HR teams have the power and responsibility to influence leadership and build neuro-inclusive, psychologically safe environments where all employees can flourish.

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 12, but I kept my diagnosis private for the first third of my career. I didn’t want to give people a reason to doubt me, or question my capability to lead teams. 

Disclosures of neurodivergence are becoming more common, albeit from a low base, in part due to a proliferation of social media content normalising neurodivergence. This means HR leaders need to work with managers and leaders to create cultures of neuro-inclusivity at each stage of the employee lifecycle. The first step is to educate our workforces about what neurodiversity is. It describes how people experience and interact with the world in different ways, and includes neurodivergent conditions such as autism, ADHD and dyslexia. 

Around 15 per cent of the global population identifies as neurodivergent. That’s about 1.2 billion people. 

In my work at Xceptional Academy, which specialises in creating accessible, inclusive workplaces, I’ve been lucky to connect my personal identity with the broader goal of connecting neurodivergent people to meaningful employment.

I’ve also seen more businesses realising the need to support their existing neurodivergent employees. It’s important to note that everyone’s experiences and needs are different – this is true for both neurotypical and neurodivergent employees – so it’s best practice to offer bespoke support based on what you learn each individual requires.  However, there are some helpful big-picture considerations to keep in mind.

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Considerations at the hiring stage

As one of the first touch points between new employees and organisations, it’s critical HR enables equitable opportunities for neurodivergent talent to showcase their strengths during the recruitment process. 

Standardised hiring practices can amplify unconscious bias against neurodivergent candidates. For example, traditional unstructured interviews often test a candidate’s ‘cultural fit’ and may disadvantage applicants with different communication styles. 

Onsite assessments may hinder neurodivergent candidates with different sensory adjustments, and for candidates who might have gaps in their work history, standardised systems often screen them out. At Xceptional, most of the neurodivergent candidates we work with are autistic, with 30 per cent also diagnosed with ADHD. Of the people we’ve placed in the past two years, 68 per cent were unemployed, and of those, two-thirds had tertiary degrees. 

This shows us that we have plenty of qualified candidates, but they’re presented with barriers during traditional hiring processes. 

“Around 15 per cent of the global population identifies as neurodivergent. That’s about 1.2 billion people.”

HR practitioners can help organisations rethink conventional models and consider taking an experimental approach to tap into this unrealised talent pool.

One of the ways we’ve done this, from a strength-based approach, is by offering candidates an opportunity to demonstrate what they can do. We hired a team of neurodivergent staff to build an assessment platform that allows candidates to show their attention to detail and problem-solving skills.  The aim was to shift the conversation towards their unique strengths before considering CVs. 

Considerations at the onboarding stage

During the transition into a new work environment, take the time to ask your new employee how you can best support them – from things such as their mode of work, sensory aids and necessary adjustments. Remember, it’s not a matter of preferences; it’s fundamental to their productivity. 

When we surveyed over 3000 neurodivergent people, two-thirds wanted to work either remotely or hybrid. This often comes down to sensory sensitivities and sleep disturbances, which neurodivergent people are much more likely to experience. 

For ADHD-ers, research shows 25 to 50 per cent will struggle with insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders and other sleep issues. Providing flexible workplace options can give employees more control over their environment. It’s also important to avoid assuming what will make a neurodivergent candidate feel welcomed. 

For example, we placed a neurodivergent woman into a firm that had a tradition of sharing a meal with new starters. In an eight o’clock meeting at a cafe, she met around a dozen colleagues for the first time. It was a completely overwhelming experience for her. Afterwards, she received 12 invitations for one-on-one meetings, with no agendas. There was no explicit explanation of what needed to be discussed, or what the expectations were. 

On day one, she called our head job coach to quit. Asking a few simple questions such as ‘What can we do that would help you feel more settled?’ might have prevented that.

Read HRM’s article on how to make onboarding more inclusive.

Considerations at the performance review stage

According to diversity firm Pearn Kandola’s Neurodiversity At Work Report 2024, which surveyed over 600 neurodivergent workers in the UK, almost two-thirds of respondents said they had masked or hidden their visible neurodivergent traits to ‘pass’ at work. 

I’ve seen a worrying trend of neurodivergence disclosures only occurring once individuals have hit the point of performance management. For some neurodivergent employees, it can be helpful to have transparent policies around advancement.

Be explicit about the criteria, role expectations and performance metrics. While neurodivergent people all have different needs, a common preference across the candidates we’ve placed has been direct and specific communication. 

If employees aren’t meeting their performance KPIs, they need to know why, and what they need to do to correct that. For example, I know an autistic person working for a global fast-moving consumer goods company. She was a greatly respected worker, but suddenly found herself in a performance management review because she was consistently 10 minutes late to client meetings. She hadn’t disclosed her neurodivergence before this.

After taking a curious approach, we learned that she found the first few minutes of small talk confusing and hard to navigate, so she joined the meetings only when work discussions began.  There was an unfair assumption that this person was disorganised and unprofessional. Following clarifications of expectations, she was assigned an official note-taking role in meetings, which significantly boosted her engagement, and her team has also incorporated a text-only chat as a way to include her in their small talk, while adjusting for her auditory processing needs.

Taking a holistic approach

The organisations I see promoting neuro-inclusion best do so in a holistic manner. They enable employees to say: “Here’s how I prefer to give and receive feedback. This approach may be shaped by my ADHD, but it’s also what I need to perform best.”

They’re actively embracing differences in behaviours and ways of working, and harnessing the individual strengths that neurodivergent employees can bring. When we unlock the unique strengths of our workforce – be they neurodivergent or neurotypical – we set our organisations on a path towards innovation and growth. 

This article first appeared in the October-November 2024 edition of HRM Magazine. Aron Mercer is a founding team member at Xceptional, a social enterprise that creates meaningful careers for neurodivergent individuals. Want to hear more from Aron? Listen to his episode of AHRI’s podcast, Let’s Take This Offline.