October is ADHD Awareness Month, giving us an opportunity to talk openly about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), challenge some of the stereotypes that still exist and look at how we can better support neurodivergent people in the workplace. Read on how to support employees with ADHD.

When someone says ADHD, what immediately comes to mind?

Someone who can’t sit still?

Someone who’s easily distracted?

Someone who’s always interrupting?

While these can be associated with ADHD, they certainly don’t tell the whole story.

ADHD can affect attention, organisation, working memory, impulse control, time management and the ability to start or switch between tasks.

And importantly, ADHD doesn’t look the same in everyone.

For employers and managers, understanding this can make a real difference to how we support people at work.

What can ADHD look like in the workplace?

An employee with ADHD may be extremely capable and knowledgeable but find certain everyday tasks surprisingly difficult.

For example, they might:

• forget verbal instructions
• struggle to decide which task should be done first
• lose track of time
• find repetitive admin difficult to start
• become distracted in a busy environment
• struggle to remember appointments or deadlines
• interrupt during conversations or meetings
• start several jobs without completing the first
• become overwhelmed when given too much information at once
• hyperfocus on something and lose awareness of time

It’s easy to look at some of these behaviours and make assumptions.

“They’re disorganised.”

“They don’t listen.”

“They need to manage their time better.”

“If they concentrated, they’d get it done.”

But what’s happening underneath the behaviour may be very different.

Understanding the why can help us find a much more effective solution.

“I was listening – I just forgot”

Working memory can be particularly relevant for some people with ADHD.

Imagine a manager saying:

“Can you finish that report, email the customer, check tomorrow’s bookings and speak to accounts before lunch?”

The employee may have listened to every word.

But by the time they return to their desk, parts of that instruction may already have disappeared.

That isn’t necessarily because they weren’t paying attention or didn’t care.

There was simply a lot of information to hold in their working memory at once.

A very small change can help:

Put the important points in writing.

An email, message, checklist or task management system means the person doesn’t have to rely entirely on remembering a verbal conversation.

And let’s face it – that can benefit everyone, whether they have ADHD or not.

Why can starting a simple task feel so difficult?

This can be one of the harder aspects of ADHD for people who don’t experience it to understand.

Someone might spend hours working intensely on a complicated project but struggle to start a simple five-minute admin task.

From the outside, that doesn’t seem to make sense.

“If you can do that, surely you can just do this?”

But ADHD can affect executive functioning, including the ability to initiate tasks.

A task that’s repetitive, unclear, overwhelming or not particularly stimulating can be much harder to start.

This is where breaking work into smaller steps can help.

Instead of:

“Complete the monthly report.”

Try:

“Gather last month’s figures and add them to the report by 11am.”

One clear first step can feel much more manageable than one large task.

ADHD and the dreaded “doom pile”

Have you ever had a pile of paperwork you keep meaning to sort?

A chair covered in clothes?

Hundreds of unread emails?

Twenty browser tabs open because you might need them later?

The term “doom pile” is sometimes used informally to describe the collections of things that build up when sorting and organising feels overwhelming.

It isn’t a medical term or diagnostic sign of ADHD, but it’s something many people with ADHD can relate to.

And doom piles aren’t always physical.

They might be:

• unread emails
• unanswered messages
• unfinished paperwork
• expenses waiting to be submitted
• files scattered across a desktop
• several half-finished jobs
• notifications that need dealing with

The bigger the pile gets, the more overwhelming it becomes.

The more overwhelming it becomes, the easier it is to avoid.

Sometimes a better approach is simply:

Deal with five things.

Five emails.

Five documents.

Five items from the pile.

Not everything.

Just five.

Making the starting point smaller can make a task feel much more achievable.

Could your meetings be making things harder?

Think about your last team meeting.

Was there an agenda?

Did it start and finish on time?

Did the conversation jump between subjects?

Were people expected to listen, process information, make notes and remember their own actions?

And afterwards, were those actions actually written down?

Meetings can create a lot of information to process.

Some simple changes can make them much more accessible:

• send an agenda beforehand
• keep the meeting focused
• avoid unnecessary meetings
• provide important information in writing
• clearly identify who is responsible for each action
• include deadlines
• send a short written summary afterwards

One particularly useful habit is ending every meeting with three questions:

What have we agreed?

Who is doing what?

When does it need to be done?

Again, these aren’t changes that only benefit somebody with ADHD.

They’re simply good communication.

ADHD doesn’t always look like hyperactivity

One of the reasons ADHD can sometimes go unrecognised is because people still have a particular image of what ADHD is supposed to look like.

Not everybody with ADHD is visibly hyperactive.

Some people predominantly experience inattentive symptoms.

They may appear quiet but struggle internally with concentration, organisation, forgetfulness or maintaining attention.

They might have spent years developing their own coping strategies.

Endless lists.

Multiple alarms.

Arriving extremely early because they’re frightened of being late.

Writing everything down.

Working late to catch up.

Constantly checking things because they’re worried they’ve forgotten something.

From the outside, that person may appear incredibly organised.

What you don’t see is the amount of energy it takes to maintain it.

Why ADHD can be missed in women

Awareness around ADHD in women has increased significantly.

Historically, research and recognition of ADHD focused heavily on boys and more obvious hyperactive or disruptive behaviours.

Girls and women whose difficulties are less outwardly visible can therefore be overlooked.

Some women may experience more inattentive traits or become skilled at masking and compensating for their difficulties.

Instead of causing disruption, they may internalise their struggles.

They might wonder:

“Why does everyone else seem able to manage this?”

“Why am I always overwhelmed?”

“Why do I need lists for everything?”

“Why can I never keep on top of things?”

For some women, difficulties become more noticeable as the demands of adult life increase.

However, it’s important to remember that experiencing forgetfulness, overwhelm or poor concentration does not automatically mean someone has ADHD.

ADHD is a recognised neurodevelopmental condition, and diagnosis requires an appropriate professional assessment.

Awareness should help us understand ADHD better – not encourage us to diagnose ourselves or our colleagues based on a checklist.

What can employers do to support employees with ADHD?

There isn’t one adjustment that will work for every person with ADHD.

That’s because there isn’t one type of person with ADHD.

The best starting point is often simply to ask the individual what helps them work effectively.

Depending on the person and their role, useful approaches might include:

Written instructions

Follow important verbal conversations with written actions.

Clear priorities

If five jobs are all described as urgent, deciding where to begin can be difficult.

Smaller steps

Break large or open-ended projects into manageable stages.

Fewer unnecessary distractions

For some employees, quieter working areas or protected focus time may help.

Useful reminders

Calendars, alarms, visual prompts and task management systems can reduce reliance on working memory.

Structured meetings

Agendas, clear actions and written follow-ups can make meetings easier to navigate.

Regular check-ins

A short conversation can help clarify priorities before someone becomes overwhelmed.

But don’t automatically decide what somebody needs simply because they’ve told you they have ADHD.

Ask them.

Neuroinclusive doesn’t mean lowering standards

This is an important point.

Supporting a neurodivergent employee doesn’t mean expecting less from them.

It can simply mean recognising that there may be different ways of reaching the same outcome.

If an employee produces excellent work but needs written instructions rather than verbal ones, does it really matter?

If someone concentrates better while using a fidget or doodling during a meeting, does that automatically mean they aren’t engaged?

If a visual task board helps someone manage their workload better than a traditional to-do list, why not use it?

Sometimes workplaces continue doing things in a particular way simply because:

“That’s how we’ve always done it.”

ADHD Awareness Month gives us an opportunity to question whether those systems actually work for everyone.

🧠 Learning Corner: Try this with your team

Take five minutes and look at how you communicate tasks in your workplace.

Ask yourself:

Are instructions clear?

Are important actions written down?

Do employees know which tasks are genuinely the priority?

Could our meetings be shorter or more structured?

Are we giving people the opportunity to tell us what helps them work effectively?

You don’t need to redesign your entire workplace overnight.

Start with one thing.

Because sometimes the smallest adjustment can remove a barrier you didn’t even realise was there.

Understanding starts with awareness

ADHD Awareness Month isn’t about putting everybody into boxes.

It’s about moving away from assumptions.

Someone who forgets something isn’t automatically careless.

Someone who struggles with organisation isn’t automatically lazy.

Someone who doodles in a meeting isn’t automatically ignoring you.

And someone who appears to be coping perfectly well may be putting an enormous amount of effort into doing so.

The more we understand neurodiversity, the easier it becomes to have better conversations, create more supportive workplaces and allow people to work in ways that bring out their strengths.

Neurodiversity Awareness Training

At HMB Training Services, we provide Neurodiversity Awareness Training to help businesses and organisations develop a better understanding of ADHD, autism and neurodivergence.

Our training focuses on practical understanding – helping managers and teams recognise that different people may communicate, process information and work in different ways.

If you’d like to discuss Neurodiversity Awareness Training for your workplace, get in touch with HMB Training Services.

Let’s create workplaces where people aren’t expected to think in exactly the same way to be valued for what they can contribute.

Our Neurodiversity Training – How to Support Employees with ADHD

Neurodiversity Training for the Workplace for managers, HR personnel and colleagues. The session aims to increase awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace and allow attendees the opportunity to discuss workplace specific circumstances, develop strategies to support a neurodivergent workforce and identify the next steps for their organisation.

The course includes:

• Overview of Neurodiversity
  • Why neurodiversity is important
  • Associated neurodevelopmental conditions
  • Neurodiversity, mental health and wellbeing
• Overview of Autism Spectrum Conditions
  • Communication differences
  • Strategies to ensure effective communication
• Cognitive Differences in autism
  • Strengths and challenges
• Sensory Differences
  • Breakdown of senses
  • Hyper/Hypo sensitivity
  • Environmental considerations
• Neurodiversity best practice in the workplace
  • Examples of reasonable adjustments:
    • Recruitment processes
    • In the workplace

Our Neurodiversity Training is fully interactive with lots of practical games and tasks to perform, including a lot of opportunities for discussions to embed learning. Summer Routines That Support Neurodivergent Children

More information click here; https://hmbtrainingservices.co.uk/latest-news/offer/neurodiversity-training-for-the-workplace