![]() Haley Moss is a Miami-based lawyer and workplace consultant on issues of neurodiversity who has autism. But the change in routine-and the lack of structure-can cause its own issues. Or you can have individual supervisors be trained to act as mentors or job coaches."Īhern said if a person with ADHD is unable to concentrate at home, the company may opt to bring the person back into the office as part of a small crew.įor employees on the autism spectrum, working at home away from harsh lights and chitchat of an office can be a welcome sensory break. Maybe you have one-on-one sessions or break down the group. ![]() "If you have 50 people on Zoom and 49 are talking over each other, it can be overwhelming. The remedies can be technological, such as noise-cancelling headphones or an app that acts as a digital assistant to help manage tasks when there isn't a boss nearby to enforce structure. Try to see the situation from your employees' point of view. Schmidt advised companies to work together with neurodiverse employees to enable them to do their jobs. "Many people prefer to keep their health conditions private and may not have previously disclosed a condition to their employer. But just because the employee has not done so in the past doesn't mean there isn't a legitimate need for accommodations under the current circumstances."Ī reasonable accommodation in the office may look different at home. "An employer only has an obligation to accommodate those disabilities of which it is aware," said Ann-Marie Ahern, a Cleveland-based employment lawyer at McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co. It's up to the individual employee to disclose a disability to their employer. They must make "reasonable accommodations" that allow qualified employees to perform their jobs. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), companies with 15 or more employees cannot discriminate against them on the basis of disability. But they really need to focus on whether there is an obligation to engage in an interactive process and ultimately accommodate these kinds of conditions." ![]() "In the past, employers might have discounted these or brushed them aside. "The whole pandemic really highlights how employers need to focus on any accommodation obligations they have, particularly when it comes to non-obvious ones such as PTSD, autism, anxiety, depression," said Michael Schmidt, a labor and employment attorney with Cozen O'Connor in New York City. Employees with disabilities such as autism, dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as depression and severe anxiety, may need special accommodations to perform their jobs remotely, especially if working at home becomes a permanent condition. This new take on the home office can be distracting for anyone, but for neurodiverse employees, adjusting to a new setting can be even more daunting. For many employees working from home, an average day means wading through mile-long e-mail chains, chaotic meetings via Zoom and kids shouting in the background.
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