How to support neurodivergent employees in a "permacrisis".
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Collins Dictionary’s word of 2022 is “permacrisis”: an extended period of instability and insecurity.
The Guardian newspaper described this “permacrisis” as: “Brexit, Covid, war, climate disasters, a tanking economy, political instability, global insecurity, a sense of impending doom...”.
As humans, these ever-increasing worries will always affect both our work and home lives.
In all of my coaching calls with clients, I can't remember a single conversation that has been purely work-related. There are always both professional and personal stresses stemming from the mental load that comes from adulting life.
If only we could juuuuuust mentally separate the two...
It makes me think of the fictitious TV Series Severance. Did you watch it?
In the show, employees of Lumon Industries agree to a medical procedure to separate their non-work memories from their work memories. The idea is that they never mix business with home life because they never remember home stuff when they are at work and vice versa.
Management might think having employees without any "home" distractions at work would sound ideal. But (spoiler alert) it doesn't work out so well for the employees or Lumon Industries. You'll have to watch the show to find out why.
Our work and home lives and personas are permanently entwined.
So when experts reckon between 15-20% of people experience some form of neurodivergence, and when we know that the world is set up for neurotypical thinking, here are 10 ways to directly support your neurodivergent team members during permacrisis times:
Ask how people are doing - it sounds simple, right? But how often are you asking about your team's worries, concerns or celebrations outside of work outside of the obligatory, "how was your weekend?", "Fine - yours?", "Yeah good, thanks". We're all worried about world stuff right now - and it's affecting some people more than others. How can you further support those around you?
Celebrate neurodiversity to promote creativity and innovation - create a culture where differences are embraced and celebrated. The most robust teams are built on jigsaw-piece foundations of complementary skills and ways of thinking to play to each person's strengths.
Offer flexibility when possible - give employees the freedom to work in a way that best suits their needs. Often, this doesn't cost anything extra and something as easy as allowing employees to use headphones can help maintain focus in an open-plan office. Small adjustments can make a big difference to an employee's happiness and productivity.
Offer awareness training on neurodiversity in the workplace - this can help everyone to better understand what it means and how to work effectively and happily as a team. My article “Neurodiversity? What is it?” is a helpful starting point.
Promote open communication and consult with team members - help your team members understand what changes might be happening at work (restructure? budget shuffle?) and invite them to ask questions and propose ideas. Employees who feel like they are part of the process are more likely to be bought into ideas around change. Questions to promote an open discussion include:
if you could take charge of the next step, what would you do?
what's never going to work? Is that true?
what do you mean by that?
how do you see that working?
what would "good" look like in that instance?
what would be the next step?
Encourage stress-relief activities - presenteeism is an ongoing challenge in the office, so encourage breaks and self-care practices to help mitigate stress and anxiety. Thinking about being in the office, the news can be quite triggering and stressful right now - do offices really need CNN playing quietly in the background all day or can the channel be switched to something else for a while?
Use plain language to make information accessible for everyone - avoid jargon, acronyms, and nuances because they are easily misunderstood.
This reminds me of a neurotypical friend who has English as his second language so he doesn’t pick up on corporate-speak nuances. When a manager made a suggestion that he “might want” to do something differently, my friend listened, thanked him, then put his head back down to work. A week later, his manager queried why he hadn’t done the thing that had been suggested, and my friend simply replied, “But you said that I might want to do that. And I didn’t want to. So I didn’t.”
Plain language ensures effective communication that is more persuasive and reduces potential conflict or misunderstandings.
Recognise the need for different types of support - provide resources to support productivity and wellbeing, and coaching opportunities to encourage happier / employees to seek professional help if needed.
It could be as simple as reminding video call attendees that there are live audio captions on Microsoft Teams to make video calls more accessible.
If this isn’t an area you’ve already explored, book a discovery call with me and I’m happy to share my insights with you.
Be open to feedback - truly listen to your team's needs, ensure they feel they've been heard, and let's strive to create a supportive environment for all.
Provide regular feedback - not only is this encouraging for all employees, but many neurodivergent employees I coach feel a heightened sense of uncertainty at work because they aren't receiving regular feedback. Have regular meetings where the focus is on what's working well, what could be tweaked, and what needs to start.
Smiling woman with brown hair and a purple jumper, beside a microphone. The background is neutral.
About
I'm Victoria Tretis, and I coach neurodivergent adults who feel stuck and overwhelmed in the chaos of daily life. They want to design and achieve their version of success. (I don't believe there is one right way to accomplish this.)
I also work with line managers who want to strengthen the support they provide within neurodiverse teams.
My work is not about rich people getting richer. Instead, sessions are centred around clients wanting to better understand themselves and those around them.