Yet, diagnosis rates of the condition are rocketing across all age groups and employment lawyers are now being flooded with enquiries from people who are concerned about how their condition has been handled at work.
Businesses are being forced to pay attention.
Bahar Khorram is one of those people. The IT executive was working at Capgemini, the global consultancy firm. While on her probation period, she started struggling with her tasks and asked for support.
“I was trying to avoid taking the legal route because I really liked the company. This was my dream job, I loved it, and I knew I could do it. So I was trying to manage it in my head and trying to do what they asked. But when I realised that I couldn’t, I was experiencing anxiety,” she said.
“I started losing a lot of weight, I went to the doctor, and I sat there, and I burst into tears, and he said, ‘you are depressed, and you have anxiety.'”
Not everyone’s experience is the same, but people with the condition might have difficulty concentrating on certain tasks or remembering instructions. They might struggle with organisation and restlessness.
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Last month, an employment tribunal in London found Capgemini failed to provide the recommended neurodiversity awareness training, and this amounted to discrimination.
In a statement, the company said: “Capgemini is deeply committed to building a truly inclusive and diverse workplace, where everyone feels valued and respected.
“We continuously strengthen our culture of inclusion through employee networks, training, and open dialogue, ensuring that every voice is heard. We don’t comment on specific employees.”
An issue for businesses across the country
The Capgemini case is not remote or isolated. The decision has ramifications for businesses across the country, especially as rates of ADHD diagnosis are climbing.
Official data analysed by Sky News shows the number of people in work with disabilities or long-term health conditions has risen by 21% since the pandemic. That includes a 35% jump in workers with learning difficulties and mental conditions like ADHD.
Many of these people will already be in work and are being diagnosed as adults. This is a trend that is particularly pronounced among older women, with ADHD traditionally having been underdiagnosed in young girls.
However, it will also affect the future workforce. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the number of disabled children with ADHD as their main condition has more than doubled – from 38,000 in 2013 to 66,000 in 2023.
It means the profile of the workforce is changing, and businesses will have to think hard about how they can harness the potential and meet the needs of their workers to maximise their productivity.
A growing legal issue
Failure to do so could also have legal consequences. Although not every case of ADHD meets the definition of a disability, employment lawyers are increasingly receiving enquiries about possible discrimination related to neurodivergent conditions, especially since the pandemic.
Elizabeth McGlone, an employment lawyer at the law firm Didlaw, said every other enquiry she receives now relates to neurodiversity, up from one in every 10 or 20 before the pandemic.
“So the classic scenario is performance. They’re struggling at work in relation to time management, attendance, assimilating information, assimilating tasks, prioritising. And it’s not so much that they can’t do the job, they are just not having enough adjustments made to be able to do the job,” she said.
“I do think employers have greater responsibilities. I do also think it depends on the size and the resources of your business. So for a smaller business, it’s going to be much more difficult to make great changes. But some of the changes don’t have to be that significant.
“They can be as small as moving someone’s desk so they haven’t got as much surrounding noise, or making sure that they are taking regular rest breaks.”
Grey areas
However, not all cases are clear-cut. Neurodiversity sits on a spectrum, and a diagnosis can create grey areas for businesses, where it is difficult to determine how much of a role the condition is playing in an employee’s performance at work.
“You don’t want to be cynical,” said Ms McGlone.
“Obviously, you take everybody at face value, but I have had chronological circumstances where somebody has got performance issues, the employer isn’t aware of any diagnosis, then a diagnosis has been sought and confirmed… sometimes you do feel some element of it being contrived, but that’s very, very few and far between.”
