The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) has published its survey results on neurodiversity. Those surveyed were asked the following question: How effective do you think your employer is at training managers to identify and make reasonable adjustments for neurodiverse employees? By neurodiverse, the survey meant those with conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and dyscalculia.
The total sample size was 1,011 senior decision makers and 1,000 employees in Great Britain, with the survey undertaken in February 2026.
Only 30% of respondents believed their organisation effectively trained management to make reasonable adjustments for neurodiverse employees. Indeed, 35% said they felt their employer was ineffective in this, and 18% of those thought their employer was very ineffective. One of the most alarming statistics was that 32% just did not know whether their employer was effective in supporting neurodiverse staff.
The results suggest that there remains a real lack of support for neurodiverse employees in the workplace, and that employers still do not understand their legal obligations to support neurodiverse employees and make reasonable adjustments for them where necessary.
Historically, employers have been nervous about neurodiversity, believing that to embrace it could lead to problems and increased costs. Burying heads in the sand is not the answer. Putting legal obligations to one side, employers are doing themselves a disservice in not being open and transparent about neurodiversity and not training managers to identify and support it. A neurodiverse team is likely to achieve far more than a team made up with most members having exactly the same toolkit.
Making an organisation neuroinclusive starts from day one, with a recruitment process that fits the role and effective onboarding to make those first experiences positive. Have the right policies in place to encourage transparency and to road map the support available. Provide training for managers to recognise and support where necessary, and for employees who need to feel able to speak up if they are neurodiverse or to provide appropriate support for their neurodiverse colleagues. Provide mentors and neurodiverse champions to emphasise that neurodiversity is welcomed and, where possible, make the physical working environment adaptable to encourage diversity and inclusion.
These steps are more likely to make an organisation a positive and productive workplace.
Ann Robson is a senior employment lawyer at Bellevue Law
