Dilemma
An employee fails to complete some of the tasks. Deadlines are structurally missed or communication with colleagues is difficult. During an assessment interview it becomes clear that the person in question has been diagnosed with ADHD or autism. How do you, as an employer, ensure that he or she can still function well within the company?
Help the employee adjust
First of all, the figures: about 20 percent of the Dutch population is neurodivergent. That is an umbrella term for people with, for example, ADD, dyslexia, giftedness or autism. Their brains work differently than what society considers ‘normal’. In the workplace, neurodivergent people sometimes find themselves in difficult situations when they have to perform tasks that do not match their way of thinking.
As an employer, you can place some of the responsibility for the neurodivergent employee’s performance, says Lieke Schoutens. With her company Divergentia she helps organizations become more inclusive for people with autism and ADHD, for example. “Someone who has difficulty communicating can learn to do so more effectively with the help of individual coaching,” she says. “And someone who is easily distracted by ADHD may benefit from one noise cancelling headphones.”
Courses can also help someone with neurodivergence to function better, says Saskia Schepers, author of the book When all the brains are working and independent advisor. “But most training and tests are designed for the typical brain. If you send an ADHDer to a regular time management course, it won’t work. He or she can develop things, but it would be better to follow a course from another ADHDer.”
Adjust the work
According to Schoutens, the dilemma “shows what the dominant norm is.” “As an employer, you should actually not ask yourself how someone could function, but how you can best allow someone to do their best,” she says, pointing to a 2020 British study that showed that more than half of companies do not want to hire neurodivergent people.
This approach can also help the employer, says Schepers: “Neurodivergent people have bigger peaks and valleys. Some tasks are more difficult for them, but in others they excel.” For example, an ADHD person with a different working brain can come up with very creative solutions that the average brain would not have thought of. “And autistic people are often loyal and incredibly productive, because they end up in hyperfocus,” she says.
Especially in a tight labor market, employers leave a lot of talent unused, according to both Schepers and Schoutens. “They often look for the sheep with five legs, but it is better for an employer to look for people who are very good at something and let them do it,” says Schepers. She can draw on her own experiences at ABN Amro’s HR department. “It drove me crazy scrums work, making small steps over and over again. I think in big concepts, which I only put on paper at the end of the process.” She managed to convince her manager and was allowed to work in a way that suited her way of thinking: “As long as I delivered good work. And I did that.”
Giving someone complete freedom in the way they do their work sounds very nice. But it also requires trust from a manager who at the same time wants to keep a grip on the result. “After all, that person must also be accountable to his manager,” says Schepers. According to her, it is therefore good to have a conversation: “What does someone with a neurodivergent brain need to function properly?”
Sometimes it means a different division of tasks within a team: “By giving a neurodivergent person tasks that are difficult for the brain, a lot of energy leaks away that you can also use positively,” Schepers explains. For example, the person with ADHD is often better off giving a story to the group, while someone else takes minutes. “Yes, that can lead to crooked faces, to the idea of preferential treatment. Employers also have difficulty with this: they say that all tasks must be divided equally, otherwise it would not be fair. But this division is mainly to the detriment of the neurodivergent group. This means that the work is the same, but not equivalent.”
But adjustments are also possible without changing the tasks, for example in the way meetings are held. Schoutens: “You can of course say: those with ADHD or autism no longer have to participate. But you can also think about how the meeting can be adjusted so that the person can come along and not lose their attention.” According to her, this can be crucial not only for the neurodivergent employee: “The entire team benefits from more effective meetings. A neuro-inclusive organization goes hand in hand with a better social climate and higher productivity.”
So
Embrace the neurodivergent employee in the workplace. Not because there are no alternatives available due to the tight labor market, but because of the extra talent you have or acquire in-house. The important thing is to make optimal use of that talent. Communicate well about what you need from each other, and also let other colleagues know why certain adjustments are being made. This way you keep the working atmosphere good.
Also read
The future belongs to neurodivergent people. ‘For God’s sake, send a few dyslexics to Schiphol