Summary: This blog explores practical, research-backed ways to make remote and hybrid work more inclusive for neurodivergent employees. From communication clarity to sensory design, learn how small shifts in your virtual practices can lead to big improvements in collaboration, productivity, and well-being for everyone on your team.

April is Neurodiversity Awareness Month—a time to deepen understanding, promote inclusion, and build workplaces where neurodivergent individuals are both acknowledged and truly supported. Today’s remote and hybrid environments offer a unique opportunity to move from awareness to action.
Virtual workspaces can either amplify barriers or open doors, depending on how they’re designed. At LifeLabs Learning, we believe in the power of thoughtful design to open doors. We can build environments where every brain is welcome, however it operates. But that requires more than simply adjusting for differences—it means embracing them as a core design principle.
Neurodivergence at Work
Neurodivergence refers to the natural variations in how brains develop and function. It includes types such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and others that reflect how people think, communicate, and process information.
According to a recent study by Myers-Briggs, about 20% of people identify as neurodivergent, yet only 1 in 4 feel accepted at work. That’s a significant disconnect!
Below, we explore seven practical ways to design remote and hybrid workplaces that better support neurodivergent teammates and make work better for everyone.
1. Ask, Don’t Assume
Remote work removes many nonverbal cues, making it easy to misread silence or camera-off behavior. But neurodivergent teammates often thrive with different inputs—less noise, more prep time, or flexible formats. Research from Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab found that remote teams who explicitly discussed work preferences had 42% fewer misunderstandings.
ACTION: A simple question, like “What meeting format works best for you?”, can transform collaboration.
2. Rethink “Virtual Professionalism”
The shift to remote work reduced masking (hiding neurodivergent traits) for many neurodivergent folks—until video calls brought it roaring back. A 2022 study found that neurodivergent employees spent 30% less energy masking when working from home, but that benefit dropped when video became mandatory.
ACTION: Try making cameras optional, turning off self-view, or swapping out a meeting for async collaboration. Inclusion doesn’t always require grand gestures; sometimes it just means letting people show up in the ways that work best for them.
3. Redesign Team Bonding
Not everyone loves Zoom trivia. Virtual happy hours can be sensory nightmares of overlapping voices and chaotic screen sharing. Research shows that structured online activities with clear turn-taking increased participation from neurodivergent team members by 64%.
ACTION: Try asynchronous playlists, small-group escape rooms, or low-pressure team challenges instead.
4. Provide Digital Clarity
Ambiguity multiplies online. MIT researchers found that neurodivergent remote workers were 35% more productive when using project management tools with visual workflows and explicit deadlines.
ACTION: Use visual workflows, shared agendas, and task management tools to make expectations clear and accessible. What helps neurodivergent teammates helps everyone.
5. Master Communication Channels
Remote workers use an average of 13 different communication tools. That’s a recipe for confusion. Stanford research shows that establishing clear communication hierarchies (e.g., Slack vs. email vs. chat) reduced stress markers by 27% among all employees.
ACTION: Set a communication charter: what belongs in Slack, what’s better in email, and when it’s okay to disconnect. Think of it as traffic signals for your digital highways.
6. Respect Sensory Needs
From calendar blocking to meeting-free Mondays, consider the hidden load of working from home. A Buffer study found that 91% of neurodivergent remote workers benefited from company policies that respected focus time through calendar blocking and notification pausing.
ACTION: Consider how noise, interruptions, and notifications add up and design with sensory sensitivity in mind.
7. Respect Digital Processing Time
In virtual meetings, silence can feel awkward—but it’s essential for thoughtful input. Research from the University of Michigan found that meetings with structured turn-taking and built-in reflection moments increased participation from neurodivergent team members by 56%.
ACTION: Build in reflection moments, use shared docs for before/after contributions, and normalize different response rhythms. Brilliance doesn’t always arrive on schedule.
From Awareness to Action
Talk is easy. Inclusive design takes intention. This month, try sending meeting agendas 48 hours early, offering a 5-minute sensory break during long calls, or starting a “Did You Know?” thread about neurodiversity in your team chat. Neuro-spacious work practices don’t just support neurodivergent folks—they make work better for everyone.
As the name LifeLabs Learning suggests, experimenting is in our DNA. Let’s keep testing and evolving our digital practices so that different minds can thrive together. After all, different operating systems just need different interfaces—but they’re all capable of brilliance.
Resources
Note: Some of the resources below link to academic journals that may require a subscription or institutional access.
World Economic Forum. (2025). Thriving workplaces: How employers can improve productivity and change lives.
Nadeau, D. (n.d.). How to help employees with ADHD address the challenges of remote work. MIT Sloan Management Review.
Euronews. (2022, December 1). Noisy workplace and better focus: How can neurodiverse employees benefit from working remotely?
Smith, J., & Johnson, L. (2024).A rapid review of supports for neurodivergent students in higher education. Implications for research and practice. Sage. 27(5).
Stanford Medicine. (2023, April 7). For better video meetings, try taking turns talking. Scope Blog.
Neurodiversity in Business & Birbeck University. (2024, September 30).
TechRSeries. (n.d.). 91% of neurodivergent people mask their symptoms at work, study shows.
McGuinness L, Abbot-Smith K, Gambi C. Seeing it in others versus doing it yourself: Social desirability judgements and conversation production data from autistic and non-autistic children. Autism. 2025 Apr;29(4):975-987. doi: 10.1177/13623613241292172. Epub 2024 Nov 4. PMID: 39497443; PMCID: PMC11967101.
Williams, C. (n.d.). Empowering voices: Fostering reflective dialogue and redefining research dynamics in participatory approaches with the autistic community. Journal of Participatory Research Methods.
GSA Network. (2022). Suggested practices for inclusive online spaces.
Diversity Certification. (n.d.). How leaders can encourage meeting participation and inclusivity for neurodivergent team members. DEIA Matters Blog.
Johnson, R. (n.d.). Neurodiverse Perceptions of Inclusivity in the W ceptions of Inclusivity in the Workplace. University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Beyond the Scope. (n.d.). Group work participation and neurodiversity. Substack.
Ingouf, Laura, “Neurodiversity and Online Communities: Why They Matter” (2021). Honors Theses. 126.
Bernstein, E., Shore, J., & Lazer, D. (2018). How intermittent breaks in interaction improve collective intelligence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(35), 8734–8739.
Stanford Graduate School of Business. (n.d.). Thinking inside the box: Why virtual meetings generate fewer ideas.
Stanford University. (2021, February). Four causes for ‘Zoom fatigue’ and their solutions.
Austin, R. D., & Pisano, G. P. (2017). Neurodiversity as a competitive advantage. Harvard Business Review, 95(3), 96–103.
Gorman, R., Layton, E., Njoroge, W. F. M., & Turchi, R. M. (2020). The experiences of autistic adults in the workplace: A qualitative study. Autism, 24(6), 1421–1430.