How to support neurodivergent people in your workplace

You may have heard people being described as ‘neurodivergent’ in recent years and that they can contribute to the diversity of thinking in the workplace if actively recruited. 

However, there can be uncertainty over what being ‘neurodivergent’ means or how ‘neurodivergent’ candidates can add value in the workplace. 

Our expert team are here to help answer your questions and explain how your workplace can support neurodivergent people. 

What is neurodiversity? 

Neurodivergent individual’s brains tend to work in different ways than neurotypical individuals. 

Our brains use a set of abilities to perform tasks in the workplace. These abilities range from remembering, listening, understanding, and communicating with others; to numeracy skills, memory and literacy, and emotion regulation, to name a few. 

Whereas neurotypical people tend to have average abilities across these areas, neurodivergent people tend to have ‘spiky profiles’, meaning that their typical performance in one or more of those areas can be way above average. 

Similarly, their ability in some of those areas may be reduced. However, provided with the right support, they have the potential to make significant unique contributions due to their different ability profile. 

Conditions that fall on the neurodiversity spectrum include Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Condition, Dyslexia, and Dyspraxia. 

It is estimated that at least 10% of the UK population is made up of neurodivergent people, but most UK organisations are physically and structurally set up for neurotypical people. 

Some businesses may focus on the difficulties and challenges of neurodiverse conditions rather than recognising the unique skills, strengths and abilities that come with them. 

As an employer, you can take plenty of actions to support neurodivergent people within your organisation. Where should you start? 

How does your business look? 

Firstly, it’s worth thinking about how your business looks to potential candidates. 

Does your website have a clear Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion statement? It’s also worth showing the actions behind this statement. Use your website or social media to highlight case studies and the people you work with. Show that you hire and work with a variety of different people from different backgrounds. 

The more people you can make your business appeal to, the wider pool of candidates you can recruit from. 

Recruitment strategy 

Moving onto recruitment strategies, are your job adverts able to reach the right people? Think about what kind of platforms you’re using, and how accessible they are. You could offer alternative application processes to suit a wider array of candidates. 

Where the individual has declared their condition, you can ask them how the recruitment and selection process might be adapted to support their needs. Our expert team offer free recruitment support. Ask us how we can help you to develop an accessible recruitment process  

Also, remember that the language of your job advertisement is incredibly important. Keep your writing clear and concise, and avoid using abbreviations and technical jargon.  

To help get your wording right – ask yourself – what skills and abilities do you want your employees to have? Focus on essential tasks that the job requires. Avoid using a specific methodology to allow someone to think about how they would approach the job. 

Matching candidates to the right role allows them to thrive in the workplace, which helps build a strength-based support system. This is key for supporting neurodivergent employees. 

Employee Training 

Moving away from recruitment, let’s look at your current team. Despite a growing awareness of neurodiversity, lots of people still have a superficial understanding of it. With this level of knowledge comes the likelihood of focusing on the challenges of neurodiverse conditions, rather than understanding the strengths and skills. 

We have free resources available where you can learn more about neurodiverse conditions. 

Encouraging employee training – whether for your managers, HR, or the general team – can make a real difference in people’s mindset and understanding of how best to support neurodivergent people. By giving effective neurodiversity training, your team can build up knowledge and confidence to be able to talk to employees about their needs. 

Talking with the individual about their needs is such an important part of the process when it comes to supporting neurodiversity. You can’t make assumptions, as everyone is different and what may work for one person, won’t necessarily work for someone else. 

By creating an understanding and safe spaces for open conversations about neurodiversity, you’re able to create a welcoming and inclusive workplace. This helps boost morale for current and future employees. 

The benefits of neurodivergent candidates 

With effective neurodiversity support strategies in place, employers can tap into a specific skillset which suits their unique company needs. These skills include attention to detail, seeing patterns, and visual thinking. There are so many skills that neurodiverse employees can bring to the workplace, and successful employers can match these skills to the needs of their business. 

Increasing the diversity of thinking styles and being more representative of the community you serve can benefit your business. We’ve written previously about the benefits behind an inclusive workforce. 

Workplace adjustments 

While it’s good to focus on the skills and strengths of your neurodiverse employees, it’s also important to focus on actions that may be required to overcome their challenges. Workplace adjustments may need to be put in place to allow them to excel. You may worry these will cost your company or be complicated. However, for many, these adjustments won’t be too costly. 

It’s worth noting here that while assistive technologies can be helpful, there are other, less expensive, adjustments that you can make. For example, how you manage someone and their workload. What strategies can you put in place to allow someone to do their job effectively? For instance, following up verbal communications with written instructions. Small things like that can make a big difference to someone’s working life. 

You don’t have to come up with these strategies yourself. The individual will be the expert on what can effectively help them, follow their lead on what works for them, and you can plan strategies together. Depending on the individual they may be able to self-manage their conditions. 

According to the CIPD, adjustments made to enable neurodivergent individuals to thrive at work frequently benefit everyone. 

Finding future candidates 

Hiring neurodiverse candidates can make an incredible impact in your business. Taking small actions to support them can make a big difference in your workplace. 

Our team are always here to help with your recruitment needs. If you want access to over 50,00 work-ready candidates, contact our team today, and find out how we can help you.