We didn’t set out to build a neurodiverse inclusive workplace – it happened organically. As part of Neurodiversity Celebration Week, I wanted to share how this came about, what we’ve found works for us, and the benefits of building a neurodiverse inclusive workplace in your organisation.

So how did it happen?

Well, I was late diagnosed as autistic (only a couple of years ago, in my mid 30s). I’ve largely been in a position of privilege to set the direction of the workplace, so alongside listening to and talking to our team, what comes naturally to me has always skewed neurodiverse-friendly.

When Emma joined PatronBase in 2019, bringing her own neurodiversity and a background in supporting neurodiverse students and students with mental wellbeing concerns, this further broadened the viewpoint.

As a result, whilst there’s never been a conscious process of sitting down and saying “what do we need to do to be neurodiverse inclusive?”, it’s something we’ve nonetheless achieved, and we find to be of benefit both to those of us with neurodiverse conditions, and the wider team.

Why is this important?

Everything has a day / week / month – Neurodiversity Celebration Week, Autism Acceptance Month, etc. etc. From an autistic perspective, loads of organisations hop on the bandwagon lighting up their buildings blue for Autism Acceptance Month (which is a colour many of us dislike in association with autism*), or post pictures of puzzle pieces on social media (another pet hate for many autistics), then carry on doing the exact same things they did which exclude, harm or impose barriers for autistic people. I can only speak from experience, but I’m sure other neurodiversities have similar perspectives.

So, please, on behalf of all the neurodiverse people around you – show your allyship by changing something, anything, as a positive change for your neurodiverse colleagues, employees, partners, friends, or customers. Actions speak far louder than words.

What works for us?

Here’s a few ideas to get you started on a neurodiverse inclusive workplace:

Start at recruitment.

We make clear at the point of recruitment our attitudes to neurodiversity and mental ill health. We try to use a minimum of unnecessary formalities, but make as clear as possible the process we’ll use.

Our interviews include specific questions about attitudes to mental ill health and neurodiversity to ensure that we a. recruit people who share our values, and b. demonstrate that our interview process is a safe space to disclose mental ill health or neurodiversity (and any support or accommodation the candidate may require).

Openness about how we work.

Internally, we’re open with our colleagues about how we work. Everyone works differently, so from the top down we are happy to discuss what does and doesn’t work for us, listen to what does and doesn’t work for the others around us, and find middle ground should individual preferences conflict.

Sometimes, this isn’t straightforward – Emma likes to keep her hands busy in meetings, Rob likes to concentrate, so the compromise is doodling to meet Emma’s sensory needs without distracting Rob too far! If something isn’t working, we encourage our team to chat about it as openly and honestly as they feel able or involve a trusted colleague if they don’t feel able to raise something directly.

We’re planning to go one step further over the next couple of months, following this great initiative from Supercool, which we love.

Every member of the team will be encouraged to have a “How I Work” page, with as much or as little detail as they wish to include. This will help colleagues gain a quick insight into others’ comms preferences, ways of working (and more) at a glance without needing to have a many-to-many deep and meaningful discussion every time we have new starters. Once we’ve piloted this internally, we may look at ways to extend this to customers and trusted partners.

Beyond our own team

Human empathy doesn’t stop at our office door, and we hope it doesn’t at yours either.

We’re open about how we work in sales and tenders, whilst for new customers understanding comms and meeting preferences, frequency of catch ups and who wants to be included is a key part of every project kick off. We recognise different people have different ways of working, so there’s flexibility in our project management approach to accommodate different client organisations.

For suppliers, partners, and contractors, it’s a vital part of procurement. For larger more formal projects, we’ll seek diversity policies and may ask for additional information / case studies as part of the procurement process. For smaller organisations or individuals, attitudes to neurodiversity and ability to match our and their way of working forms part of the discussion to decide to work together.

It very rarely happens, but if an organisation we work with falls short of these ideals, we try to engage with them in the first instance, as openly and honestly as we can. We have zero tolerance for ableism, and if an organisation is unwilling or unable to accommodate neurodiversity (or indeed any other protected characteristic), principles come before profit.

Work where you want

We were doing remote work long before COVID made it fashionable, and have a mix of remote, in-office and hybrid workers. Where we can, we accommodate requests to work flexibly or work from home – some roles do require an office presence some or all of the time, but for many roles remote work some or all of the time is no barrier. Our systems – both technical and human – are optimised to support this. Conversely, when we work with contractors or freelancers, we are able to offer the option to work remotely or on site with us.

When working with customers, we often work face-to-face in their own venue to deliver training and consultancy. However, we recognise that some people prefer to get out of their own office to have the headspace to consider / explore system or organisational change, and we’re in the process of refurbishing areas of our building to accommodate more simultaneous customer engagement at our place in Bradford.

Flexible workspaces

We have the space within our building to accommodate our staff’s individual preferences about how they work. The majority of offices accommodate 1-4 people and are grouped by activity – quieter offices for development, louder offices for support, for example. Many staff work with headphones some or all of the time – I swear by noise cancelling headphones! Additionally, there are flexible spaces within the building – quiet meeting rooms, chilled out spaces, etc. for team members who need a change of scene or tempo.

Focussed vs Available Time

One of our biggest successes has been introducing “office hours” and “check ins” for key staff. This originally started as an initiative I introduced for my way of working but has been extended to other staff (neurodiverse and otherwise) who’ve found it beneficial.

The concept is simple – for a certain time period (in my case, 9-10am daily), I’m on hand to answer queries, provide help and otherwise interact; the rest of the day is mine for focussed work. Other team members set their own office hour frequency and timings.

The benefit of this is huge – I and others have found a massive increase in both effectiveness of work and predictability of work. This is backed up by the science – a major tech company (GitHub) researched development productivity and found the impact of ad hoc interruptions on technical work is huge. To paraphrase, beyond a certain number of interruptions in a day, they might as well stay at home. Having the predictability of interruption-free time reduces stress and increases productivity – but targeted office hours maintain the ability to have interaction and ad hoc collaboration.

Team approach

A team approach is essential. We collaborate on everything we do and try to find our own and our team’s comfort zones. If something isn’t in your comfort zone, do you want to grow and develop into it, or would you prefer to swap that aspect of your work with a colleague? Again, honesty and openness is key, as is flexibility.

Mental Wellbeing

The fundamental principle is that we treat mental ill-health and wellbeing as just as high a priority as physical health and wellbeing. If you aren’t physically well enough to be at work, we encourage you to go home and rest – and we want our team to have the same sense of safety to disclose if they don’t feel mentally well enough to be at work. This isn’t a “one size fits all” though – sometimes a team member may wish to keep working to take their mind off wider issues, and that is fine too.

What are the benefits?

Well, the obvious one is that we have team members – myself included – who couldn’t perform at their best in a rigid, round-pegs-in-round-holes-only workplace, and these are people we value and appreciate. We wouldn’t benefit from their talents without the ability to meet them where they are and accommodate how they think differently from others.

More than that, though – it benefits our neurotypical colleagues too. Sometimes we all need some understanding, a listening ear, or the flexibility to handle life circumstances – and that’s baked in.

It doesn’t top at our front door either – we hope it makes it easier to work with us as a partner supplier, customer or collaborator, and if that’s not the case, our door is always open to let us know and chat about how we can better work together. We think it’s good business – but more importantly, we also think it’s just the right way to be.

*blue was picked because people thought it was a male only condition, which perpetuates the underdiagnosis of women and girls.