Coping with ADHD in the workplace can be tough. It can feel as though your peers are surpassing you, youâre not getting the opportunities you think you deserve, and youâre not thriving as you should be.Â
It can be difficult to design your work environment when youâre in a workplace with numerous other employees, who may feel negatively toward you for having the chance to work âdifferentlyâ when they donât.
There are ways you can adapt your working environment to better suit your unique ADHD traits which help you thrive in your job. Keep reading to find out more.
How Your ADHD Symptoms Can Impact You in the Workplace.
Those with the Inattentive ADHD type tend to struggle with concentration, working memory, organisation, and planning. Those who have the Impulsive/ Hyperactive ADHD type find controlling emotions, acting or speaking without thinking, restlessness, and fidgeting difficult to control. The combined ADHD type can struggle with all or a mixture of these.
These symptoms can cause challenges such as:
Difficulty sustaining efficiency due to being forgetful and disorganised and struggling with working memory, likely leading to missed appointments, misplacing documents, etc.
Challenges with procrastination and time management due to being easily distracted. Time blindness is a recognised challenge for individuals with ADHD, characterised by difficulties in accurately perceiving the passage of time. This can lead to challenges in estimating task durations, meeting deadlines, and maintaining punctuality.
Continuous lateness and poor attendance due to time blindness can make it difficult to perceive the passage of time.Â
ADHD can also impact planning and organisation, making it challenging to create and adhere to schedules.
Difficulty fitting in with colleagues and finding it challenging to communicate due to a spontaneous and energetic communication style and finding it difficult to pick up on social cues.
Highly distractible and inattentive which causes issues with maintaining focus on tasks, leading to frequent distractions and difficulty completing projects.
Impulsive and hyperactive nature can manifest as acting without thinking, interrupting others during meetings, or making quick decisions without considering long-term consequences.
Designing Your Work Environment for Better Job Satisfaction.
Actively seeking to adjust, amend, or design your work environment to align with needs, skills, and limitations is highly important for someone with ADHD. This is known as job crafting and relates to someone with ADHD who works in an environment that doesnât necessarily facilitate their need for dopamine, problem-solving, or high-energy personalities. Ultimately, job crafting increases job satisfaction and improves performance.
How to Align Your Work Environment to Suit Your ADHD Traits.
As mentioned previously, it is not always possible to design your work life exactly as you would need it for your ADHD brain, as other people in the workplace need to be accounted for too. There are ways you can align your role however, that should have limited to no impact on your peers, these include:
Increasing Job Flexibility â rigid or strict work routines are challenging for an ADHD individual to follow constantly. Finding ways to introduce flexibility into your work such as switching between projects or tasks or helping to create new processes aimed at improving productivity can help.
Using Hyperfocus to Your Advantage â when it comes to solving difficult problems, individuals with hyperfocusing abilities often thrive and can spend hours on a task that interests them until the issue is fixed.
Using Distractibility for Specific Tasks â getting easily distracted can be seen as a negative trait when youâre required to take on a lot of information in a meeting. It can, however, be a positive trait when it comes to needing to shift attention to adapt to quick-paced environments, allowing the individual to be hypervigilant and alert.
Introducing Novelty into Your Day â getting stuck on the same daily tasks can become boring very quickly for those with ADHD, leading to a lack of focus and distractibility. Introducing novelty into the mundane like thinking up new processes, playing with ways to convey a message, or delivering projects in new and exciting ways can help you thrive at work.
Using Impulsivity to Your Advantage â every team needs a colleague who is willing to take risks and start new ventures to drive innovation and change. The ADHD brain is very skilled at this.
Harnessing Your Energy â hyperactivity in ADHD can be used to motivate a team, generate a sense of urgency, and ensure that tight deadlines are met.
 Harness Your Employeeâs ADHD Intellect.
For employers and managers, understanding the unique strengths and preferences of your ADHD employees can help drive your business in new directions. We highly advise encouraging and empowering your ADHD employees to reshape their environments, as long it is conducive to your business goals, as they can create competitive advantages.
It is a legal requirement in the UK for employers to make reasonable adjustments in the workplace for their employees under the Equality Act 2010. ADHD sits under both disability and long-term health conditions which are highlighted in the act and can also cause or be linked to co-existing conditions such as anxiety and depression.
How a Private ADHD Clinic in Manchester Can Help Gain Job Satisfaction.
We are Beyond, a private ADHD clinic in Manchester, with a team of professionals who fully understand how important it is to harness the unique traits of ADHD individuals within the workplace.Â
We offer comprehensive ADHD assessments for adults aimed at harnessing a deeper understanding of yourself and helping to understand how your ADHD impacts your life. If youâre seeking an understanding of how to manage your ADHD symptoms in the workplace or how to design a work environment that supports your needs, Beyond can help.
Contact your specialist, private ADHD clinic in Manchester today, to see how you can move from striving to thriving in the workplace.
