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With 1 in 7 employees neurodivergent, NHS waiting times stretching to 15 years and 43% of neurodivergent employees likely to leave without the right support, it has become one of the most significant workforce challenges employers face today.
Most organisations have awareness in place. What most don't have is a structured, clinical solution that actually changes outcomes. This guide is designed to help HR and benefits leaders understand what good neurodiversity support looks like, assess where their current provision falls short and make confident, informed decisions about what to do next.
The numbers alone make a compelling case for action.
Most neurodivergent employees are navigating the workplace without a diagnosis, without support and without understanding why certain things feel so much harder for them than for their colleagues.
When neurodivergent employees go unsupported, the business impact is significant and measurable.
Many neurodivergent conditions including ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia can qualify as disabilities under the Equality Act 2010. When they do, employers are legally obligated to make reasonable adjustments, prevent discrimination and create a supportive working environment.
Employers without structured neurodiversity support in place are not just missing a commercial opportunity. They are carrying a growing legal risk.
Neurodivergent employees bring exceptional creativity, pattern recognition, lateral thinking and attention to detail to the workplace. When properly supported, they are among the highest performing and most valuable people in any organisation. The employers who invest in supporting them well are building a genuine competitive advantage in talent retention, innovation and workforce performance.
Use this checklist to assess where your current provision stands. If you find yourself answering no to more than a few of these questions, your provision has a gap that your employees are already feeling.
How did you score?
If you answered no to five or more of these questions, your neurodiversity provision has meaningful gaps. The sections below explain what good looks like and how Peppy Neurodiversity addresses each of these areas directly.
Good neurodiversity support has three defining characteristics that separate it from awareness initiatives and generic mental health provision.
It starts before diagnosis. Most neurodivergent employees will never have a formal diagnosis, or won't have one for years. Support that only kicks in after a formal assessment excludes the majority of neurodivergent people in your workforce. Good provision starts the moment an employee starts asking questions about how their brain works.
It is clinically led, not generically delivered. A chatbot, a wellness app or a counsellor without neurodiversity training is not neurodiversity support. Good provision means specialist clinicians who understand how neurodivergent conditions present in the real world and who can adapt their approach accordingly.
It continues long after diagnosis. Diagnosis is a beginning, not an end. The ongoing clinical support, workplace adjustments, mental health care and lifestyle guidance that help neurodivergent employees thrive are where the real outcomes are created. Good provision does not stop when the assessment is complete.
Peppy Neurodiversity is a specialist, clinician-led employee benefit designed to close the gap that every other solution leaves behind. Here is how it works in practice.
Not every employee arrives knowing they are neurodivergent. Many simply know that something feels different and have never had the language or the space to explore it.
Peppy's neuro-curious gateway is a welcoming, non-clinical entry point for employees who relate to neurodivergent traits but have no formal diagnosis. There is no pressure, no labels and no requirement to have any prior knowledge. It is simply a safe place to start.
For employees who want clinical clarity, Peppy provides evidence-based ADHD and Autism screenings that determine whether a formal diagnostic assessment is the right next step. This is not generic mental health assessment. It is specialist clinical triage delivered by practitioners who understand neurodivergent conditions in depth.
Navigating the NHS, Right to Choose legislation and private referral options is complex, time-consuming and frequently overwhelming. Peppy's system navigation and advocacy support gives employees expert guidance through every option available to them.
For those who choose to pursue a formal assessment, Peppy provides a dedicated diagnostic referral route via Psych UK, a trusted clinical partnership that offers a seamless, high-governance journey from Peppy screening to formal diagnosis.
Unlike EAPs, which typically cap support at six to eight sessions, Peppy provides uncapped, long-term one-to-one consultations with specialist, neuro-informed clinicians. These are practitioners trained to adapt clinical models including CBT for neuro-atypical thinkers, ensuring that the support actually works for the brain receiving it.
For employees who prefer not to communicate in real time, asynchronous specialist chat provides secure, text-based support at their own pace. For many neurodivergent employees, this removes one of the biggest barriers to seeking help.
Anxiety, depression, burnout and stress are significantly more common among neurodivergent people. Peppy treats mental health and neurodivergent care as connected, not separate, providing clinical support for the full range of mental health challenges alongside specific support for the emotional impact of neurodivergent conditions including masking exhaustion and social anxiety.
Cognitive and emotional health is shaped by nutrition, sleep, fitness and stress management. Peppy supports employees with the lifestyle foundations that underpin everything else, helping people feel better in themselves and more able to perform consistently at work.
Employees have access to expert-led live and on-demand events every week, a rich content library in diverse formats designed for different cognitive preferences, and broad spectrum resources covering the full neuro-spectrum including Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia.
Peppy is a CQC-registered provider trusted by 250+ employers and supporting over 3 million employees worldwide. Our clinical team brings over 1,500 years of combined experience across neurodiversity, mental health and key life stages.
For HR and benefits leaders, Peppy Neurodiversity delivers:
If your checklist revealed gaps in your current provision, Peppy Neurodiversity was built to fill them. Our team can walk you through exactly how the service works and what it would look like for your organisation.
Peppy Neurodiversity launches on 1st September 2026. Join our product launch event on 1st July to see the service in action.