If you manage people, here is a number worth sitting with. There is no official count of neurodivergent people in the UK, but estimates of around 15 to 20% of the population are widely quoted. That would mean roughly one in five of the people you work with.
So neurodiversity is not a niche issue or a new initiative. It is already in every team meeting, every group chat and every one to one. The real question is whether it is visible, supported and valued, or quietly masked and misunderstood.
Many organisations still treat neurodiversity as something you “bring in” through inclusive hiring or an awareness campaign. In reality your workforce is already neurodiverse. You just might not know it yet.
Why you don’t know who is neurodivergent
There are three main reasons. Some people don’t know they are neurodivergent. Some suspect it but can’t get assessed. And some know, but don’t feel safe enough to tell you.
Diagnosis is rising, but access hasn’t kept up
Autism and ADHD diagnoses have risen sharply over the past decade. That doesn’t mean neurodivergence is suddenly more common. It means more people are being recognised and finally have language for how their brains work.
Demand has outstripped NHS capacity by a long way. In March 2026, more than 270,000 people in England had an open referral for a suspected autism assessment, and almost nine in ten of them had been waiting at least 13 weeks, according to NHS England’s autism statistics. ADHD waits are also long, often running to years for adults depending on where they live. Private assessment is an option for some, but it is expensive, so getting a diagnosis has become partly a matter of postcode and money. Our article on the NHS waiting list crisis and what it means for employers goes into this in more depth.
For employers, the upshot is simple. You almost certainly have neurodivergent employees who have no diagnosis. Some will be meeting barriers around focus, communication or time without knowing why. Others will be doing brilliantly with systems and routines they built themselves, never having had a name for it.
Whole groups were missed
To understand why so many adults are undiagnosed, look at who diagnostic services were built around. It was only in 2008 that NICE published its first guideline covering ADHD in adults, and for many years both autism and ADHD were understood mainly through studies of boys.
Women and girls often present differently, with fewer outward signs, and are frequently misread as anxious or depressed. Many grew up being told they were lazy, scattered or “too much” when their brains simply worked differently. Now, in their thirties, forties and fifties, many are getting diagnosed for the first time. They are senior leaders, parents, academics and professionals who are only now making sense of their lifelong experiences and strengths.
Older workers in general grew up before terms like ADHD, dyspraxia or autism were part of everyday language. Many built workarounds instead of getting support, and may not feel comfortable naming it now.
Disclosure depends on psychological safety
Even people who know they are neurodivergent often don’t tell their employer. The biggest barrier is rarely HR paperwork. It is whether it feels safe.
Psychological safety means people can speak up, ask questions and be honest about what they need without fear of being judged or sidelined. For neurodivergent employees, it is often the difference between doing their best work and masking.
Many neurodivergent people have good reasons to be cautious. They may have had adjustments refused, feedback delivered harshly or progression stall after they disclosed. So they mask. They overcompensate. They put enormous energy into appearing neurotypical, and that often ends in stress, exhaustion and burnout. Our guide on how managers can create psychological safety sets out the everyday habits that change this.
What this means for employers
If a large share of your workforce is neurodivergent and only a small fraction have told you, you are probably losing good people whose needs went unrecognised. You are missing simple, low-cost adjustments that would make a real difference to performance. And you may be carrying legal and wellbeing risk without realising it.
Neuroinclusion is not a nice-to-have. It affects retention, productivity, risk and the quality of your thinking. But to get it right, you have to design for the workforce you actually have, not just the people with a diagnosis on file.
Building a culture that works for everyone
You don’t need to know who is neurodivergent to make your workplace work better for them. Here is where the employers we work with start.
Build understanding first
Help people understand what neurodiversity actually looks like at work: different ways of communicating, focusing and processing information. Our guide to how neurodiversity shows up at work is a good primer. The goal isn’t to label anyone. It is to make flexibility normal.
Make safety a behaviour, not a policy
Psychological safety comes from how managers behave week in, week out. Encourage them to ask everyone simple questions such as “Is there anything that would help you work more comfortably?” or “Would you prefer written instructions or a quick chat?” Asked of everyone, these normalise difference without putting anyone on the spot. Tools like our disclosure templates help people who do want to share.
Design for inclusion by default
Don’t wait for disclosure to make changes. Offer choice in how people communicate and how meetings run. Provide quiet spaces, allow noise-cancelling headphones and offer flexible working patterns. These cost little and help everyone.
Review your recruitment
Many neurodivergent candidates drop out before interview because job adverts are vague or the process is rigid and unclear. Small changes, such as sharing interview questions in advance or offering a choice of format, open your process up to a much wider pool.
Measure carefully
Use pulse surveys, feedback forms, anonymous adjustment requests and exit interviews to see how supported people feel. Even when people don’t disclose, their feedback shows whether your culture feels inclusive.
Neuroinclusion is about design, not diagnosis
A neuroinclusive workplace doesn’t wait for people to come forward. It assumes difference exists and designs systems around it. That is how you reach the employees you don’t know about: the ones on a waiting list, the ones too cautious to share, and the ones who have no idea they are neurodivergent but are working twice as hard as they need to.
How Enna can help
We help organisations design for the neurodivergent workforce they already have. To see where you stand, start with our neuroinclusion maturity assessment, or ask us about a full neuroinclusion audit, which can include your recruitment process.
For teams, Neurodiversity 101 builds a shared understanding, and Neurodiversity Awareness for Managers gives line managers the confidence to have the right conversations. Book a call and we’ll help you work out where to begin.
