As October marks National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Claudia Plowden Roberts from the Institute for Employment Studies outlines how workplaces can support employees with diverse needs.
Claudia Plowden Roberts
Research Fellow, Institute for Employment StudiesIn the UK, one in seven people are neurodivergent and one in four adults experience mental illness, where the two can co-occur, for example individuals with ADHD and autistic individuals are more at risk from mental health issues than their neurotypical counterparts. Further research found that neurotypical people can misunderstand autistic individuals and that this harms autistic individual’s mental health and overall wellbeing.
Improved support for and understanding of neurodiversity and mental health is increasingly more of a priority for employers, but amid the rush to better understand mental health and neurodivergence, this is not consistent practice. This means that some neurodivergent workers are getting left behind their neurotypical peers, meaning that their needs are not considered, leaving them more at risk of poorer mental health.
Policy Changes
Policy changes to better support neurodivergent employees is necessary within most organisations. A reasonable adjustments policy would outline the support given to all employees, but this could sit alongside a neurodiversity policy that specifically highlights the support and practices that the organisation provides to neurodivergent staff. This could be particularly reassuring during the application process for an applicant who was worried about the support provided.
Wellbeing policies and access to support services, such as Employee Assistance Programmes, can also help employees to have a better experience at work, supporting their performance and job satisfaction. Additionally, it may be helpful for employers to engage with external experts in the field of neurodiversity as well as those with experiences of living and working with neurodiversity when developing policies and processes, which will help to ensure relevance and usefulness.
Other employers may also have good practice examples of D&I policies that could be learned from that are shared in webinars and through online resources. Any omission of mental health and neurodiversity from these policies only perpetuates negative stereotypes and unconscious biases towards neurodiverse employees, meaning that the organisational culture and practices are a cause for concern.
The Equality Act 2010 ensures that employers make reasonable adjustments for disabled or neurodivergent employees. By ‘reasonable’ this means that the adjustment must not harm others, be practical, affordable and have a positive impact on the individual making the request. Employers must understand reasonable adjustments may need to be adapted, increased or decreased to reflect the individual’s current needs. Having reasonable adjustments in place means that neurodivergent individuals can fully participate at work and the Access to Work scheme can help to financially support reasonable adjustments, meaning that there are even fewer barriers to implementing these types of support.
Reasonable adjustments could include:
- Adapting the working environment to include ‘quiet’ or ‘creative’ zones for different styles of working, or using a suitable communication style (verbal compared to written) mensuring that the employee can perform well.
- Having flexible ways of communicating with different employees can help to support them to work and feel at their best. Communicating clearly and concisely, that takes into account the individual preference, for example, written in an email or discussed verbally.
- Flexible or hybrid working hours or locations can allow the individual to have some input over how or where they work, taking into account difficulties with social interactions, energy levels and sensory sensitivity, where taking a break could be beneficial.
- The use of assistive technology or software, such as screen readers and Text-to-Speech functions.
Reasonable adjustments also apply to the recruitment process. When making recruitment policies and processes more inclusive of diverse applicants, it is important to ensure that job adverts and descriptions are clear and accessible. The more information given about the recruitment process, the better, and this could include information on how to travel to an interview, the dress code and what topics will be discussed. Once hired, a more inclusive process might look to offer greater flexibility in the tools that are used and to ensure that the method used is appropriate for the job applied for.
Many recruitment processes rely too heavily on in-person interviews, which can be difficult for some and usually are entirely irrelevant to the job at hand, putting some applicants at a disadvantage before they can display their suitability for the role.
Ideally, employers would encourage conversation about neurodiversity in a safe, open space where people feel comfortable sharing. Employers should avoid following stereotypes of neurodivergent and mental health conditions and one-size-fits-all approaches for a diverse workforce, instead understand individual differences and how they can be supported or understood better. Employers, managers and colleagues could also benefit from training on multiple topics including neurodiversity awareness, unconscious biases, bettering communication and improving inclusion.
These policies and reasonable adjustments could help the wellbeing of all employees – they could be implemented to improve performance and to ensure that individuals are happy at work. Many individuals may not have a diagnosis or label, so it would be best for employers to make these policies far reaching and applicable to as much of their workforce as possible.
Final Thought
Overall, neurodivergent individuals will have different needs and personal preferences, so more time and effort should be invested in promoting and developing policies and systems that are individually supportive, enabling diverse workforces to thrive and for employees to feel their wellbeing is prioritised.
For more of Chamber UK’s analysis surrounding the UK political landscape on neurodivergence, please click here.