5 Ways to Design Your Office with Neurodiversity Top of Mind

Imagine working in an environment where you struggle to read the signage or where the sound feels deafening or where the lighting seems fine for everyone except you. Then consider that this is what it’s like everyday for many employees who are neurodiverse and work in an office. 

Thankfully, that’s changing. Hybrid workplaces are becoming more accessible and inclusive for workers who are neurodiverse, which includes those who have dyslexia, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), or other atypical neurological conditions.

Booking.com, a Dutch online travel agency, is a good example of the transformation taking place. The company is designing its new Amsterdam campus, slated to open in 2023, with neurodiversity in mind. 

Jason Bricker, Booking.com’s director of inclusion, diversity, belonging, well-being, and volunteerism, says that the new site will include softer lighting and quiet, isolated areas in addition to its collaboration spaces. What’s more, there will be barriers between the quiet spaces and the collaborative ones, so they don’t back up to one another. 

EY has also made its workspace more inclusive. At EY’s recently opened Neuro-Diverse Center of Excellence in Boston, the professional services company offers its workers who have cognitive differences accommodations such as quiet space, noise-canceling headsets, and lighting adjustments. One team member even has four screens to use, so he can break down tasks and keep track of the ideas racing in his mind. The result: 25% to 30% of EY’s Boston team members who are neurodivergent have chosen to return to the office because they feel more productive there.

There are plenty of ways to make your workplace more inclusive for employees who are neurodiverse. Here are five tips.

1. Offer a variety of workplace options

The sounds, bright lights, and even strong smells of a typical corporate office can cause some employees with cognitive differences to experience sensory overload. That’s why it’s important to offer these workers a variety of spaces from which to choose, based on their sensory comfort and the tasks they’re doing. 

You can do this by creating a “menu of intentional choices,” writes Claire Shepherd, the COO of Unispace, a global strategy, design, and construction firm, in a recent Fast Company article. The “menu” can include quiet areas for focused work, higher-stimulation spaces for group work and socializing, and places to recharge. A recharging area can be a dimly lit, private room, with a comfortable couch or chair, calming music, and perhaps a yoga mat for meditation or restorative movement. 

Claire says it’s important to incorporate “clear design clues about the space’s intent,” so employees know what to expect in terms of acoustics, privacy, light, and other sensory elements. And don’t forget that some employees who are neurodiverse work best remotely, so also include “remote” in your menu of choices if you can.

2. Make technology more accessible

Video meetings are often challenging for workers who are neurodivergent. They can be hard to follow and may feel overwhelming, especially if too many people are talking. Make meetings more manageable by providing materials to read in advance, recording each session, and allowing employees to turn their cameras off. Someone with ASD might benefit from closed captioning or a copy of the transcript afterward. A worker with dyslexia might find a recording of the meeting helpful. 

Workers with cognitive differences can also benefit from a technology break. To that end, Webex has partnered with Thrive Global to create breaks that occur not just between meetings but during them, with 60-second guided breathing exercises. And in its Viva platform, which was designed for hybrid work, Microsoft has included meditation and mindfulness exercises.

3. Make clean, fresh air a priority 

Workers who are neurodivergent can also be extremely sensitive to smells, so create a more inclusive environment by limiting strong smells and making sure your workplace has plenty of clean, fresh air. 

Consider investing in high-performance HVAC equipment and working with maintenance personnel to make sure air quality is good and the air circulates frequently. Certain plants, such as palm plants, rubber plants, and English ivy, also purify air naturally (and are soothing on the eye). In places that tend to be smelly, like kitchens or the office microwave, leave a bowl of vinegar out overnight — it will absorb other odors. 

4. Think about neurodiversity in your layout 

It’s easy for anyone to get lost in offices filled with cubicles and repeating layouts. But for an employee with cognitive differences, this sea of homogeneity can be overwhelming. A person with dyslexia, for example, may rely on environmental cues rather than signage to find their way around. When the environment all looks the same, that’s a daunting task. 

To make navigating easier, create unique spaces on each floor, with visual landmarks — such as plants, art, or different furniture configurations — and clear lines of sight. 

5. Keep workers with physical disabilities in mind too

The move to remote work has been a boon for workers with physical disabilities. Many have been able to find meaningful roles, and they’ve been able to work in environments that better suit their needs than the typical office. Companies that want to keep these employees as they move forward can continue to allow fully remote work as an accommodation. Of course, there’s also a risk associated with this: Remote workers with disabilities could face “proximity bias,” in which managers favor employees who are in the office and more visible. 

Google’s chief diversity officer, Melonie Parker, suggests countering this by asking for input from workers who are not in the room at the start of every virtual meeting. Remote workers will then feel welcome to contribute to the conversation from the very beginning. It’s helpful to take advantage of interactive tools, such as chat functions, hand-raising, and Q&A, to help everyone feel included. Companies can also enable closed-captioning, so that people who are hard of hearing are included too. 

Final thoughts: It’s not just underrepresented workers who benefit 

While many of these accommodations have been designed for people with cognitive or physical disabilities, they stand to benefit everyone. At least that’s the idea behind a new type of room that Google is in the early stages of developing called a “controlled sensory environment.” The room allows employees to control stimuli like temperature, lighting, and noise level, providing critical relief for employees who are neurodiverse. But, as workers of all sorts continue to struggle with stress and burnout, these rooms may be soothing for everyone.

To receive blog posts like this one straight in your inbox, subscribe to the blog newsletter.