Slightly more than half of employees in a recent UK survey believe their organisation has an open and supportive climate for workers to talk about neurodiversity. That’s good and bad news.
While acceptance of neurodiverse employees and their perspectives exists, it’s sometimes not accompanied by a culture that allows neurodiverse workers to flourish.
Neuroinclusion at Work Report 2024, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), found that reputational and retention concerns exist for organisations that don’t foster an open discussion on neurodiversity.
Experiences, from a lack of support to bullying, left 36% of employees with the desire to leave their employer, and 34% unlikely to recommend their employer to a friend, the report said.
The term “neurodiverse” refers to variations in learning, sociability, attention, and other neurological functions. The term, coined by Australian sociologist Judy Singer in the 1990s, includes autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The report, which surveyed more than 2,000 employees and senior managers in the UK in late 2023, also showed that neurodivergent employees were more likely than neurotypical staff to say they feel exhausted (45% versus 30%) and lonely at work (23% versus 17%).
Fear of disclosing the challenges they face at work can leave employees unable to access support, the report found. Some express that their organisational climate does not encourage open communication on this subject.
Thirty-eight per cent of employees say their organisation provides meaningful support to neurodivergent individuals, the report said, but just over half say they feel comfortable asking for support.
The report recommends strategies for cultivating a neuroinclusive culture, including:
- Make a long-term action plan: Just 55% of employees surveyed say the culture of their organisation is neuroinclusive, the report said. Companies need to understand where their organisation is now, create and commit to a plan of action, and then act on it – a strategy which would benefit from human resource (HR) upskilling.
- Enable employees to express their own support needs: “Allow people to advocate for what they know they need to be successful at work. Be guided by what they tell you and don’t question it or compare them with others,” the report said.
- Embrace flexibility: Flexible working had the most positive impact on organisation-level and people management-related outcomes, the report said. However, only 45% of respondents said their organisation provided flexible working.
- Monitor staff well-being: Managers should check in with team members regularly and give them the chance to raise issues and ask for support.
- Empower neurodivergent voices: Invite participation. Neurodivergent staff can inform organisations on ways they can be more neuroinclusive.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.
