Employer accommodations

[Olivierv]

I am a manager in a tech company. I am struggling with ADHD in particular my new job: has introduce a lot of new systems, new processes. I am asking my employer for accommodations such as help managing time, writing down instructions... does anyone have experience with that and had had accommodations that have helped them? any tips will be helpful.

[STEM_Dad]

If you could have exactly the accomodations that you think would help, what would they be?

You mentioned that you're a manager. Does that mean that you manage a team of people? If so, then perhaps you can organize your team's responsibilities in a way that helps to accommodate your needs.

• e.g. Assign the team members to document the procedures used with the various systems you work with. After all, not only are you new, but there will likely be other new people on the team in the future, who will need to learn the same tasks and procedures.

• Someone else on your team might have a strength of time management. Do your best to learn the strengths and aptitudes of each of the team members, so that you can all work together for the best work outcome for the team.

Think about if you were to be an advocate for someone else who needs accomodations. Put yourself in that frame of mind, and advocate for yourself as diligently as you would for the imagined other person.

[AppleSnail]

As a manager with ADHD, I find time/task management apps essential. I personally use Motion to manage my calendar/tasks and SaneBox to help with my email, but there are plenty of alternatives out there so this isn't an endorsement of any particular product. These are useful for me though, because my biggest struggles as a manager are responding to requests/enquiries on time, and delivering things to people when they expect them.

Both of these are paid subscriptions that I'm funding myself, but if that isn't an option it's always worth asking your employer if they could help with it. If your organization uses Microsoft 365 it's also worth checking out Planner as a handy way to keep track of what tasks your team members are working on as well.

We've had an employee with ADHD before who found they were bad at typing notes and found it easier to write them by hand, but then had the problem that their handwritten notes were disorganized and not searchable. In that case, it's worth looking at something like an e-ink tablet (e.g. Remarkable) that allows you to get the feel of handwritten notes while keeping your notes available to organize and search electronically.

All of this is dependent on what kind of work you do, of course, and how much assistance you can get from your employer definitely depends on the employer.

[Eric_ElevateLearning]

Firstly, I would recommend following STEM_Dad 's idea: if you could design a workplace that accommodates your needs perfectly, what would it look like? Jot down a few ideas and go from there!

Many of the adults I coach find these accommodations very helpful:

- use of headphones to listen to music or white noise

- a quiet workspace away from distractions. This is a place with minimal foot traffic and visual distractions (open floor plans are great for some but oftentimes not beneficial for the ADHD brain)

- distractibility delay: keep a notepad in your workspace where you write down distracting thoughts that arise. Create a column designated for to-do's that you think of but need to return to later

- arrange two specific times of days to respond to calls and emails

- arrange regular check-ins with someone on your team at the beginning and end of the week to establish the most important tasks for the week and plan for the week ahead.

I hope this is helpful. Keep us posted!

[STEM_Dad in reply to Eric_ElevateLearning]

I like your recommendations.

I'll use headphones fairly often for focus music, for web meetings to block out ambient sound and focus on the meeting, and for web video trainings. (I usually use Bluetooth earbuds that I can carry with me everywhere, but I can't find them now because my daughter was playing with them over the weekend...and she misplaces things like I do.)

I have a small office, and close the door when I need to limit distraction, but I also have a work room that I can sequester myself in when I need to.

The idea of the "distractibility delay" list is genius! I'm going to use that, for sure!

• On a similar note, I heard an idea on a podcast for a "What's on your radar" chart, that I've been wanting to implement. The idea is to use post-it notes to represent to-do items (projects, tasks, etc), and place them on a chart of concentric circles. -- The outside is for items "on the horizon", moving inward a ring are the items in a "holding pattern", and the center circle is for items that are "landing" (meaning they are "to-do next"). -- I plan to use different colors of post-its to represent different kinds of work: projects, requests, maintenance, etc.

[Eric_AD8coaching in reply to STEM_Dad]

Using different colors and developing a clear system is a great idea! Very happy you like the "distractibility delay" technique - it is one of my favorites.