This July, the buzz is about focus. Aptly so: an estimated 8.7 million adults in the US live with diagnosed ADHD, and talking about it should not be taboo.
As is the American way, I am here to talk about work–specifically, how corporations and businesses can make their workspaces more ADHD-friendly.
Those with ADHD will probably tell you that in addition to working with their perfectly amicable colleagues, they have had to learn to work with the more disagreeable ones as well: challenges to productivity, burnout, stress-induced illness, stigma–you know, the ones who take your clearly-marked food from the fridge and ask you if you’ve had a chance to look over the reports you’re certain they never put on your desk.
To tame these peskier colleagues and to better accommodate employees with ADHD, I had the opportunity to sit down with the wonderful Robin Long-Jordan (I’ll call her L-J here for short) who works over at Blackline Studios as one of their designers.
With her insight and passion for ADHD accessibility, I have curated a list of easy yet effective shifts workplaces can, and should, make:
Make third spaces a #1.
For those with ADHD, an optional change of scenery can be exactly what’s needed to shift into productive mode. Vacant office and conference rooms aren’t always viable, so let me do you one better: hoteling stations and touchdown spaces. Trust me.
L-J offers bonus points if the seating is distinct from traditional seating: counter height stools, soft seating, motion stools–anything that offers a change in texture, body position, or movement.
Hold morning check-ins on the reg!
Many employees with ADHD find it helpful to draw up a detailed schedule and check in with it periodically. This ensures that progress is on track and “just-one-more-thing” impulsivity isn’t being allowed to take over.
Rigid daily work schedules provide accountability and clearer direction for those who struggle with time management, procrastination, and wandering minds–L-J calls this “floating.”
Morning check-ins provide a well-communicated, well-structured schedule for the day’s work ahead–providing that buoy we all need.
BUT . . . leave room for flexibility, too.
Rigid schedules don’t work best for every ADHD employee, though. In fact, some flourish under softer deadlines and fewer constraints.
Long-term deadlines with freeform daily work schedules allow for more flexibility, creativity, and opportunity to let hyperfocus take the reins–essentially, having the pressure of a goal but the autonomy and flexibility to choose how to meet it.
Prioritize content digestibility.
ADHD employees–is it not all of us?–often struggle with back-to-back Zoom meetings and briefs that aren’t so brief. Know who needs to hear it, who needs to read it, and who needs time to process it. Easy tweaks include:
- Using a highlighter for key points
- Incorporating drawings and diagrams
- Keeping action items at the top of the page
- Providing shortened versions of reports and documents
- Recording important instructions and announcements to play back as needed
- Allowing employees to take notes (L-J: “Write everything down!”)
Elevate intersectional voices.
For women of color, especially, ADHD takes a toll on work life. They face disproportionate levels of gendered expectation, exhaustion, burnout, and masking–a survival strategy that many neurodivergent individuals use to navigate and excel in a working world not made for them.
Women are more likely to be mis- and underdiagnosed with ADHD in childhood. They, and other marginalized communities with ADHD, face pressure to work double-time to mask their symptoms–and, in L-J’s words, the question, How much of me can show up in this space?
Without asking these people to speak for their entire group(s), prioritizing representation of, and advocacy for, these intersectional lived experiences is how workplaces can not only alleviate the undue burden but also move the needle on the stigma.
Implement adjustable height desks.
For those who struggle with restlessness, adjustable height desks (click here for L-J’s top rec) offer several benefits over traditional desks:
- Increased energy/alertness
- Improved concentration
- Improved motivation
Give the Pomodoro Technique a try.
This technique breaks up long stretches of work into shorter bursts of focus time, which can help tackle the overwork, time management issues, and hyperfocus to which ADHDers are prone.
The Pomodoro Technique is 25 minutes of uninterrupted work, 5 minutes of break, and after four cycles, a longer 20- to 30-minute break.
Of course, ADHD looks different for everyone. There is plenty of room for variation within the Pomodoro Technique. Use coffee breaks, meetings, lunches, and/or scheduled walks around the block to chunk your day. However you approach it, the on-off allows you to avoid losing track of time and to enjoy intentional rest.
See the employee, not the desk.
Avoid assumptions. A messy desk does not equate to a cluttered mind, much less an incompetent one.
While you’re at it, avoid labels, too. What is “high functioning” autism anyway?
That being said . . . close those computer tabs! L-J shared with me her personal rule that she never restores tabs and closes all her remaining tabs at the end of the week. While a messy desktop (virtual or physical) is not indicative of incompetency, a little bit of decluttering can go a long way.
Make flexibility a bedrock.
This can look like a lot of things:
- Scrapping the rigid 9-to-5 schedule (Instead, allow for altered work hours to accommodate peak periods of focus and attention better.)
- Allowing work-from-home
- Reevaluating the five-day work week (this is a whole other can of worms, we know)
- Offering more break times throughout the workday
- Providing accommodations for meetings (such as written agendas and remote participation)
- L-J’s top pick: Having some option for movement, a change of scenery, or access to an outdoor space
Provide autonomy over stimuli.
Where you work is just as important as the work you’re doing, and for those with ADHD, it can be the difference between a checked-off to-do list and a thrown-in towel:
- Visual: light control
- Avoid harsh, flickering LEDs. Instead, look to high-quality, dimmable LEDs, desktop lamps, and natural lighting–and the means to control how much of it you get (e.g. roller window shade, desk task light).
- Auditory: sound control
- Silence can be just as distracting as an overzealous phone call from the cubicle next door. Allow employees to use headphones, earplugs, and personal white noise machines.
- Kinesthetic: wayfinding
- For those with ADHD especially, intuitive wayfinding (i.e. the use of pattern, color, lighting, etc.) can aid orientation and reduce stress. I’ll give you a head start: the color of carpeting to indicate walking paths versus desk areas.
Above all: Be open, receptive, and attuned.
Know, and be able to recognize, the patterns of ADHD: intensity, compulsion, hyperfocus, emotional dysregulation, burnout, inattention, and perfectionism (rejection sensitivity).
Ensure that your employee is taking their breaks and holidays. Acknowledge the work they’re doing (a simple “Thank you for your work” does wonders). Listen to their needs and be not only willing but eager to meet them halfway.
“All of these shifts make it better for everybody. We get all of the voices we’d otherwise miss out on. Because then it’s not just that we’re allowing you to be here–we are welcoming you. And everybody benefits from that.” – Robin Long-Jordan
