SHRM26 Debrief · Leadership & Development · #1778

Bridging the Gap: Building Neuroinclusive Workplaces that Retain and Thrive

with Lee Judson

▶ Watch on the SHRM portal ~85 min, distilled

neurodiversityneuroinclusiononboarding

"I don't work without a due date. Can't do it. If there's no due date, I don't do it, because it doesn't need to be done."

What it was about

Neurodivergent employees (roughly 20% today, trending toward 50%+ of upcoming generations) bring high-value strengths like hyper-focus, pattern recognition, and critical thinking. Organizations lose and disengage them by failing to redesign onboarding, feedback, and management practices around individual communication styles instead of one-size-fits-all norms.

By the numbers

20%

share of today's workforce estimated to be neurodivergent

28% higher revenue

cited business/ROI benefit to shareholders of neurodiverse-inclusive organizations

18 months

typical tenure cited for a hospital dishwasher role that was (incorrectly) listed as requiring 3 years of experience

Key notes

Rewrite job descriptions to list only truly necessary requirements instead of copy-pasted boilerplate that doesn't match the actual role (e.g. an entry-level job requiring three years of experience).
Shift to skills-based hiring and internships-to-hire pathways instead of timed tests or interviews that penalize processing differences rather than measuring job ability.
Consider giving interview questions in advance (either on request or to all candidates) so people who need more processing time aren't disadvantaged, and compensate with deeper follow-up questions.

The contrarian takeManager training and refresher one-on-one reminders shouldn't be treated as 'coddling' or extra HR overhead. The speaker argues rigid, unaccommodating team cultures, not the neurodivergent employee, are often the actual problem that needs to change, and that universal, low-cost accommodations should be standard practice for everyone rather than something requiring disclosure or diagnosis.

Take this back Monday

Do this for your team

Switch one-on-ones to employee-led: have each report set the agenda and share hurdles, wins, and communication preferences first.

Say this in your next leadership meeting

20% of our workforce is neurodivergent today, heading toward 50%+ of Gen Z/Alpha — and inclusive practices correlate with 28% higher revenue.

Watch out for

Waiting until the annual review to give corrective feedback instead of addressing behavior immediately after it happens.
Writing job descriptions with inflated or copy-pasted requirements that don't reflect what the role actually needs.
Running one-on-ones as manager-led status checks ('let me see your work') instead of employee-led sessions to surface hurdles and priorities.

Fun fact · Lee Judson

Lee Judson has led three major corporate transformations without losing a single team member or any productivity.

If this landed, see these

↳ Go deeperFrom Awareness to Advantage: Transforming Neurodiversity Into Organizational StrengthPushes universal design further: standard practice for everyone, no disclosure or diagnosis required.⇄ The counterpointInclusivity as a Virtue: Virtue-Based HR Habits for Building Ethical CulturesReframes the fix as a daily virtue to practice, not just a system to redesign.✦ The unexpected oneWhen Grief Comes to Work: Bold Policies, Real Support, Better Outcomes (NO PRESS PERMITTED)Grief support and neuroinclusion share the same fix: ditch one-size-fits-all policy.