Why many jobs can still be ‘ADHD Unfriendly’, despite employers offering accommodations

According to my best friend Chat GPT, there are 36 million jobs in the UK. The latest ONS Figures (Jan 2026) showed there are 30.3 payrolled employees aged 16-64 working in full or part-time work.

Lindsey Milner speaks and works to build cognitively inclusive workforces

So we could take a punt that the remaining 5.7 million jobs are perhaps filled by agency or freelance staff or currently waiting for the right recruit?

I’d guess some of these roles could be filled by people who are temporarily out of the workforce (or economically inactive) due to neurodivergent conditions, family caring responsibilities, mental health or lack of confidence.

If more working environments could adapt to individual’s strengths and skills – as opposed to adopting the  “one-sized fits all” approach we see in recruitment, I wonder if we could fill those gaps and make people feel safe to show up as themselves?

Let me explain:

The biggest challenge for someone with ADHD is having a weaker Executive Function. (EF). 

Our EF is commonly referred to as our brain’s “Air Traffic Controller” – it processes emotions, demands and should help direct our focus on what’s important.

EF Processing skills are needed in all jobs, to varying degrees, depending on the nature of the job itself.

Emotions, demands and focus should help turn our attention into intention at work so we can:

• Prioritize what tasks need to be done and when

• Start and complete tasks

• Utilize our working memory – to use new systems and processes

• Control our impulses to push past boredom or tasks we don’t like.

  
  

ChatGPT also informs me that almost 50-55% of jobs available in the UK require a good – strong executive function, defined by the job descriptions outlining duties including the need to prioritise, plan, continuously work to deadlines, juggle multiple tasks or projects at one time, and in some instances – simultaneously manage people.

Jobs that require ‘strong EF’ include

• Managers / directors / senior officials: 10%

• Professional occupations: 20%

• Associate professional / technical: 13%

• Administrative / secretarial: 10%

  
  

Now I need to put some important caveats in here: 

I’m NOT for a second suggesting that people with ADHD shouldn’t ever be in any of these jobs.

What is critical for anyone with ADHD is having a job where they have a genuine interest in the cause or sector and it incorporating some sort of novelty or creativity.

So as an example – I’ve  known two senior professionals in the advertising industry who are open about having ADHD or joke that they’re probably ADHD.

Someone with ADHD may still be the CEO or Managing Director because they find their industry fascinating and get to meet a diverse mix of people and no two days look the same. I’d also bet £20 that they see their job as an extension of themselves….. we tend to be “always on” people and our careers are an integral part of that.

This level of stimulation means our EF works exactly as it was intended to because our dopamine system is constantly being rewarded.

It’s where stimulation, interest and novelty do not feature, that we might need to be wary with ADHD employees.

So with  ADHD we need to consider job suitability based on two things:

1)      Is the job role of genuine interest to them and does it provide them with some form of novelty experience fairly frequently?

2)      What might the EF challenges be within this job AND can we support the person by reducing those challenges, so the person doesn’t need to mask too much (which can lead to burnout)?

Everyone who has ADHD will experience EF challenges in different ways and to many different extents + they may fluctuate at different stages of life (hey menopause!)

NB: Us ADHD-er’s aren’t all abysmal at all of the EF elements, all of the time in all scenarios. We’re not all ‘scatty’ or ‘forgetful’ or disorganised.

For example, I can be extremely organised at work and with my Children. It’s usually my own personal organisation that gets put to the bottom of my list and that’s where I’ll make classic ADHD mistakes and drop balls.

(still paying for subscriptions I should have cancelled 4 months ago  - yep that’s regular in my personal life☹)……..

In quite a few senior roles – Managerial, Director, Board Level or say Doctor, Senior Nurse or Associate ……. It’s common to see organisations offer staff additional support as part of the course / standard of accepting the role.

How often do we see Managers and Directors get access to a PA, Office Manager,or the Office Coordinator who routinely checks in on them and prioritizes their needs or urgent demands before allocating time to team support?

So my suggestion for dealing with open ADHD-ers or newly disclosed ADHD employees or candidates…….. is to have a conversation about whether they need elements of their job title or function adapting for them?

This isn’t about saying “oh you’re shit at admin, the Office Manager will do it all for you” and then you’ve got Paul and Jo in the Team whinging that’s not fair.

This is about appreciating where people have genuine struggles that affect their capacity and take too much time away from the USP’s that made you give them a job in the first place.

All the standard types of accommodations may need to be applied too…..  but can you also consider if adjusting the Job title or Job spec would really help this person THRIVE – with little changes including things like:

• Are there organisational elements of the job that could be reduced and can they be given more support from an Office Manager/ Coordinator / Admin support?

  
  

• Are there areas of their job which can be automated to support them with the routine and repetitive tasks that inevitably need to be done?

• Could the KPI’s of their job performance be tweaked slightly to better play to their strengths?

  
  

For example, say you have a Partnerships Manager who loves meeting people and presenting but does find socialising really draining – can they have a slightly lower meeting target but have a higher bespoke proposal target?

• Are there parts of their job that you can allow them to indulge their special interests? For example – allowing someone passionate about social justice or charity to head up the charity sector clients or to work on a new event attracting charity sector professionals?

• If someone is suffering from working memory problems with the amount of systems they have to use – Can someone in L&D support them to make videos / buddy system to support skill and learning development with no shame attached?

All of this is straight forward and easy to implement stuff that doesn’t have any cost. In fact, I’d go further and say this is  about  identifying and creating win-wins for BOTH  employer and employee.

I’d also suggest that any Hiring and Line Managers learn a bit more about Executive Function and Executive Dysfunction.

This can be a challenge for many of us, not just ADHD and autistic employees.

Pregnancy, menopause and mental health conditions can cause us to experience Executive Function dips. This doesn’t have to be viewed as an employee weakness nor used as a stick to berate people in performance reviews.

Executive function (EF) can fluctuate and we have to accept that the society we live in and the world of work, is taxing more and more of  all of our EF’s, thanks to heavy rise in technology at work.

Workplaces have a responsibility to consider this and perhaps should do annual or biannual internal tech audits and staff reviews?

In 2026  66% of marketing teams had to use 11 or more tech tools, with Sales & partnerships around 9-10, compared to less than 5 over 10 years ago!https://salestechstar.com/staff-writers/salestech-stack-fatigue-when-too-many-tools-break-the-funnel 

This is a LOT! 

Especially for generations of the workforce who didn’t grow up with tech.

Yes we all have a duty to adapt and learn but under what conditions and in what context?

Are we supporting all types of learners to keep up to date with tech and the new skills we need in this modern working world?

All this increasing awareness of neurodiversity and talk of accommodations IS BRILLIANT! It makes me feel happy to think we can support the next generations forge careers that are suited to their brains and bring them happiness and success.

I hope this is Phase 2:

Let’s utilise Positive Psychology to help younger people build careers that really suit them – as opposed to kicking them down the proverbial travelator of work until you retire – and who cares whether you love your job or not – it’s just what pays the bills.

NOOOOOOOO! Let’s help people work doing things that make them happy.

For the second jobbers, experienced jobbers, the Re-training and those “last decade” workers – let’s help people to understand their genuine suitability to a role and supporting them to thrive a develop as much as possible.

Surely this will be when true inclusion and psychological safety flourish?

If you have people in your Team who are curious to understand how to get the best out of Neurodivergent colleagues AND create more inclusive working environments, please get in touch via Speakers Collective.

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About Lindsey Milner - Speakers Collective

Lindsey Milner hugely passionate about breaking down the stigma of mental health, supporting neurodivergent Mothers and advocating for neuroinclusive and cognitively inclusive workplaces.

If you are interested in Lindsey Milner speaking at an event or hearing more about her work, please contact info@speakerscollective.org or via our contact form here.

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