ADHD in the workplace: how to help employees thrive
Burnout and mental wellness go hand in hand.
Research into burnout is showing that people burn out differently, depending on personality. Being neurodivergent adds an element of complexity to burnout that is important to consider if you have ADHD, for instance, or if you’re an employer with ADHD employees!
There is a lot to love about ADHD. With strong mental wellness support, people with ADHD can thrive at work – performing in certain roles better than neurotypical people.
We interviewed Ty McKinney, Ph.D. and co-founder of 8 Bit Cortex, on how to better support employees with ADHD so they can thrive in the workplace.
8 Bit Cortex is a breakthrough research-based mental wellness tracking app that is also creating burnout prediction algorithms to assist companies in maintaining the health and wellness of their workforce.
What is the definition of neurodiversity, and why is this only something scientific literature is only starting to recognize now?
Ty: I define neurodiversity as "diversity in brain structure and functioning." Neurodiversity traditionally referred to people with Autism Spectrum Disorder when it became recognized as a disorder of brain development. But within the last few years, researchers and advocates have begun to extend this term to people with ADHD and learning disabilities, which have more recently also been recognized as disorders of brain development.
What is some of the latest research in the neurodivergent space moving towards?
Ty: This expansion of neurodiversity beyond ASD has led to a growing interest in this topic and I expect this interest to grow as neurodiversity expands to include other types of brain conditions like anxiety, acquired brain injury, bipolar disorder, and depression.
What are the most important things for business owners and leaders to understand about ADHD?
Ty: People with ADHD have a brain optimized to work in certain kinds of environments. While this gives them a number of strengths, it also means there are some tradeoffs. Leaders hugely benefit from this knowledge. When they understand where people with ADHD struggle and thrive, they can place them in roles that leverage their strengths with support to compensate for any weaknesses to achieve their greatest potential.
What are common stress triggers for people with ADHD in the workplace?
Ty: Stress triggers for people with ADHD centre around being forced to do things in a way that doesn't work for them. It can be hard for people with ADHD to build an effective routine, and having an ineffective routine forced upon them can stifle their creativity, make tasks seem even more tedious, and create anxiety about the abilities that exacerbates the stress.
What are common stress triggers for people with ADHD in the workplace?
Ty: Stress triggers for people with ADHD centre around being forced to do things in a way that doesn't work for them. It can be hard for people with ADHD to build an effective routine, and having an ineffective routine forced upon them can stifle their creativity, make tasks seem even more tedious, and create anxiety about the abilities that exacerbates the stress.
What workplace conditions and practices help people with ADHD thrive?
Ty: People with ADHD often thrive with structure to help keep them on task, but with enough flexibility to allow them to find their own way of doing things that works. Administrative support, more frequent check-ins, short-term reward incentives (i.e. weekly commission bonuses), and supportive accountability tend to promote better success in people with ADHD.
What is the best way to help people with ADHD who are struggling get more support in the workplace?
Ty: Find ways to give them that extra support and structure. People with ADHD struggle with time management (their brain literally processes time differently), are often more risk tolerant than other people, and can struggle with uninteresting tasks. Finding ways to supplement these weaknesses can dramatically improve the productivity of people with ADHD.
Effective solutions will vary by person, so it's important to experiment and be patient with some trial and error to find the right solution for each employee. They often bring important insights into how they work best, so work with them to find solutions.
What are the gifts and strengths that people with ADHD uniquely bring to the workplace?
Ty: People with ADHD tend to be extremely creative, which can make them great problem solvers. They also thrive in "multitasking roles" where they have to juggle several responsibilities at once. People with ADHD are often "stress-adapted" meaning they can channel stress into positive outcomes better than neurotypical people. This means that having people with ADHD on your team, in roles where they thrive, is a bonus to your business.
