Working for PEGS is incredibly rewarding, but we also recognise that supporting those affected by Child to Parent Abuse can also be emotionally tough, too. And when it comes to those who have either diagnosed or suspected neurodivergences,

there are additional challenges which they may have to overcome in the average workday.

That’s why providing tailored support for all of our team members is a central part of the way we work. We regularly review what’s on offer to help staff who may have one or multiple diagnoses (or be going through the referral process), not only drawing on best practice and great examples from across the social enterprise and wider business world, but also encouraging team members to feed back on what’s working well and what could be introduced to support them further.

Why is this important?

The term neurodivergence covers a whole range of conditions, all of which result from a difference within the brain which affects how a person thinks, learns or behaves.

• Between 3% and 4% of the population is estimated to have ADHD (either diagnosed or undiagnosed) according to NICE.

• Data released by The Owl Centre shows 80% of adults assessed for ADHD have never received any workplace support or reasonable adjustments.

• There are around 700,000 people diagnosed with autism in the UK (British Medical Association), but University College London researchers say the number if undiagnosed adults is substantial – potentially bringing that total to more than 1.2 million just in England.

• The British Dyslexia Association estimates between 10% and 15% of the world’s population has dyslexia.

How can employers support staff?

If there’s one thing we have prioritised when it comes to staff support since PEGS launched, it’s been asking the team what works for them. Everyone has different needs and even people with the same diagnosis will be impacted in differing ways.

That’s why talking to the person (if they are comfortable doing so, and have specifically told you as their employer about their diagnosis) is absolutely crucial. We offer flexible working arrangements, so that people can self-manage their time around any specific commitments like meetings and sessions with parents. This means some people choose to work from home more often, while others like to come into the office every day. For some, longer and fewer days works best, while others prefer to work a traditional 9 to 5.

As far as feasible, we’re also never prescriptive about what tasks teams should complete in what order. Sometimes, it might be easier for people – especially those with ADHD, for example – to work on a specific type of task depending on how they are feeling at that time. So, where we can, we will always empower staff to determine their own schedules.

Support and Empower

Regardless of where and how they work, every team member has access to a health cash plan provided by the lovely people at Paycare. This not only helps with the costs of accessing everyday health treatments and screenings, but also enables them to call a confidential support line free of charge – whatever it is they want to talk about. And they also get access to video and phone calls with a doctor, making it much easier to get an appointment at a time and location to suit themselves.

We’d never claim to get it right all of the time, but we will always try our best!

Sometimes it’s a case of trying different ways of working until we land on a solution that is beneficial for the staff member themselves and for PEGS as a whole. But ultimately, not only do we have a moral duty to effectively support the health and wellbeing of our team members, it also makes sense: adapting to practices which best suit them means we get the very best out of our staff, which means the parents and carers we work with receive the very best support too.