates. This can be even harder if an assessment is timed and/or doesn’t allow text-to-speech functions. This is so they don’t feel that you not looking at them is a sign of poor performance. If you hold in-person interviews, plan for them to take place in a quiet location with adjustable lighting. For example, a room with a closed door and window blind rather than a busy space with other people. This is so candidates have context about how much information to share in their answers.
The aim of occupational accommodations for neurominorities is to access the  strengths of the spiky profile and palliate the struggles. The most frequently deployed adjustments31,76–78 fall into the categories listed in Table 4. Note that additional time to complete work is not mentioned; this adjustment is common in education but not at work, because it is not reasonable to pay someone the same money to produce less work. When assessment methods are more matched to the eventual job performance (for example observation of physical examination skills using role play patients) extra time becomes less important. This principle applies across education, recruitment and employment but is poorly understood by lay people or those without an understanding of cognitive functions and the antecedent components of job performance. Most humans are average in all functional skills and intellectual assessment, some excel at all, some struggle in all and some have a spiky profile, excelling/average/struggling.
A range of recognised tests to determine if an individual has (a diagnostic) or is displaying tendencies (a screening) for a neurodivergent condition. A worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions  about neurological differences. Neurodiversity refers to different ways our brains are wired and process information. It is used to describe alternative thinking styles such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Autism and ADHD. (2017) Neurodiversity as a competitive advantage, Harvard Business Review, accessed 6 October 2017. Recognise that regardless of your organisation’s commitment to EDI, there may be some way to go to be truly neuroinclusive.

It was removed from the DSM-5 in 2013 and was incorporated into the diagnostic criteria for Autism. Some have argued that neurodiversity is a subset of biodiversity and that it is as essential to the survival of the human species as biodiversity is to the planet. It will also soon be available to people as a stand-alone product for those that do not need or want Professional Coaching support. Just as there is diversity in ethnicity, gender and sexual identity, so too there is diversity of thought and neurocognitive functioning (neurodiversity).
Continuing our Building an ED&I Ecosystem blog series, we share how to empower neurodiversity within your business and provide targeted support to your neurodivergent colleagues – from offer to onboarding and beyond. We are internationally recognised leaders in providing neurodiversity screening and training across a wide range of different sectors, delivering contexualised solutions to improve individual and organisational outcomes. We help organisations and individuals to be inclusive and each person to achieve their best self. Putting in place effective support for neurodiverse employees can yield fantastic results, both for the employee and the business.

In other industries, such as security, actuarial, engineering and scientific fields, differently wired brains are tremendously well-suited to the work that a neurotypical brain is less suited Neurodiversity Assessment for. Inclusion is about more than policies; it’s about creating an environment where everyone feels they belong. A Harvard Business Review report highlighted that up to 85% of autistic individuals are underemployed or unemployed despite having valuable skills. Many qualified neurodivergent candidates are overlooked, contributing to unemployment rates among this group being disproportionately high.
Organisations should develop clear protocols whilst maintaining flexibility in their approach. Studies demonstrate that companies implementing comprehensive training programs experience significant improvements in employee experiences and overall engagement. No amount of being told to try harder or masking our differences to try and conform to the neurotypical world makes neurodivergent brains work differently. Trying to fit in to a world that is designed to work for the neurotypical population often comes at an enormous cost to the mental and physical health of the minority who are not neurotypical. Not all people with ADHD find it difficult to maintain concentration when there is background noise.