Making agile working suit everyone

Words by Jacqui Wallis

Agile working is now mainstream. Working from home and hotdesking was already being hailed by many businesses as beneficial and, when COVID hit hard, it became mandatory to keep people safe. Many workers appreciated a reduced commute and more time with family, but others have found the disruption to regular working life a lot to handle.

For those of us with non-visible disabilities, such as neurodivergent people, the amount of change that we have had to process and adapt to in the last 20 months has been anxiety-inducing.

Neurodiversity and disability are at the heart of all D&I initiatives, and agile working has been a mixed blessing for many HR leaders. Those with accessibility systems in place to support people with disabilities, who have adapted the office environment to support neurodivergent staff, now face the challenge of ensuring everything still works well when offered remotely.

It’s important to establish longer-term, sustainable patterns for working both in-person and in remote locations to reduce anxiety linked to constant change.

Here’s some straightforward ways to make agile working suit everyone:

Be flexible

Agile working means a variety of things to different people. For some, working quietly in a self-managed way will be fantastic, for others a lack of structure and in-person leadership can make them feel lost and dis-engaged.

Establish what your team needs and build frameworks that support individual needs. Run ‘job crafting’ sessions with Line Managers to identify problem areas as well as highlight strengths and abilities.

Not having to travel to work is great for those who face barriers to access, including people with physical and non-visible disabilities.

An Autistic colleague who may not be able to travel on crowded trains during peak rush hour will benefit from additional schedule flexibility when they are required to work from the office.

Agree frameworks for communications

Find out what works for meetings. Do cameras have to be on? Do meetings need to be limited to an hour? Should Team members only communicate through Teams or email?  Can Team members communicate through written text if speaking is challenging, or vice versa. Does one person love using notes, whilst another is great at chairing the session?

Working out each other’s strengths can mean that each member of the team can be the best version of themselves. As a Dyslexic myself, note-taking is my worst nightmare, whereas my ADHD colleague loves it—as it gives her focus and “something to do with her hands” during a meeting.

Environment

Replicate a good working space for your staff wherever they are. Not all employees have the luxury of a separate workspace at home.

We know that bad posture or a lack of proper equipment hampers productivity and can lead to long-term health issues. Government statistics state that 29% of work-related illness are musculoskeletal, with another 50% caused by stress, anxiety and/or depression.

Practical equipment helps such as screen risers, second screens, separate keyboards along with a proper supportive chair and a desk at the right height.  At Genius Within, we make use of specialist equipment like steady-mouse software for employees with tremors and wrist-supported mouse mats.

Emotional wellbeing

Providing access to a funded EPA is a great start, giving your staff access to qualified professionals to help them develop good working strategies. 

At Genius Within, we work with thousands of individuals to improve their performance at work, with an average improvement in performance of 61%, and we saw a 128% spike for help around stress or ‘state management’ during the peak of the pandemic.

Working remotely has increased the amount of anxiety we have seen reported from our coaching clients. We advise people to build in decompression days when their emotions have built up and they need a release.

Allow staff to make up the missed time and keep the lines of communication open. People generally don’t want to let you down. Some companies run Zoom-free Fridays and others allow staff to use out-of-office responses when they need to decompress.

Encourage the planning of buffer times, create ‘no meeting’ zones, whether that is 15 minutes between meetings or at the start and/or end of the day.

We recommend the Pomodoro technique, which suggests chunking up a task and focusing on each element at a time. Using a timer on a phone or an app can really help to remind you to get up and take a break. 

This is especially important for those that tend towards hyperfocus who, without the rhythm of the office structure, can forget to move around, or even eat or drink water regularly.

Creating camaraderie

Outside of the physical workplace, we don’t tend to bump into our colleagues, share ideas or simply chat about our day. When this doesn’t happen naturally, we have to create artificial opportunities to provide support for those that might need it. 

Creating informal ‘circles of support’ outside the direct line managers or close colleagues will increase an individual’s sense of belonging and purpose. 

At Genius Within our work does carry a heavy emotional tax with it, we have a largely disabled team, and it can be extremely draining (as well as rewarding) work. As a result of many of our team working remotely, we have created moderated monthly Reflective Practice sessions. 

Some members of staff attend only occasionally, others never miss one. These sessions are confidential and allow the group to talk through what is on top for them, and to decompress and share some of the stresses of working, especially remotely. 

And finally…

Above all else, Senior Leadership should walk their own talk. Employees are much more likely to work in a healthy way if they see their managers doing the same. As with all good working practices ensuring a flexible approach will ensure that we can adapt successfully.

An agile working strategy that is inclusive for all, and takes into account the needs of neurodivergent people will help all your colleagues feel as much a part of your organisation’s ethos and culture as they did when they worked there in person.

Jacqui Wallis is CEO of Genius Within, a social enterprise working towards a future where neurodivergent people can maximise their potential and work to their strengths. She was diagnosed with dyslexia at university and, after successfully masking it during a 25-year career in advertising, now feels comfortable and confident to share her diagnosis with both colleagues and peers. Genius Within is currently seeking nominations for its 2022 Celebrating Neurodiversity Awards.