1. Adults with ADHD in the workforce: Non-scientific insights and practical
considerations to enhance job retention and career satisfaction.
Rob Crawford, M.Ed
Adults with ADHD should feel great satisfaction in successfully competing for
employment, realizing the fulfillment of starting careers, or making the transition to a
new job or company. The difficulty of obtaining and sustaining employment for many
adults with ADHD makes the success of those who do accomplish this very inspiring.
There is little in the way of current research to draw on that would explain the uneven
occupational/career functional performance that characterizes many adults in this
population. Workplace settings present a wide variety of diverse occupational research
challenges. Because the impact of the condition will vary from setting to setting,
obtaining a consistent and reliable picture of adaptive or maladaptive functional
performance directly attributable to ADHD is difficult.
There are frequently observed characteristics that seem to show up on a regular basis
for many adults struggling to cope and survive the workplace that would include:
• Lack of social maturity and understanding of the demands of the workplace
• Limited sense of self-not aware of personal limitations which sets them up for
failure
• When failure seems imminent, motivation dies, use of circular logic and
rationalizing away personal responsibility dominates
• Tend to retreat when successful and might fall apart
• Difficulty to job train because of inability to perform or catch on to multi-
step/multi-task which results in what employers refer to “hand holding”.
• Can’t distinguish what are and are not controllable environmental phenomena
that affects how they focus time and energy
There are some key factors that can contribute to the adult with ADHD achieving
successful standards of workplace behavioral and performance expectations from
coworkers and supervisors.
A good starting point is for the individual to have a clear understanding of what matters
most to them in a job or career and not immediately consider how they will achieve it. It
is essential that they can define the meaning, nature, and importance of work to be able
to sustain themselves through the functional challenges they will face as a result of
having ADHD. For many, getting a job is easy- it is keeping the job that is the difficult
part. Sustaining consistency means maintaining the perspective and internal focus of
finding meaning in life through work, with work, or in spite of work.
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2. Some of the reflections in this search for meaning and satisfaction would include finding
answers to:
1. What priority values can I live out through this job?
2. What working conditions do I need to feel happy?
3. What tradeoffs and consequences am I willing to accept to determine if this is a
good choice?
4. What level of risk am I or should I be willing to take to be successful?
The last question in particular becomes relevant if one chooses to disclose the ADHD for
consideration of receiving accommodations or adjustments to the work environment.
Disclosure considerations to remember
1. Employers are not well informed on ADHD
2. Many individuals with ADHD are not prepared to be effective self-advocates
3. Adults with the condition have not been taught how to determine
accommodations based on job tasks
4. Employers are ill-equipped to determine accommodations
5. Adults with ADHD usually are unaware of what their job competencies are
Whether an applicant discloses in the interview or for a talented employee offered a
choice promotion that carries responsibilities that will be directly affected by ADHD-
associated functional limitations, they open themselves up to additional employer
scrutiny and must be prepared to answer such questions as:
• What exactly is your disability?
• What kind of modifications do you need in your work environment?
• How will your ADHD interfere with your performance?
• Why should I hire you when there are other applicants that don’t have
ADHD?
• How will you be able to lead a team and get the work done?
By keeping in mind that the employer really just wants to know what you can do, how
you will do it, and what results they can expect, the person with ADHD can focus on
breaking down the condition into aspects of functional assets and limitations that are
relative to the environment and not obsess or have anxiety over what their intentions
are in asking questions or voicing concerns.
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3. Put yourself in the employer’s shoes by using these three categories of questions to
assess and express how you are a qualified applicant:
– WHAT CAN DO (skills, knowledge, education, experience)
– WHAT WILL DO ( motivations, interests)
– HOW WILL YOU FIT (work style)
This focus and balance can be achieved by deciding on a position, career, or promotion
after looking at what is required both during training and on the job. Avoid job searches
that are too narrowly or broadly focused. Resist the impulse to go after employment
because of primarily financial motivations (i.e. “earn $10,000 a week from home no
experience necessary”.), instead concentrate on the opportunities to do what matters
most are inherent in the position itself.
Assess the workplace culture and environment to determine if it is “ADHD-user
friendly”. Ascertain disclosure receptivity, tolerance for personal work habits (i.e. messy
work space, need for quiet work area, tendency to walk around and visit) to determine
compatibility and anticipate no-win situations to be avoided. Relate the functional
requirements of the position and company back to what is known about the personal
characteristics of the job seeker to determine if there is a compatible fit between what
is necessary to successful.
This would involve analyzing and comparing technical performance factors such as how
personal skills, abilities, training, education, and experience relate to specific position
within the company. There will also be a need to identify essential functions &
environmental considerations of job and anticipate potential functional assets &
limitations related to ADHD that could affect the expected levels of job performance.
The last step would include determining what compensations, accommodations,
modifications or strategies for ADHD are practical & reasonable for this employer.
Plot out a long term career ladder that estimates time, experience, continuing education
requirements to move up to higher levels of responsibilities. Find out how many and
how often potential openings occur. Strive to focus on companies that offer in-house
training and continuing education programs. This allows for a person to demonstrate
and establish their job-related and personal competency, capabilities, and capacities
which usually results in greater flexibility on the part of the employer to handle
adjustment problems with the new tasks.
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4. When offered a promotion or position, obtain specific time lines for performance
evaluations, and gain an understanding of when and how performance will be
evaluated. If there is a need for accommodations, propose and develop a process
through which the employee and employer can review the effectiveness of the
interventions and need for adjustments.
Job Performance Evaluations Components
• Ability to get along with co-workers/staff
• Ability to follow directions
• Ability to learn new tasks
• Speed of work
• Accuracy of work
• Frustration tolerance
• Safety
• Motivation
• Ability to follow complex directions
While there seems to be evidence of many success stories of adults with ADHD who are
self-employed and have found a controllable “niche” that they flourish in, most of those
seeking entry or upward mobility in the workplace have to live and play by the rules of a
world that has little understanding or sensitivity of the emotional impacts of having this
hidden disability and the costs to the individual trying to “keep it together”.
Long term satisfaction and a sense of personal accomplishment, competency, and value
for these adults with ADHD will happen in response to reframing personal and
employment experiences into positive aspects of life and growth. Recognizing and
building on individual assets and managing functional limitations puts a person in charge
of their own future by developing strategies for situational problem solving.
Utilizing these strategies and pragmatic approaches can lead the adult with ADHD to
increased personal competency by helping to identify and find what success or
satisfaction in both life and works means to them.
Rob Crawford is CEO/Co-founder of the Life Development Institute
www.lifedevelopmentinstitute.org
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