Out of office. Away. Less responsive.

Picture this: your employer buys you a new sleek and modern office chair with in-built lumbar support that promises to revolutionise the way you team work. 

You’re told that this legendary chair has extensive ergonomic benefits and has been tested in thousands of other offices, – ‘oh, how they love it’. But not you. Every few minutes you pause to wriggle, trying to get comfortable in the too-hard seat, wondering if perhaps you got the wrong model.

This is Mika’s* daily experience in the workplace . Except Mika’s chair is not a chair. Mika’s chair is an app. A 21st century office staple, the leading instant messaging app for businesses, Slack. 

For Mika, who is neurodivergent, apps like Slack or Teams aren’t a productivity hack.

At best they’re distracting but ultimately they can be debilitating. 

“Every time you get a notification from anything, you waste time,” Mika tells FW. “It takes you a long time to refocus back on what you were working on, and sometimes it’s completely pointless because it’s not urgent.” 

When used properly, instant messaging is a handy real-time communication tool. It’s reported to improve efficiency, productivity, communication and culture. But for neurodivergent employees, these tools may be achieving  the inverse of their stated aim. 

“If you’re autistic, generally, you’re going to be asking for really clear and concise communications [and] if this conversation is a really passive ‘we should do this, someone should do this’, you’re that person going, ‘I don’t understand social cues here, am I meant to be doing this?’” Mika says. “It’s much clearer if it’s just, ‘hey, I am asking you to do this, this is your deadline’.”

“It takes you a long time to refocus back on what you were working on, and sometimes it’s completely pointless because it’s not urgent.” 

It’s estimated that somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of the world’s population is neurodiverse. This broad, non-medical term describes people whose brains develop and work differently – think ADHD, autism, dyslexia or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Mika is one of the roughly 5 million Australians who fit into this category. For her, instant messaging feeds into a broader culture of always-on hustle. A message is not just a message for Mika. It’s an urgent call that demands an immediate response. 

The culture these messaging tools fuel is one of around-the-clock availability. They are built on an assumption that all team members have the capacity to be constantly responsive, while still delivering on the core elements of their job.

Mika is whip-smart with an exceptional eye for detail, strategy and knack for punching out highly polished work if her needs are accommodated. The problem is that standard office infrastructure was not built for Mika. It was intended to support a neurotypical person’s way of working. 

“I can’t handle the amount of energy required to constantly have messages popping up, to hear dings, if you [or someone else in your office] have the sound turned on,” Mika says.

“Not only can I not focus, I start to go into sensory overload, I can’t deal with all those sounds.. I’m not against any one mode of communication, but instant messenger chats are not an autistic friendly thing”.

Like so many other neurodiverse people, Mika has to work a double shift all the time. She has to do the job she’s paid for, as well as do the work required to function in a system not created with her needs in mind. 

A 2020 report from the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre within La Trobe University noted that “work stress has a greater impact on the wellbeing of people on the autism spectrum” and  “social communication was identified as a significant stressor”. The research team identified occupational stress – the physical, mental and emotional demands of the job – is one of the most significant barriers to employment for people with autism. 

The most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found 38 percent of working-age people with autism are employed compared to 84.1 percent of people without a disability. Research shows similar dangers for other neurodiverse people. 

The problem is that standard office infrastructure was not built for Mika. It was intended to support a neurotypical person’s way of working. 

Mika draws a direct line from jobs where she was expected to complete high-level strategic tasks and be constantly contactable on instant messenger platforms to a prolonged period of burnout. Mika’s burnout lasted several years.

Mika says she prefers to undertake ‘deep work’ without interruption. In her previous roles, she would log on before 8am to get her deep work done, and resume it after 6pm. It was the only time she could work uninterrupted.

Neurodiverse people like Mika sacrifice more for the  ‘always on’ culture of work. Working amid constant ‘information overload’ and decreased quality communication requires more effort from someone who is neurodiverse to process. For example, they might spend significant time agonising over what is being asked of them in abrupt shorthand or trying to figure out what a colleague meant in the absence of tone and expression. 

“The other thing for me I think is having really established team protocols about how you use the tools available to you,” Mika says. “So being able to turn those notifications off, tagging people properly, maybe sending things that require approval or a really genuine response via email, because if you just expect everyone to respond constantly to chats I don’t think anyone is able to focus.” 

OTARC lead researcher Dr Susan M Hayward notes autistic employees increase company diversity, innovation, performance and productivity. Their attention to detail and problem-solving often make them invaluable team members.

An article published by Deloitte in 2022 noted that an inclusive workforce “fosters diversity of thought, different approaches to work, innovation and creativity” and that teams with neurodivergent professionals can be 30 per cent more productive than those without them. On top of that, it notes that inclusion and integration boost team morale too.

These days Mika has a firmer idea of what accommodations she needs in order to perform at her best. She requires clarity of  both instructions and feedback, agendas for meetings, fewer  impromptu conversations  and not to be receiving needless instant messages. 

“The irony is if people go into meetings and they’re more prepared, meetings are quicker,” Mika says. “If you know how to communicate to get approval from someone and have clear processes and procedures, which includes the tools that we use to chat, that means that we’re more effective. And that benefits everyone.” 

*Name changed for privacy reasons.