Neurodivergent people bring different ways of thinking to work. Making room for that isn’t charity. It’s one of the simplest ways to widen your talent pool and keep good people once you’ve found them. Yet plenty of hiring processes and workplaces still screen out neurodivergent talent without meaning to.
This guide covers practical, beginner-friendly steps at two stages: how you recruit, and the adjustments that help people do their best work once they’ve joined.
Inclusive hiring
Rethink your interview questions
Traditional interview questions can be a barrier in themselves. An open prompt like “Tell me about yourself” gives no clue what you actually want to know, and some candidates will spend their whole answer guessing. Ask specific questions instead, such as “What experience do you have of managing a budget?” or “Which of your qualifications is most relevant to this role, and why?” You’ll get clearer answers from everyone, not only neurodivergent candidates.
Share the questions in advance
Sending questions a few days before the interview takes away a lot of unnecessary pressure. Some candidates with ADHD find it much easier to recall the right examples when they’ve had time to prepare, and many autistic candidates prefer time to process open-ended questions and plan their answers. Unless the job genuinely calls for thinking on the spot, you’re testing whether someone can do the work, not how they handle a surprise.
Watch your language
Phrases like “fast-paced environment” or “excellent communicator” are vague, and they can put great candidates off applying. Describe the actual duties instead: what the job involves day to day, what good looks like, and which requirements are essential rather than nice to have. Our post on why neurodivergent jobseekers avoid some careers pages has more on writing adverts and careers pages that work for everyone.
Advertise in the right places
Where you post a role decides who sees it. Advertising on a specialist board such as the Enna jobs board puts your vacancies in front of neurodivergent jobseekers who are actively looking for inclusive employers. Say clearly in every advert that adjustments are available at each stage, and how to ask for them.
Once people have joined
Offer hybrid and flexible working
Control over where and when people work lets them shape an environment that suits them, whether that’s a quiet room at home or time in the office for collaboration. For many neurodivergent employees it’s one of the most effective adjustments there is, and it costs very little. Our post on flexible work arrangements goes into more detail.
Take a strengths-based approach
Run a working styles exercise across the whole team, so everyone shares how they work best, what drains them and where they’re strongest. Doing it with everyone, rather than singling out neurodivergent staff, makes talking about difference normal. Our working styles guide includes a free template.
Make adjustments easy to ask for
People only ask for what they need when they expect the answer to be yes. Keep the process quick, clear and free of stigma, and remember that most adjustments are simple. Our list of reasonable adjustment examples is a good starting point. Acas guidance on neurodiversity at work explains how neurodivergent conditions can count as disabilities under UK equality law, which is where the legal duty to make adjustments comes from.
How Enna can help with inclusive hiring
If you want your hiring process to be properly inclusive, our neuroinclusion audits review recruitment from job advert to onboarding and tell you what to change first. Hiring managers get a lot from our neurodiversity awareness training for managers, and when a new starter needs adjustments, a workplace needs assessment works out exactly what will help. To talk through where to start, book a call with us.
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