The board wants to know what we're doing on neurodiversity. What do I tell them?
Get the free guide for HR directors and senior HR professionals. The 2026 evidence on why neurodiversity at work isn't working and the six things a credible strategy has to contain.
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Leaders are confident. Their neurodivergent employees are not
What leaders say
70 to 80%
of leaders are confident their organisation is neuroinclusive
What employees say
32 to 38%
of neurodivergent employees feel safe, trust adjustments will happen or feel understood
That gap widened in 2026. Most employers are now aware of neurodiversity. Far fewer have turned that awareness into adjustments that happen.
Source: Neurodiversity Index 2026, City & Guilds Foundation with Do-IT Solutions. 2,200+ participants, ten sectors, UK.
Sound familiar?
We've run the awareness sessions. I'm not sure what actually changed
The guide separates activity from outcome and gives you the one question that tests whether a strategy is working or just busy.
Adjustments get agreed and then sit in a queue
Neurodivergent staff are twice as likely to wait more than three months for an agreed adjustment. The guide sets out what an adjustments process with a time standard and an owner looks like.
The board wants a strategy, not a list of what we've run
Six components, each backed by 2026 UK data, that you can hold your current approach up against.
Six things a neurodiversity strategy should contain
Two parts. The evidence for why the gap exists and the six components that close it, each with the figure that shows why it matters.
- 1A disclosure pathway people know and trust
Only 52% of disclosures to a line manager ever reach HR. Disclosure is a process, not a form
- 2An adjustments process with a time standard and an owner
Someone owns delivery after the meeting ends, there is a review date and the employee is asked whether it is working
- 3Managers given the job, not just the responsibility
19% of managers have neurodiversity acknowledged in their workload. Training is embedded, not a single session
- 4Assessment rather than a standard list of adjustments
72% of neurodivergent employees have more than one neurotype. No fixed inventory covers that
- 5Policies and processes reviewed through a neurodiversity lens
Absence triggers, capability timescales, recruitment and appraisal assume a neurotypical default
- 6Measures of experience, not counts of activity
The strategy is judged on what changed for employees, not on policies written or sessions run
The one question that tests all six
Was the adjustment agreed in March in place by June, working by September and would the person it was agreed for say so if you asked? A strategy that cannot answer that is measuring the wrong thing.
Written by Jenefer Livings
Where Silk Helix can help
Each of the six components maps to something we deliver.
Neurodiversity training for managers and for HR
Built to embed rather than to run once
Workplace needs assessments
An adjustment plan with an owner and a review date
The neuroinclusion audit
Your policies, processes and disclosure pathway reviewed, with redesign and retained advice where needed
Get the guide. Answer the board with a strategy
Six components, one question and the 2026 evidence behind each. Free and in your inbox in a minute.
We will use your email address to send you the guide. You will only get Silk Helix tips and updates if you tick the box above. Unsubscribe any time. See our privacy statement.