Our 2025 Neurodiversity in the workplace survey found that neurodivergent people face difficulties in the workplace around four key areas and often struggle to access reasonable adjustments that would help.

Through June and July 2025, we conducted a survey to gather input from neurodivergent people about their experiences in the world of work. We asked about problems they had experienced at work related to their neurodivergence, support that had helped them and what more could have been done.

We received responses from 63 people, mostly based in and around Reading, but a few from further afield in the UK.

Our intention was to use the results to inform the development of our Neuroinclusion guide for frontline teams. For that reason, we explained in our communications about the survey that we were especially keen to hear from people in non-office-based roles.

In the end, 48% of respondents were in frontline roles, 32% in middle management, 12% in senior leadership roles. 8% were self-employed. Respondents worked in a range of sectors, but notably 26% in health and social care, 22% in education, 18% in retail or hospitality, 11% in construction and 9% in public services.

The results

From the difficulties respondents reported, four key themes emerged – stigma, timing, sensory issues and communication:

Stigma – 65%

Respondents reported bullying and discrimination. They mentioned being excluded from problem solving due to their different way of thinking, punished for following rules too closely or excluded from social situations.

One described losing a long-term freelance role after disclosing their diagnosis, with feedback to work on their ‘black and white thinking’.

Many respondents mentioned masking, due to social pressure to disguise their struggles, leading to additional psychological stress.

Some said they experienced resentment from colleagues who felt adjustments gave them an unfair advantage.

Others reported their needs not being treated seriously and even their diagnosis being disbelieved or dismissed, especially if they had been diagnosed privately. Several experienced resistance to providing reasonable adjustments.

Sensory issues – 53%

Respondents mentioned difficulty with issues such as busy, noisy environments, inability to adjust temperature and flickering lights causing them to become overstimulated and distracted.

These issues have a knock-on effect on both their performance at work and their wellbeing.

Timing – 52%

Most issues respondents mentioned with regard to timing related to either inflexibility, such as rigid start and finish times, or uncertainty, such as short notice of shifts or meetings.

Problems reported included anxiety-provoking struggles with last-minute schedule changes, pressure to meet deadlines or targets, start times either too early or too late and lack of sufficient breaks.

Many reported needing extra time to complete tasks, especially when under pressure or distracted, or when large volumes of reading are needed. One said they had difficulty switching between tasks and pointed out that job advertisements often mention the need to be flexible and dynamic.

Respondents mentioned that these challenges had had a profound impact on their careers, limiting their options and earning potential and sometimes leading to burnout and even mental breakdowns.

One respondent mentioned that the ability to work from home since the Covid pandemic, and manage their workload more independently, has helped with these issues. However, for frontline workers, that isn’t an option.  

Communication – 38%

Issues reported included vague requests and unclear expectations, struggles with absorbing verbal instructions or large volumes of written information, ambiguous feedback and fear when called for a ‘chat’.

Respondents also described being misunderstood and their intentions misinterpreted, for example being perceived as criticising rather than simply querying when they ask questions.

You can read a selection of the responses here.

Diagnosis and workplace support

Just 65% of respondents have had a formal diagnosis, though all considered themselves to have at least one form of neurodivergence.

Significantly, 60% consider themselves to have more than one form of neurodivergence, with some diagnosed with one and awaiting assessment for another.

While some mentioned supportive relationships with colleagues and understanding managers, 75% of participants had experienced problems at work due to a lack of understanding or support. This was particularly prevalent amongst respondents without a formal diagnosis. Worryingly, several diagnosed respondents reported delays providing them with support they had requested or that had been recommended following an Access to Work assessment.

Some respondents highlighted a need for culture change to enable neurodivergent employees to thrive. One said, “Broad culture changes are needed to see the strengths and value of ND people.” Another commented, “Even with all the right support and reasonable adjustments in place, if the culture is bad then it will never be an environment that is accessible for neurodivergent people.”

Job insecurity

Whether or not they had a formal diagnosis, there is a strong sense that their neurodivergence causes respondents a significant degree of job insecurity. Some reported having been laid off, being forced to walk away from roles and lack of career progression, and others expressed a fear of losing their jobs.

While the 8% of respondents who are self-employed don’t need to worry about a gap on their CV, they will inevitably face peaks and troughs of income. Not having the safety net of sickness pay and other employee benefits also adds to the financial insecurity.

There is a high likelihood that their neurodivergence was a key factor in the decision to work for themselves, in response to the challenges we have seen employment can present. One told us, “There are an awful lot of neurodivergent people who are self-employed because being employed is too difficult.”

Conclusion

While this is a fairly small snapshot of the experiences of neurodivergent people in the UK workforce, clear themes emerge from the data.

We found that neurodivergent employees face a range of challenges at work, especially around stigma, sensory issues, timing and communication, and often struggle to access support that could help them.

0ur survey focused on the challenges neurodivergent people face at work. But neurodivergent employees can be huge assets and it is often features of their neurodivergence that make them brilliant at what they do. In order to excel in their roles, they need to be understood and taken seriously.

It’s obvious that employers need to do more to build awareness of neurodiversity, not only but especially amongst managers, and that developing a neuroinclusive culture is key to enabling neurodivergent talent to thrive.

We hope our guide, Neuroinclusion for frontline teams, will help to address this. Please read and share it and download and display the poster in your workplace.