Neurodivergence and Building Resilience at Work

May 29, 2025

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Mental resilience is an essential skill to master for achieving positive well-being at work. Each and every job has aspects which one might find challenging, and working through these challenges requires resilience and practice. Research suggests that individuals who are neurodivergent may face additional stressors in the workplace, making mastering skills which may mitigate some of these stressors of the utmost importance. Resilience is a bit like a muscle, and strengthening it helps people to cope effectively with stress, manage their workloads efficiently and build positive working relationships.

There is a lot of information online about workplace resilience. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is deciding what information is the most relevant and useful for inspiring real growth and change. We’ve outlined below what, based upon research, we believe to be some of the quickest, simplest and most interesting strategies we can all use to help build our resilience in the workplace.

What is resilience?

Resilience is a crucial skill that can help us learn, grow, and thrive in the workplace. It refers to the ability to recover from failures and challenges, adapt to changing situations, and maintain a positive mindset in the face of adversity. This enables us to bounce back from challenges and become even stronger than we were before.

The importance of resilience?

Adaptability: Having mental resilience helps individuals adapt to changing situations, rebound from unexpected setbacks and cope better with stress, high pressure situations and challenges.

Mental wellness: Resilience can protect against mental health difficulties, such as depression and anxiety. Furthermore, resilient employees may have better self-esteem because they can handle the challenges they face at work with greater confidence.

Problem solving skills: Individuals who are resilient are able to solve problems with more ease whilst remaining positive, leading to improved job performance.

Motivation: Employees who are resilient are less likely to lose motivation whilst working and therefore are less likely to experience workplace burnout. Improved focus and motivation may also lead to higher productivity and therefore better performance at work, which may increase an individual’s job satisfaction. Feeling more satisfied at work has been shown to improve an individual’s overall wellbeing.

Neurodiversity and the workplace

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Neurodiversity refers to the natural differences in how individuals think and interact with the world. Up to 20 percent of the global population are neurodivergent, meaning their minds diverge from what is considered typical; though there is no right way of thinking and learning, as we all have different strengths and things we find challenging. Neurodivergent conditions include dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, amongst others.

Many neurodivergent individuals can have excellent memories, possess great attention to detail, can be highly creative and honest, and can become experts in their areas of interest. Studies have shown that having a neurodiverse workplace can boost an organisation’s innovation and problem-solving capabilities, making neurodivergent individuals an asset to many organisations.

However, the workplace can sometimes be a challenging place for neurodivergent workers, with many reporting feeling overwhelmed at work. Therefore, it is incredibly important for employers to make appropriate accommodations to support workers to perform to the best of their abilities. Additionally, learning strategies which strengthen resilience may help reduce feelings of overwhelm in neurodivergent workers and increase their overall productivity and wellbeing at work.

Possible workplace challenges for neurodivergent workers

Individuals who are neurodivergent may experience workplace challenges based on the differences in how they learn, think and process information. Areas of difficulties may be related to social interactions, sensory sensitivities, communication differences, learning differences and executive functioning.

Neurodivergent individuals may experience some of the following challenges:

Sensory challenges, such as bright lights or crowded, noisy spaces
Dealing with criticism
Handling office politics
Unclear job expectations
Disagreements between colleagues
Balancing workload
Becoming familiar with the workplace culture, policies and processes
Tackling unfamiliar tasks
Difficulty forming workplace friendships
Coping with unexpected changes and challenges

With the right support and training, challenges can be overcome with confidence and the workplace can become an environment where all individuals can flourish and experience fulfillment.

Ways to build resilience at work

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There are many documented ways in which employers can create a working environment which fosters resilience in their workers, however, there are also lots of tools and techniques you can master in order to empower yourself and strengthen your resilience to thrive in the workplace.

Overcoming workplace challenges

Asking for workplace adjustments: Ask what your employers are doing to support neurodivergent talent at your workplace. You can ask management if there are any genuine support structures in place that consider the well-being of and reasonable adjustments for neurodivergent employees. Ask to implement things which can create a calmer, productive working environment for yourself. For example, if you work best when listening to music, ask your manager if it is possible for you to listen to music while carrying out certain tasks. If you find it challenging speaking to your employer about making workplace adjustments, there are many organisations which offer advocacy and Workplace Needs Assessments, such as Exceptional Individuals, who can help support you in the process.

Coping with noise: Many neurodivergent individuals may find it difficult to filter out irrelevant sounds, making loud, busy workplaces challenging environments to process information in. Therefore, requesting breaks, noise-cancelling headphones, or areas to work in which are quieter, may be helpful, to enable you to perform at your best.

Coping with mental health challenges at work: Seek support for any underlying conditions, such as Anxiety and depression. Many organisations have employee assistant schemes where individuals can receive emotional support and counselling if required.

Managing unclear job expectations: Make sure you read your job specification fully, in order to better understand your responsibilities and learn more about the job role. If needed, having a meeting with your supervisor to clarify the expectations of your role, may help you feel more confident about performing your job.

Coping with disagreements between colleagues: Scheduling time to sit down and speak with colleagues who you may be having problems with may be helpful in handling workplace disagreements. Speaking to human resources (HR), or your supervisor may also be useful.

Manage work-life balance: If there is the opportunity for flexible working arrangements, such as working from home, or taking half-days, if needed, utilise these to manage your work-life balance and help reduce stress.

Organising your workload

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Identify what times during the workday you have the most energy and if possible try and work on your most important tasks around this time of day. You may find it is easier to concentrate and complete tasks during this period of time.

At the start of the workday it may be helpful to create a list of tasks to complete in order of importance. Plan when you will spend time on each task.

Breakdown each task into small achievable goals, with individual timeframes for completion, instead of trying to tackle everything at once.

Vary the types of tasks you wish to complete so you’re not doing lots of stressful tasks, or tasks you find boring all at once.

Remember to take regular breaks to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

Utilise your support network and colleagues by delegating tasks when needed, or asking for a helping hand, or advice. Delegating some tasks may free up time for you to work on more urgent, or important tasks.

Say no to taking on extra tasks if you feel that you won’t be able to complete them.

Don’t agree to completing jobs in unrealistic time frames. Having to complete too many tasks in a short period of time can lead to stress and burnout.

Identify any possible barriers which may prevent you from completing your tasks and try and brainstorm ways to tackle them.

Managing your mindset

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Identify your ‘high stress’ situations: Noticing when you may be starting to struggle can help you plan and prepare ways to deal with some challenging situations before they occur. You may be beginning to struggle with a task, or situation when you notice changes in the way you act, think and feel. These may include feeling isolated, negative and unable to concentrate.

Abandon Perfectionism: Whilst it’s admirable to always try to do things perfectly at work, not all things are within your control and so things may not always go the way you would want them to. In short, perfection is unattainable and seeking it at work may actually result in decreased motivation, increased anxiety and emotional exhaustion. Instead, setting realistic work goals and striving to work as well as you can in each individual situation, may increase your sense of satisfaction and achievement at work.

Managing negative thinking: After tackling a challenging task you can ask yourself what went right and what you did right, rather than what went wrong, or what mistakes you may have made. Reflecting on tasks in this way may help you to manage negative thinking and help foster positivity.

Perspective shift: When presented with a challenge, try not to focus on the problem, but instead focus on looking for a solution to solve it. This illustrates solution-focused thinking which can help you develop an optimistic outlook, boost confidence and enhance problem solving abilities.

Reflect: After experiencing challenging situations, make time to reflect and identify what steps you were able to take to cope with each situation.

Managing stress

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Suffering from stress can reduce our resilience by affecting our capacity to cope with changes and challenges.

Relaxation techniques/ breath-based practices: There are many practices which can help with relaxation and reducing stress, such as mindfulness, meditation, yoga, pilates, qigong, guided imagery, deep breathing and prayer.

Self-care: Spending time outside of work engaging in hobbies and activities that nurture you is a great way to relieve stress.

Physical health: Try and look after your physical health by including physical activity in your daily routine. Exercise helps increase endorphins, helping you to de-stress and cope better with adversity.

Sleep: Having poor sleep makes us vulnerable to stress, and so making sure you get enough sleep may help you manage stress levels.

Healthy diet: Eating a well-balanced diet, focusing on nutrient-rich foods, can help boost energy levels. Higher energy levels may make it easier for us to concentrate and stay motivated while completing tasks. Additionally, a balanced diet may improve our overall health, enhancing our ability to cope with stress.

Building social connections and support: Maintaining strong, healthy bonds with colleagues, friends and loved ones can provide you with needed emotional and practical support through challenges. Helpful ways to expand your support network include lending a hand, attending social work events, trying to volunteer, or joining a sport, faith, or hobby group.

Fostering growth

Ask for feedback: Ask for constructive and positive feedback from your peers and management. This allows for learning and support and helps you to identify your strengths.

Step outside of your comfort zone: Offer to take on different tasks to learn new skills, or develop existing skills. This will give you the opportunity to practise tackling difficult projects.

Upskilling: Try speaking to your employer about undertaking additional skills training to help you develop more confidence when carrying out some workplace tasks.

Live in line with your values: Your personal values shape how you experience and interact with the world and are the principles and beliefs which you consider to be of central importance. Research has shown that when you connect with what is most important to you and live in line with your values it can increase your sense of satisfaction with life and can act as a barrier against stress and bolster your resilience. There are many different values one can hold, some common ones include adaptability, creativity, integrity, loyalty and forgiveness. It can be useful to spend some time identifying your values and seeking out work which really matters to you.

Conclusion

Outlined above are just a few of the ways in which you can empower yourself and boost your resilience to succeed at work. If you want to learn more about the ways in which you can be supported in the workplace, Exceptional Individuals has many resources, including offering free Workplace Needs Assessments. A Workplace Needs Assessment can identify solutions to workplace challenges and provide any support which may be needed to help you perform at your best.

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Sources

Blog Author

Yzu

Yzu is an author and content writer. Her academic specialisms lie within occupational psychology and neuroscience, with special interests in neurodiversity and coaching.

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