This week I delivered a workshop for NABS on supporting neurodivergent teams in the workplace. The questions afterwards were brilliant, lots of interest in reasonable adjustments – as you’d expect – and talk about how to create a person-centric approach to the workplace.
And there was broad agreement that the way a lot of our offices have been designed, doesn’t just create potential for difficulties for our neurodivergent colleagues – but the entire ethos behind open plan design should be thrown out.
“How do we create psychological safety when our office is an open-plan glass box?”
If you work in advertising or marketing, you know exactly the kind of office I’m talking about. Exposed brick. Breakout spaces with beanbags nobody uses because of the questionable smell and impossible-to-identify collection of stains. Glass meeting rooms where everyone can see you having a difficult conversation. Acoustic “dampening” that doesn’t dampen much.
Beautiful? Yes.
Collaborative? Sometimes.
Neurologically? Battering.
THE SCIENCE OF WHY OPEN-PLAN DRAINS YOU
There’s a recent EEG study that measured brain activity in people doing the same office tasks (listening, reading, writing) in two different environments: an open-plan office and an enclosed work pod.
The findings will shock absolutely no-one:
Open-plan office:
- Brain activity progressively increased throughout the session
- Gamma and theta bands spiked (signalling complex processing + mental fatigue)
- Beta/alpha ratios climbed (indicating sustained hypervigilance)
- By the end: your brain is recruiting MORE resources just to do the SAME work
Work pod:
- Brain activity decreased over time
- Cortical effort reduced
- More efficient processing of identical tasks
- By the end: your brain has adapted, stabilised, found its rhythm
In other words: your brain in an open-plan office is like a CPU running at 90% just to filter out distractions.
Not 90% focused on your work. 90% just staying functional.
When I speak about the mental energy required of an ADHD mind just to get through the day – this is what I mean.
WHY “COLLABORATION” BECAME THE ENEMY
Open-plan offices were born from good intentions and a simple logic: remove walls, encourage collaboration, fit more people in less space, reduce property costs.
But as Matthew Blain from Hassell architects puts it: “There is no average user.”
For decades, workplace design optimised for a narrow range of comfort. Standard desk heights. Fixed, overhead, often fluorescent lighting. Uniform acoustic levels. The “average” sensory experience.
Except sensory processing isn’t average. Bright lights, background noise, visual movement… These aren’t minor annoyances for us. For neurodivergent brains, they’re neurological interference that disrupts executive function, emotional regulation, and cognitive performance.
When your nervous system is in hypervigilance mode, you can’t feel psychologically safe. Safety requires nervous system regulation, not constant threat assessment.
WHAT ACTUALLY HELPS (AND WHAT DOESN’T)
Doesn’t help enough:
- Noise-cancelling headphones (blocks sound, doesn’t address visual overload or spatial exposure)
- “Just book a meeting room” (if you need one daily, that’s a systemic problem, not a personal preference)
- Flex desks near windows (still open-plan, just with a view)
Actually helps:
✅ Enclosed work pods– Not as rewards, but as freely available focus spaces
✅ Variety of work settings – Quiet rooms, phone booths, semi-enclosed zones, single desk spaces, collaborative areas.
✅ Acoustic design that actually works– Not just soft furnishings, but proper dampening
✅ Dimmable/adjustable lighting– User control over your sensory environment
✅ Clear wayfinding– Reduces cognitive load from navigation + orientation
✅ Choice without justification – You shouldn’t need to “prove” you need quiet to access it
REFRAMING THE CONVERSATION
This isn’t about accommodating a minority. According to the EEG study, everyone’s brain functions more efficiently in enclosed spaces for focused work. Neurodivergent people just feel the effects first and hit the wall faster and harder.
Neuroinclusive design benefits everyone:
- ADHDers get the sensory control they need to regulate
- Autistic colleagues get predictability + reduced overwhelm
- Introverts get respite from constant social exposure
- Everyone gets better acoustic quality for video calls
- Everyone gets to choose the environment that matches their task
WHAT YOU CAN DO (TODAY)
If you’re neurodivergent and struggling:
- Name it as architectural, not personal failing. “I’m struggling to focus” becomes “This environment isn’t designed for focused work.”
- Advocate for access to enclosed spaces. Not as accommodation, but as performance infrastructure. Use the business case: “My brain uses 40% less effort in a quiet space for the same task.”
- Track your patterns.When do you WFH vs. come in? What tasks feel impossible in the office but easy at home?
- Use Access to Work. If you’re employed and have (or are pursuing) a diagnosis, AtW can fund coaching to help you navigate these conversations.
If you’re a manager:
- Stop treating work pods as “special treatment.” Make them freely bookable. Don’t require justification.
- Co-design with your neurodivergent team. Ask: “What would make this space work better for you?” Then listen.
- Measure what matters. Are people avoiding the office? Working from home on focus-heavy days? That’s feedback about your environment, not your people.
If you’re in leadership/facilities:
- Audit your space through a neurodiversity lens. How many enclosed work options exist? How easy are they to access? What’s the booking friction?
- Invest in architectural neuroinclusion. Pods, quiet rooms, acoustic design. I’m aware of the economic landscape right now – but if an office refresh is on the horizon, you absolutely need to have this in mind.
Shift the narrative from “collaborative” to “choice.” The best offices offer both connection AND refuge.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Psychological safety isn’t just about trust and respect. It’s also about nervous system regulation. And you can’t regulate when your environment is constantly triggering hypervigilance.
You didn’t fail to adapt to open-plan. Open-plan was built on a false premise that utterly fails to grasp that different neurotypes will struggle in these environments.
The good news is that we know it – there’s research to back it up, and it’s being incorporated into the next generation of workplaces.
Now it’s about making the shift from “this is how offices work” to “this is how our people work: let’s design for that.”