A Practitioner’s View on Supporting Neurodivergent Remote Workers

neurobox recently partnered with Coventry University to research the impact of home working on disabled and/or neurodivergent workers.

A summary of the ‘Remote4all’ research can be found here.

neurobox and the Remote4All research team (Dr Carlo Tramontano, Dr Christine Grant and Dr Maria Charalampous) organised a webinar, where the researchers shared their findings on promoting a more inclusive remote working environment with coaches working with neurodivergent individuals. The discussion focused on how the research findings can be translated into practical advice for employees and line managers.

The coaches, shared their experiences  of working with neurodivergent employees, indicating that there are several issues that need to be considered when remote working, see below:

Key Considerations for Neurodivergent Remote Workers Were:

• Working environment – it is important that the workspace meets the needs for working from home, including equipment, space and ability to focus on work-related tasks. It can be challenging working from a sofa or bedroom where the equipment may not be set up according to health and safety standards and where boundaries between work and home cannot be easily managed.
• Access to tools/Technology – it is essential that the right tools are provided with supportive training to ensure that working from home is effective. If assistive technology software is missing, then working from home may be harder/not possible.
• Finding out their strengths and talents. Neurodivergent individuals are not always self-aware of their strengths and talents, this can be enhanced with self-advocacy and self-awareness and focused coaching.
• Isolation and disconnection – sometimes it becomes more difficult to gather information from the employers about the work environment (when meetings are remote)

Improvements for Employers of Neurodivergent Remote Workers:

Lack of understanding  and awareness. Managers do not  understand different neurodivergent profiles, which can be absolutely normal. This can be ameliorated with managers developing listening skills and to create a culture whereby individuals feel able to disclose their requirements.

“There is the fear of admitting they do not understand different types of neurodiversity – managers need to make more work/effort on being comfortable to ask and admit they do not understand.”

Employers overly focused on ‘seeing’ employees and productivity in terms of the amount of time spent working, instead of focusing on what the employee brings to the organisation (their value) and what outputs they are producing. Not ‘seeing’ people was also proposed to have an impact on promotion opportunities.

There is no one size fits all. Therefore, treating each person as an individual was suggested to be key. As one coach shared:

“Often there is an assumption that all dyslexic people are the same etc – and so can be treated the same in terms of adjustments. Which is not the case.”

Employers pushing back. Coaches said that employers may not be willing to make adjustments. In some cases, adjustments are even treated as a tick box solution.

Need for employer direction and clarification.This can include Health and Safety issues which can be worse at home. For example, there may be a lack of ergonomic equipment and assistive technology provision.

Practitioners Suggestions to Manage Neurodivergent Individuals:

Reduce employer nervousness. Coaches suggested that employers may feel “nervous of litigation, feel unsure, uneasy”. They may also worry about the “cost of adjustments, which in reality is low compared to the cost of losing staff and rehiring.”

Embrace the new thinking on neurodiversity, and precisely the idea that neurological differences open surprising opportunities for talent and employers. Practitioners highlighted that it is easy and common for management to revert to what they have already been taught. In other words, it is easier to hold on to old-school thinking, which used to focus on the weaknesses of neurodivergent individuals.

Check how remote working has affected employee resource groups/support mechanisms. Coaches suggested that there might be a lack of ability to share strategies as would do in the office.

Acknowledge the complexity of these issues. For example, rates of co-occurrence in the neurodivergent population may push us towards nuanced approaches, as everyone is different. In addition, the type of employer/sector can influence their perception of neurodivergent support.

Relate equality with adjustments. Adjustments will allow neurodivergent individuals to enter the working environment by giving them the same resources or opportunities.

How Coaches Support Others Using Remote4all Findings and Practice?

• Greater support for line managers in the form of co-coaching (a coaching session for line managers and employees) and line manager awareness training
• Support employees/coaches through strategy coaching – giving them tools to self-advocate.

To conclude this webinar allowed us to bring theory and practice together, and shape the research agenda around employment, and neurodivergence in the UK.

Next Steps for The Project

The research team works towards the development of some guidance for line management for neurodivergent and disabled remote workers and aims to create a measurement tool to better evaluate and enhance their remote e-working experience.

Funding statement

As part of the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit), this work was supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/S012532/1], which is gratefully acknowledged.