Seven in 10 neurodiverse employees are currently suffering with mental health issues, according to research from WTW’s Global Benefits Attitudes survey.
The survey of 4,129 UK employees from large and midsize private employers found just one in four (25%) neurodiverse employees feel financially secure and emotionally balanced, while only 36% feel they have good physical health.
Around half of neurodiverse employees feel burned out from work, compared with 38% for neurotypical employees.
Three in five neurodiverse employees have deferred healthcare, compared with only 29% of other employees. As a result, almost three quarters have suffered adverse healthcare from delaying or cancelling treatment. Deferred care includes those who delayed or cancelled care on their own, or had an appointment cancelled or delayed by a provider.
However, just two in five UK companies (38%) have incorporated inclusion and diversity priorities in their employee benefits strategy, according to WTW’s 2022 Wellbeing Diagnostic research with UK employers and according to WTW’s latest Emerging Trends in Healthcare Survey, only 1 in 5 employers (20%) have already implemented benefits and policies to help support neurodiversity. Though a further quarter of employers (24%) have plans to do so.
Neurodivergent employees say they want a greater focus on benefits that manage their emotional health (39%) and more flexibility in the workplace (38%). In addition, they would prefer more support around day-to-day finances, as 57% of colleagues are living payday-to-payday, compared with only 34% of neurotypical employees.
More than two thirds (67%) of neurodiverse employees say employers have made progress in showing greater empathy and understanding around issues of inclusion, diversity and discrimination, while 71% say there is greater visibility around inclusion and diversity as an important business issue and 67% say employers have become more open with talking about these issues at work
Lucie McGrath, wellbeing expert at WTW, said: “As more employers look to embed their Inclusion and Diversity strategy within their organisational culture, there is a growing focus on the role of benefits in delivery of inclusive care for employees.
“We’re also seeing some of the larger UK healthcare carriers introduce pathways to support assessment and diagnosis of neurodiverse conditions, which reflects that there’s a growing understanding that more support is needed in this area.
“There are varying levels of support and intervention that a company can engage with, such as reviewing specialist vendors, using insights and benchmarking and engaging in workshops to build an inclusive care strategy – but, doing something is better than nothing.”