Better awareness of traits, along with opportunities for diagnosis, has revealed that around 20% of the population is neurodivergent. This insight is driving a growing number of employers to take steps to be neuroinclusive. Those that do are reaping the rewards; does your company benefit from neurodiversity gains?
A neurodiversity gain is a positive outcome from adapting your working practices and culture to enable neurodivergent employees to apply their talents. These individuals often demonstrate strong critical, creative, logical or disruptive thinking. When empowered to apply their perspective, they can drive company performance, innovation and competitive edge.
What are Neurodiversity Gains?
In research conducted by Everway*, employers quantified neurodiversity gains as:
- 30% higher profit margins
- 28% higher revenue
- 2 x higher net income
- 6 x higher levels of innovation
- 8 x higher chance of achieving business outcomes
Now you’ve seen that data, can you see the value of investing in neuroinclusive practices? It requires a fresh approach to business, yet it generates desirable returns.
The gains extend to attracting and retaining talent, and not just among neurodivergent employees. The Report shares that 63% of neurotypical employees view a neuroinclusive workplace as a reason to apply for a role and stay.
5 Steps Towards a Neuroinclusive Workplace
The first point to make is that workplace inclusivity is not an add-on. You need to embed it in the culture, training and development, and business decisions. Then, adaptations are available to all, rather than being something you need to sort out in response to a diagnosis or disclosure.
1. Offer Flexible Working
The Neurodiversity in Business & Birkbeck Report 2026** highlights that return to work mandates are a huge barrier to neuroinclusivity. For 75% of the neurodivergent respondents, hybrid work is essential for better managing their work environment.
Along with greater autonomy about how they worked, flexibility increased productivity. That’s because it helped employees to reduce overwhelm and burnout. So, to attract and retain talent, offer genuinely flexible and supportive working structures.
2. Provide Neurodiversity Training
A key factor in building a neuroinclusive work culture is effective team training. The result of neurodiversity training is greater awareness and understanding. This helps you to build a psychologically safe workplace, where all employees are valued for their skills and contributions to business goals.
Tolerant and supportive colleagues enable neurodivergent individuals to channel energy and focus into tasks, rather than masking. Line manager awareness and attitude are identified as being particularly pivotal to appropriate support and career satisfaction.
3. Embed Accessible Software
Widely available technology is providing tools that are easy to embed in internal systems. These include visual planners, which break down complex workloads into manageable tasks, and speech-to-text transcription. When you provide access to such tools, they benefit all employees and streamline processes.
4. Provide Dedicated Quiet Spaces
Background noise is a stressful distraction for individuals with heightened responses to sensory stimuli. Therefore, an office environment can hinder productivity. You can address this with hybrid working, dedicated quiet spaces and soundproof booths. Again, this facility can be welcomed by all employees when they need to fully focus on a particular task or book a private meeting.
5. Review Recruitment Processes
I recommend reviewing job descriptions, applications, and interview processes, as these often present barriers to neuroinclusivity.
My advice is to focus on the essential skills required for your desired outcome. For example, someone with strengths in data analysis and creative thinking is better equipped to achieve your marketing goals than an applicant with a Journalism degree. Equally, psychometric analysis and practical tasks are better indicators of potential than a traditional interview.
Advice for Neurodivergent Employees
The Neurodiversity at Work & Birkbeck Report includes advice for Neurodivergent employees. It suggests you:
- Deepen self-awareness of your strengths and prepare an articulate way to explain them
- Recognise what you find challenging and the adaptations you put in place to manage it
- Network with other neurodivergent individuals to gain support and share good practices
When both employers and employees are open, the chances of building a neuroinclusive workplace increase.
How I Can Help You Realise Neurodiversity Gains
I’m an advocate for neuroinclusive workplaces and regularly support actions that drive positive change and psychological safety. These include:
- CDP-accredited neurodiversity in the workplace and psychological safety training modules
- Tips on and provision of skills-focused assessment tools
- Leadership coaching to support line managers working with neurodivergent teams
For further information on these and other resources, please email me at info@suegarner.co.uk.
* https://www.everway.com/guides/neuroinclusion-toolkit-signup/neuroinclusion-toolkit/