Neurodiversity and disability inclusion: winning with the expansion of PIEs.

Supporting neurodiversity and inclusion at work comes with hearing painful stories. In just one day, I’ve heard from a marketing expert with Long Covid who faces the demand to work entirely from the office or quit, a researcher kicked out of work after revealing he’s autistic and struggle to disclose their new position, and one HR professional said she discourages employees from asking for disability accommodations because “special treatment upsets the rest of the team.”

All this illustrates the struggle of neurodiversity and disability inclusion at work.

How the zero-sum mentality drives exclusion

Unfortunately, disability disclosure is often met with suspicion; many people do not ask for the accommodation they need for fear of abuse. When it comes to supporting neurodivergence, non-apparent and even apparent disabilities, or chronic illness, there is often an underlying tension, spoken or unspoken: Why should they be treated differently? Doesn’t that take away from others?

This “special treatment” reasoning stems from two flawed assumptions: that equity always means equality, and that supporting the success of some comes at the expense of others (zero-sum thinking). These flawed assumptions often stand in the way of inclusiveness and organizational success. Here’s how inclusive, win-win thinking can help challenge these assumptions:

1. Providing the same opportunities can come in different forms. All employees should be supported to work to the best of their ability. For someone with mobility differences, this could mean working sitting instead of standing. For others, it might mean flexibility to accommodate the energy fluctuations that accompany chronic illness or working in a private space to support focus and avoid sensory overload.

Humans are different, and facilitating our best productivity should come in different forms. In fact, waiting for equality is often exclusionary. Would we require employees who need glasses not to wear them because not everyone has glasses?

2. Success is not a zero sum game. Maximizing everyone’s productivity, in a way that includes and supports everyone, maximizes organizational performance and success, benefiting the organization and all employees. Enabling people to do their best is a win-win.

More broadly, much of the struggle around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) comes from seeing through the lens of zero-sum thinking: the belief that the success of a group or person occurs at the expense of another. When co-workers complain that a person with Long Covid has flexible hours or an autistic person works from a quiet space, there is an assumption of a finite pie of performance enablement, and each slice given to a person means less to another. The belief may persist even if the complaining coworker directly benefits from the productivity of a neurodivergent colleague.

Productivity without myths with Performance and Inclusion Enablers (PIE)

The myth of a limited success pie is just that, a myth. The truth is that by accessing peak performance, organizations achieve their own success.

Investing in inclusive practices is not about redistributing a finite pool of resources, but about increasing the overall potential of organizations’ workforces. When all employees are supported to maximize their productivity, everyone benefits.

Perhaps the adjustment language used in the US or even slightly less different adjustment language used in the UK takes the focus away from this universal benefit. It sounds so “special”, so individual. So the other

And if we focus Performance and Inclusion Enablers (PIE), underscoring the idea that supporting performance benefits everyone? What creates more cake for everyone?

My approach to neurodiversity and intersectional inclusion, The Canary Code model, calls for expanding the pie by making work as flexible and accommodating as possible for everyone. Canaries were used in UK coal mines to detect toxic air until the 1980s. Like canaries, neurodivergent and disabled employees feel productivity limitations in the workplace more acutely than other employees. And removing these limitations for everyone benefits everyone.

If the flexibility that allows an employee dealing with Long Covid to work also helps carers, why not think of flexibility as an enabler of performance and inclusion?

If working in a quiet place helps autistic people, introverts and anyone doing deep work, why not support everyone instead of holding on to the debunked myth that open offices improve collaboration?

Although adaptations may still be required in some cases, more flexible work environments will render many previously “special” arrangements unnecessary. These environments will also remove the productivity limitations felt by most employees and help the organization thrive.

The productivity pie increases when it’s shared.

Achieving this higher pay may require adjusting traditional management thinking, such as the assumption that employees must be supervised if they are to perform. If monitoring is seen as a key part of management, flexibility, whether as an accommodation or as part of the overall work design, is likely to be seen as the enemy of performance. Monitoring, however, is neither the only nor the best way to ensure performance. In fact, research shows it’s detrimental to employee mental health and performance. On the other hand, evaluating work based on results (one of the principles of the Canary Code, along with participation, flexibility, transparency, justice and valid measurement) supports unsupervised performance. An example of creating an inclusive, flexible and highly productive culture is Shopify, known for treating employees like responsible adults.

The zero-sum, limited-pie mentality fuels exclusion and slows the adoption of essential mechanisms for inclusion and performance. It also stunts the organizational growth, innovation, and overall success that comes from inclusive, people-centered practices. In an economy driven by innovation, organizations cannot afford to perpetuate this limited mindset. The PIE approach not only solves problems for neurodivergent and disabled employees, but creates an environment where all employees benefit and where organizations as a whole become stronger, more innovative and more resilient. It’s a real win-win.

This article uses the terminology preferred by the autistic community.