In this guest blog, Dr Raysa Geaquinto Rocha of the Essex Business School at the University of Essex, offers insights from interviews and surveys with neurodivergent professionals across the UK.
There are many regulations and HR processes meant to open doors for neurodivergent workers to develop sustainable careers in the UK. Our research suggests that, for many, the door remains firmly shut.
For too many neurodivergent professionals in the UK, the workplace is somewhere they must constantly adapt to rather than one that adapts to them. We interviewed more than 40 and surveyed hundreds of neurodivergent professionals across the UK to understand their well-being and career progression. What they described was not effective HR systems for neuroinclusion; in fact, many had ceased relying on them altogether.
Workplace adjustments, such as flexible working, assistive software or fidget tools (sensory regulation tools), are there to help. But getting them can be demanding in a way many neurodivergent people find challenging: filling out endless vague forms, chasing emails, repeatedly explaining your needs to different people, and waiting months for a decision.
Workers told us the process itself was exhausting. Some gave up before receiving anything. Others received accommodations that did not match their actual needs.
This is what we call the accommodation paradox: the very process designed to reduce barriers becomes a barrier in itself. It’s a pattern that repeats across organisations of every size and sector and one that will persist until the design of support systems, not just their intent, is fundamentally rethought. These findings resonate deeply with what neurodivergent employees across the UK are telling us. The CIPD's Neuroinclusion at work report 2024 found that only 37% of neurodivergent employees feel their organisation provides meaningful support, and a third say their experience at work has had a negative impact on their mental wellbeing.
Lutfur Ali, the CIPD's Senior Policy Adviser (EDI) said: 'Good people management means getting to know people as individuals and understanding their needs. Organisations should ensure managers have the training to manage people effectively, offer flexible working and provide easy access to reasonable adjustments.'
When neurodivergent workers reflected on what shaped how fair their workplace felt, they did not only point to HR policies or their line manager. They pointed out co-worker’s actions, such as sharing their neurodivergence disclosure to others without permission, receiving sideways glances or unkind comments about the fidget toys or other accommodations.
Neurotypical co-workers shape the day-to-day experience of fairness in profound ways. When a manager sees that behaviour and says nothing, workers read that silence as the organisation’s endorsement.
Neuroinclusion is not a task for HR alone. It lives in everyday workplace interactions.
Many participants told us they turned to other neurodivergent colleagues when formal support failed. These informal peer networks offered what the official channels could not: being understood without having to justify oneself, and feeling a sense of belonging without having to mask.
Organisations should not simply tolerate these networks. They should proactively resource them, and recognise them formally by aligning them to organisational workforce and business priorities. Where neurodivergent employees are building their own infrastructure of support, that is not simply a community asset. It can signal an institutional risk.
Awareness of neurodiversity matters. Nonetheless, it’s not enough on its own. Our research points to three specific gaps:
Most workplaces were not designed with neurodivergent workers in mind. Compliance with the Equality Act is a starting point.
What comes next requires another level of commitment beyond just written rules: workplaces built to include cognitive diversity from the outset, not as an afterthought.
The neurodivergent workers were clear about their needs. They do not want to be treated as a special case.
Neurodivergent workers have told us clearly what they need to flourish. The question now is whether organisations understand this and are prepared to be accountable for delivering it.
As Ali highlights: “Without neuroinclusion, there is no genuine inclusion. Organisations that have acted report measurable gains in wellbeing, culture and performance. Those who have not been losing talent cannot afford to lose it. Neurodivergent workers are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for what every employee deserves — a workplace built for them, not despite them.”
The CIPD continues to contribute to this agenda through policy work, research and collaboration with ACAS and partners. But lasting progress depends on shared learning and sustained action.
I will be joining the CIPD roundtable on 2 June, bringing together employers, HR professionals, EDI specialists and policymakers testing new approaches and shaping the next phase of reform. What’s working? What’s not? And what would help you go further?
Contact: lutfur.ali@cipd.co.uk or claire.deller-rust@cipd.co.uk