I was diagnosed with ADHD in my 30s: here’s how IES has enabled me to thrive at work

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19 Mar 2025

Kate Alexander, Research Fellow

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This is the first Neurodiversity Celebration Week that I have celebrated as a diagnosed neurodivergent person! I have been reflecting on my experiences of work as someone with ADHD, and how neurodiversity and flexible working policies at IES have improved my working life and wellbeing.

I joined IES in 2019, straight after completing my Master’s degree. It was my first full-time job and my day to day working life was full of challenges. Challenges which had always been with me but took on a new weight in the context of full-time employment. My typical working day at this point looked something like this:

• Waking up late, my head racing with 100 thoughts at once, the same ones that have kept me up last night. Struggling to get myself ready to leave, every task seems to have 10 steps and feels overwhelming.
• Finally leaving but having to return to get something I’d forgotten and then missing my bus. Arriving and feeling flustered and guilty as I see colleagues already working.
• Starting work but having no motivation to get started. Sitting at my desk doodling, fidgeting, procrastinating, distracted by the environment and finding any excuse to get up and walk off some nervous energy.
• Spending a few hours bouncing between tasks but never managing to complete one.
• Eventually the pressure to be productive hits. I am finally able to focus on one thing at a time and work at high intensity to get my tasks finished.
• Despite completing my tasks, I leave work feeling like I’ve failed and that I am going to get ‘found out’, worrying that colleagues perceive me as strange or lazy.

When I got diagnosed with ADHD last year all of these patterns suddenly made sense. Like many women, despite dealing with these problems my whole life I’d never considered ADHD as I didn’t fit the usual profile. I did well in school and was never openly hyperactive in class. I only pursued diagnosis due to struggling with persistent mental health problems, and my therapist suggested that ADHD could be an underlying cause of anxiety. Yet, when I got the diagnosis, it seemed obvious. I started being able to accept that my concentration and motivation problems, my inability to sit still, and my constant state of overwhelm were parts of myself to work with, rather than problems to be fixed.

I met with my line manager to discuss how IES could support me with the new diagnosis. We used IES’ neurodiversity policy and identified that I could be referred to Occupational Health and discussed how I could be supported by Access to Work. We also completed a Workplace Adjustment Passport to identify any accommodations I needed. It felt reassuring to know that we had an established procedure in place, and it removed any possible worries I may have had around making requests.

More than this however, I was struck by how few new adjustments I needed, as IES provides all staff with a flexible and supportive environment to allow them to work in a way that suits them. For example, I have an ongoing Wellness Action Plan which had already identified some of the changes I needed to accommodate my ADHD long before I even considered that I might have it. These policies allow IES to understand staff needs from an early stage of employment, based on listening to workers’ own experiences. Through a combination of this culture, and policies for neurodivergent people specifically, IES have supported me to make several changes to my working life which allow me to make the best of my ADHD brain. These include:

• Remote working – working from home has improved my work. I don’t have to deal with the stress of the commute, my workspace is quiet and free of distractions, and I can pace, fidget and ‘stim’ as much as I want. Effective home working is also supported by IES providing equipment, including noise cancelling headphones to avoid over stimulation.  
• Strategies for time management and motivation – my line manager has helped me to develop personal organisation skills to keep on top of my workload when my mind is racing.
• Autonomy over pace and time of work – social research is a high intensity environment with numerous projects, tasks and deadlines. ADHD makes me well suited to this, I am an expert multitasker, and pressure and stimulation give me motivation. However, I have never been able to chip away at a task consistently. Instead, I have periods of hyperfocus, and periods where I am less motivated. I am grateful to work in an organisation and sector that is output-focused and where I am trusted to organise my own time and meet deadlines in a way that works for me.
• Supportive colleagues – I am in the unusual position of working with experts on inclusion and neurodiversity in the workplace. We have received training on neurodivergence at work and practice what we preach. My colleagues are understanding of my different needs and support me through ‘body doubling’ (i.e. working together on Teams to aid focus), regular meetings to ensure tasks stay on my to do list, and through meeting me with compassion and understanding when I struggle with something.

With the rise of ADHD diagnoses in the UK I am sure many employers are keen to understand what they can do for their neurodivergent staff, but many lack confidence in doing so. If I could share three pieces of advice they would be:

• Have a neurodiversity policy – as my colleague Claudia Plowden-Roberts explains, neurodiversity policies enable neurodivergent employees to thrive at work, support an inclusive workplace, help managers of neurodivergent workers, and benefit the entire organisation and workforce. IES’ policy covers both people with a diagnosis and a suspected condition, which is especially important given long wait times for diagnosis.
• Allow flexibility in time, location and ways of working – this enables employees to work in a way best suited to them, which may change day to day and over time.
• Trust employees to have autonomy over how they complete their work – this enables people to work in ways that support their wellbeing and productivity.

My working days look very different now to how they did when I started at IES. I use flexible working policies and the tools which I have developed over time to create an environment and pace of work that makes the most of my strengths and reduces challenges. More than anything, having a diagnosis which has been recognised and supported by my employer removes guilt and expectations around working like a ‘normal person’. In fact, through having open conversations with my colleagues about my diagnosis I have realised that this ‘normal’ way of working doesn’t really exist and that everyone, neurodivergent or not, can benefit from the policies and approaches which have helped me.

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Any views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute as a whole.