Most neurodivergent people at work don’t deal with HR from one month to the next. They deal with their manager, every day. That makes the line manager the person with the most influence over whether an autistic, ADHD, dyslexic or dyspraxic employee does their best work, or spends their energy masking and coping.
The things that help most are rarely expensive. They come down to how you communicate, how flexible you’re prepared to be, and whether you treat adjustments as ordinary good management rather than a favour. Here is where to start.
Learn what neurodiversity actually means
Neurodiversity describes the natural variation in how human brains work. Neurodivergent people include those who are autistic, have ADHD, or are dyslexic or dyspraxic, among others. They are in every team, whether or not anyone has told you.
You don’t need to become an expert in every condition. You do need to drop the stereotypes, accept that every person is different, and know where to find good information. Our overview of neurodiversity in the workplace is a sensible starting point. If you’d like something more structured, our neurodiversity awareness training for managers was designed for exactly this.
Communicate clearly
Clear communication helps everyone. For many neurodivergent people it also removes a lot of pointless friction. Vague instructions, unspoken expectations and feedback hidden in hints are barriers, and they have nothing to do with whether someone can do the job.
In practice, clear communication means:
- saying what you need, by when, and what good looks like
- following up spoken conversations with a short written summary
- giving specific feedback rather than general impressions
- avoiding idioms and sarcasm when the message matters
Ask each person how they prefer to receive information. Some people want everything in writing. Others would rather have a quick call.
Treat reasonable adjustments as normal management
Many adjustments cost little or nothing: flexible hours, home working, a quieter desk, noise-cancelling headphones, extra breaks, agendas sent before meetings, or software that helps with reading and writing. Acas publishes a useful list of adjustments for neurodiversity, grouped by the kind of barrier each one removes.
Being neurodivergent will often count as a disability under the Equality Act 2010, so employers have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments. Our guide to reasonable adjustments and your legal responsibilities explains what that means for managers. Don’t wait for a diagnosis or a formal request before making a sensible change. If something would help, try it and review it together.
Where needs are less clear, a workplace needs assessment gives you and your employee practical, specific recommendations.
Build on strengths
Neurodivergent people often bring real strengths, but those strengths belong to the individual. They don’t come bundled with a diagnosis. One autistic colleague may be superb at spotting errors in data, while another is the most original thinker on your team. Don’t assume either.
Ask people what they’re good at and what gives them energy, then shape the work around that where you can. Good managers do this for everyone. It matters more when the standard way of working was designed with only one kind of brain in mind.
Set the tone for your team
Managers shape team culture more than any policy does. If you talk openly about different working styles, make adjustments without fuss and challenge throwaway comments about someone being “a bit OCD”, your team notices. People are far more likely to say what they need once they’ve seen others do it safely.
Small habits add up. Send agendas in advance, give people a way to contribute in writing, and keep meetings to time. The physical environment counts too, as our article on why every office needs a quiet area explains.
How Enna can help
Most managers want to get this right and have very little time to learn it. Our supporting and managing neurodivergent employees workshop gives them practical tools they can use the next day, and our workplace coaching supports individual employees and their managers together.
To see where your organisation stands as a whole, try our neuroinclusion maturity assessment, or book a call with our team to talk through your priorities.
