Published 12th Aug 2026, 14:22 BST
Employers rate their own “neurodivergent readiness” at around 70 to 75 per cent. Yet only 32 to 38 per cent of neurodivergent staff feel safe enough to tell their employer about their diagnosis, or believe their organisation understands its impact.
That gap, between how well bosses think they are doing and how supported their people feel, is the story of the moment. It is why, in the last three months, I have taken more enquiries on this than at any point in my career. The numbers back it up: 517 employment tribunal cases mentioned neurodivergent conditions in 2025, up from 265 in 2020.
In my experience, it is rarely malice. The employers who end up in front of a judge are seldom villains. They are businesses that asked an employee to “prove” a formal diagnosis, when that is not what the law requires. They ran a performance process that was never designed for a brain that works differently. They moved to manage someone out over “attitude” without pausing to ask whether a disability was in play. Any of these can leave an employer facing a discrimination claim.
Awareness of neurodivergence in our workplaces has never been higher, and one finding should give every employer pause, says Jodie Hill. (Photo supplied by Jodie Hill)
The costs are real. A Lidl manager with ADHD was awarded more than £45,000 after a tribunal found his diagnosis had not been properly taken into account. Greene King was found to have failed to make reasonable adjustments for a dyslexic chef who had asked for a headset. The Government’s own taskforce estimates that ADHD left unsupported costs the UK economy £17bn a year.
I want to be fair to employers, because the fear is often genuine. A reasonable adjustment is not “whatever the employee asks for”; tribunals have drawn a line where requests go beyond what is necessary. The purpose is to help someone perform to their potential, not to lower the standard everyone else is held to. Employers are allowed to expect good work. They are simply not allowed to ignore the person doing it.
The best businesses I work with have stopped treating this as a problem to manage and started treating it as a design question. They do not wait to be asked; they build flexibility in for everyone, whether that is flexible hours, quiet space or clear written instructions. Much of it costs little or nothing, and benefits the whole workforce.
There is urgency many have not yet clocked. From January 2027, the Employment Rights Act cuts the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from two years to six months and removes the cap on compensation. The room for “we meant well” is about to shrink, and with some tribunal hearings already listed for 2030, getting it wrong will be slower and costlier than ever.
Awareness of neurodivergence in our workplaces has never been higher, and one finding should give every employer pause, says Jodie Hill ( Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
Inclusion cannot be performative. A wellbeing poster and a good intention are not a strategy. Structure is. Workplaces that rely on managers quietly covering for neurodivergent staff leave those people dependent on kindness,. This is not about politics, and it is certainly not about being “woke.” It is about keeping good people, getting the best from them, and staying on the right side of a law. Awareness was the easy part. What we do next is the test.
Jodie Hill is Managing Partner at Thrive Law
