"We will look into it."
Roughly the phrase every neurodivergent employee has heard, at some point, after asking their employer for something small. Delivered warmly, meant kindly, and almost never returned to.
Autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other neurodivergent conditions are treated as disabilities under the Equality Act 2010, where they have a substantial and long-term effect on day-to-day life. Which means employers have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments. That duty has existed since 2010. What is still missing in most UK workplaces is any real understanding of what it looks like on a Tuesday morning.
What "reasonable" actually means
Reasonable means proportionate to your business, and genuinely useful to the person asking. Most of the time, it costs almost nothing. A quieter desk. Instructions in writing. A slightly different meeting format. Small, ordinary, doable.
The employees asking for these things are almost never asking for a favour. They are telling you what they need to do their job properly.
Where UK employers keep getting this wrong
Most workplaces treat adjustments as a special favour, granted reluctantly, after enough persuading. Some quietly wait for a formal diagnosis before taking a request seriously, even though the Equality Act does not require one. Some hand every neurodivergent employee the same generic support, as though one condition meant one fixed set of needs.
Two autistic employees can need entirely different things. One might thrive with advance notice of every change. Another might need flexibility around light, noise, or interruption. Treating neurodivergence as a single box to tick misses the entire point of the legislation, and the entire point of the person in front of you.
What good adjustments actually look like
Written agendas and instructions ahead of meetings
A quieter workspace, or permission to use noise-cancelling headphones
Flexible start times or a genuine work-from-home option
Large projects broken into smaller, clearer steps
Advance notice of any change to routine or deadline
Most of these take one honest conversation and a shared calendar to sort out.
What UK employers should do this month
Train your managers to have the conversation. Ask the employee first, before defaulting to policy or paperwork. They know what they need better than any handbook does.
Say yes fast. A "yes, let's try that from Monday" costs almost nothing and buys enormous loyalty. A "let me get back to you" that lasts six weeks costs you a good employee.
Document what you have agreed, and actually review it. Adjustments that work in October might need tweaking in March.
Build flexibility into how the whole team works. So that adjustments stop being special, and simply become how you already operate.
One last thing
If your process still turns a headphones request into a formal investigation, that is a business quietly telling its people it does not trust them.
Good people notice this. They notice it fast. And they leave, quietly, long before any exit interview tells you why.
So, please, look at how you handle these requests this week. Not for the compliance. For the humans in your team who have been quietly asking, and quietly waiting, for a proper answer.
You know where I am. 🫶
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