Managing neurodiversity in the workplace in a neurotypical world
Many people have heard the story of Gillian Lynne, but here’s a recap for those of you who haven’t…
In the 1930’s Gillian Lynne was a 7-year-old girl who displayed traits of what we would now probably call ADHD. She struggled to sit still and focus at school, much to the frustration of her parents and teachers.
Fearing their daughter had a learning difficulty they took her to a doctor for a diagnosis, and the doctor famously said, ‘There is nothing wrong with your child, she’s a dancer’.
At the recommendation of the doctor Gillian was enrolled in a dance school, and she became a world-famous dancer. She found her calling in life, and an environment where her neurodiversity was accepted and celebrated.
But what happens to those who don’t have an insightful doctor? Or those who have two left feet!
Understanding neurodiversity
Neurodiversity itself is a contentious term, first coined by Judy Singer in the 1990’s. It describes a range of conditions, syndromes, and developmental changes that differentiate individuals whose brains work in a way unlike a ‘neurotypical’ person due to genetic or environmental factors.
Current estimates indicate up to 15%-20% of the world’s population could fall into this neurodivergent category with ADHD, Autism, OCD, Tourette’s and Dyslexia being some of the common examples of neurodiverse thinking.
In recent years diversity of race and ethnicity has become a focus for many organisations, but diversity of thought and experience is still trailing behind.
Recent studies have shown that teams with a mixture of neurotypical and neurodiverse professionals can be up to 30% more productive.
Neurodiversity can bring creativity, hyper focus, innovative thinking, an enjoyment of the repetitive tasks others hate, honesty, and outside the box thinking, but companies just aren’t catching on.
Managing someone who looks different to you? Piece of cake. Managing someone whose brain works differently to you? Now we are into the hard stuff.
Top tips for managing and supporting neurodiversity in the workplace
Attraction
As far back as 2017, a tribunal ruled that it was discriminatory to ask an individual with Asperger’s to sit a multiple-choice situational judgment test as part of an interview without reasonable adjustments (Government Legal Service vs Brookes).
While our knowledge of neurodiversity has progressed somewhat since then, barriers to employment are still rife. Whether that be through lack of reasonable adjustments, forcing candidates through rigid assessment formats, or job description language that leaves much to be desired, almost every company has some work to do.
Levelling the playing field in your interview process could make all the difference creating an inclusive workforce. Here’s some examples below to help prompt your thinking but for more ideas, try our inclusive recruitment game!
- Scrap formalised assessments unless they have allowances for neurodivergent candidates.
- Give any information and feedback both verbally and in writing.
- Be upfront about what to expect during the interview process including timings, who they will meet and what they will be expected to do.
- Avoid hypothetical or ‘abstract thinking’ questions e.g. what kind of biscuit are you
Reasonable adjustments
Let’s be realistic about it, most of us aren’t, and are likely to never be, an expert on dyscalculia or dyspraxia.
But do you know who are real experts? People with lived experience of dyscalculia or dyspraxia!
Not only are reasonable adjustments a legal requirement (Equality Act 2010) but a moral obligation too. Reasonable adjustments are the key to having a happy, thriving neurodiverse population of workers in your company.
Some examples of adjustments in the workplace could be:
- Creating a dedicated quiet space for work
- Providing a work phone to support work-life balance
- Flexible start/finish times
- Manage expectations around internal deadlines and timescales
- Create flexibility within your working day for therapy appointments or down-time
- Provide noise cancelling headphones (did you know there are government grants for these!)
- Schedule short meetings and allow breaks to be taken throughout the day
But the real trick for managing reasonable adjustments is to work closely with the person who needs them! It sounds like a no-brainer, but many employers make assumptions about the adjustments required, or presume none are required, and get it spectacularly wrong.
Just as a side note, its worth remembering that extra time and support for younger workers/those less established in their careers and those recently diagnosed may be valuable during discussions about reasonable adjustments as they may be unsure of what they can ask for.
It’s critical to ensure any agreed reasonable adjustments are documented, but more critically reviewed on a regular basis, and make sure your disciplinary procedures and policies include a caveat for mitigating circumstances. As an example, in this article you can read about how an employment tribunal claim was lost due to the employer failing to take into consideration an individual’s disorganisation when disciplining for time keeping.
With unlimited tribunal awards for disability discrimination, you really can’t afford to get it wrong.
Making positive steps
As our good friend Simon Sinek once said, ‘Words may inspire, but only action creates change’.
Many neurodiverse people have been through mainstream education being told they are a bit slow, a problem, stupid, or have fallen through the cracks completely.
We are seeing an epidemic of adults seeking diagnosis’ in their 30’s, 40’s and beyond, having faced invisible difficulty throughout their careers.
As our understanding of neurodiversity expands and changes, so does the language and expectations of us as employers.
Respect in the workplace is becoming more critical than ever in today’s workplace. We may not always get it right, and everything is a learning process, but making steps in the right direction towards building an inclusive workforce can only be beneficial long term.
A different approach to ED&I training
Interested in a different kind of ED&I training session for your teams? We deliver sessions on Respect in the workplace that include understanding how different generations view respect, how different cultures define respect and how we can speak up when we are upset or offended without creating conflict or damaging relationships – a discussion based session that ensures your staff have quality time talking to and learning from each other as we strongly believe that good workplace relationships are the foundation of a strong culture.
A great approach to engage and develop your managers
Or why not take a look at our fantastic 12 or 24 month leadership programme – every month delegates have the opportunity for self study, group online live training, and online games to embed learning plus every six months the icing on the cake is our community challenge where delegates come together in a competition to solve real life business problems.
Comments, thoughts, opinions? Leave them below, we’d love to hear from you!