Why Neurodivergent Employees Often Look Disorganised
Personal Account
But I am disorganised, aren’t I?
I lose things. I forget where I’ve put them. I swear I put something in a certain place and then — bam — it’s gone. WTF.
I’m late. Or technically “on time” but running in like my life depends on it. I have piles of doom, as my husband calls them, all over the house. I’ve had colleagues and bosses look at my desk in complete dismay.
I put things in places I know I’ll sort later because it creates a visual to-do list in my brain.
I’ll sort that later today.
I’ll do that this week.
Next time I get a free moment.
That needs doing before the end of the month.
Then eventually:
Oh God, I hate that pile. I can’t even face it.
Time? I have no idea where it goes.
In her book Your Brain’s Not Broken, Tamara Rosier recommends creating a visual image or metaphor of your ADHD. One of the strongest representations for me was a time stealer — some kind of portal that suddenly snatches time away when I’m not looking.
Sometimes it feels like I’m moving in slow motion, or I enter a flow state and then glance at the clock only to realise an hour has disappeared.
Obviously, time hasn’t actually vanished — time blindness is a common ADHD trait.
Over the years I’ve created little systems to help:
alarms
family members shouting time warnings through the house (I’m not the only one here with time blindness 😆)
music playlists to get ready to (idea given by Henry Shelford, founder of ADHD UK)
fast-forwarding clocks to trick myself (doesn’t always work)
I now know:
a quick shower takes me around 10 minutes
school-run makeup takes about 8 minutes
5 minutes if I’m wearing sunglasses 😆
Work makeup takes considerably longer
Teaching and ADHD Chaos
As a primary school teacher, there was endless paperwork, planning, admin and organisation.
I would need resources and information to be at hand often in a moment’s notice:
planning
worksheets
permission slips
timetables
marking
physical resources
lists
books
Yes, there are storage solutions for the children’s books but I only had a desk to keep many of these things.
Then during the day, the children complete the work, but the books are with SLT, so now you’ve got 30 worksheets floating around waiting to be marked!
The artwork is drying around all available space in the classroom.
The maths resources haven’t made it back to the cupboard because you’ve been teaching all day.
Then your husband calls:
“The youngest is sick. Can you pick her up?”
Before you know it, the classroom really does look like a bomb has gone off and you don’t have time to sort it.
You can have brilliant routines and organisational systems in place and still struggle to stay on top of it all at times. Add ADHD into the mix and it can become a recipe for disaster.
So yes — that was basically my life.
The problem was I had ADHD and didn’t know it until my early 40s.
Now I understand why I covered walls with reminders and visual prompts. If I can’t see something, it genuinely stops existing in my brain.
I would try to use folders and filing systems like my neat, organised colleagues, but then I’d completely forget they existed and never open them again.
Same with emails.
Same with conversations.
Into the brain. Straight out again.
Information needs to be visual for me.
I’ve also learnt that everything needs a “home”. If things have a place, I’m far less likely to lose them.
It still happens daily, but now I understand myself better.
If I’ve lost my keys, I can usually retrace my steps and think:
“Right, I was trying to leave the house while grabbing my coat, bag and children…”
Ah yes.
They’re in the downstairs toilet again. 😆
The Science
At a basic level, neurodivergence refers to differences in how brains process information and experience the world.
One area often affected in ADHD is the prefrontal cortex — essentially the brain’s management system. This area helps with:
working memory
planning
emotional regulation
decision-making
organisation
impulse control
Many of the things I mentioned above are linked to my ADHD traits. They may look different for somebody else.
By the time I was diagnosed, I had already spent years unknowingly creating coping strategies and workarounds.
Once I understood my brain worked differently, I stopped trying to force myself to work like everyone else and started creating systems that worked for my brain instead of against it.
You can’t remove neurodivergence, but you can create environments, systems and supports that help people thrive.
Life doesn’t always have to feel like you’re running a race while tripping over every hurdle as everyone else glides past effortlessly.
What Can Employers Do?
ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and OCD can all create different workplace barriers depending on the individual.
Sometimes “disorganisation” is actually a symptom of:
overwhelm
cognitive overload
poor systems
unclear communication
unsupported neurodivergence
And sometimes it’s simply a different way of functioning.
Ultimately, businesses want productive, happy employees who can perform well and contribute positively to the workplace.
If disorganisation is affecting performance, productivity or communication, the answer shouldn’t immediately be judgement.
I think one of the worst things an employer can do is assume somebody is:
lazy
careless
disrespectful
unmotivated
without first trying to understand what may be happening underneath that behaviour.
Research first.
Learn first.
Ask questions first.
Then explore ways of working that support neurodivergent employees rather than constantly forcing them to work against their brains.
Small adjustments, understanding and supportive systems can make an enormous difference — not just to employee wellbeing, but to confidence, retention and performance too.
If anything in this blog resonated with you, please follow my social media pages.
And if you’d like to discuss ways I may be able to support your workplace, feel free to get in touch.
