Written in August 2025
One of the most common reasons employers give for not wanting to employ neurodivergent people, and for not being open to making reasonable adjustments for them (despite this being a legal duty), is the cost.
It’s an easy reason to give and on the face of it, one that seems fairly reasonable. “It’s too expensive” holds a lot of weight in the business world. If the money isn’t there, it isn’t there (or so we’re told).
So how much do reasonable adjustments actually cost?
It’s useful for have some context here, because the “they’re too expensive” argument doesn’t really stand up at all when you look at the most helpful adjustments for neurodivergent employees, as reported in the 2023 Neurodiversity at Word report by Birkbeck College, University of London here.
The top 10 were:
- Being able to work partly from home
- Having a flexible work schedule
- Having a private space to work in when required
- A dual screen or reading stand
- Being able to change the noise levels
- Being able to adapt rules, policies or procedures
- Being able to take frequent breaks
- Coaching to support with organisational issues
- Being able to change the intensity of the lighting
- Being able to make changes in workplace arrangement
The two obvious ones with an external cost are the dual screen/reading stand and the coaching. A monitor costs around £199, based on a quick Google search. I would expect a business to have a cheaper supply, or indeed a stock of replacement and spare monitors in house.
Coaching can cost anywhere from £60 a session to upwards of £150, although Access To Work will often pay for this, so an employer won’t be expected, usually, to pay for workplace coaching. They (or the employee) may need to pay up front while an Access To Work claim is considered, but this can be compensated by the Access To Work grant. The same may apply to the second monitor, depending on the size of the company.
The other adjustments don’t cost any obvious outlay. Working from home is completely normalised since the pandemic lockdowns so there’s no more excuses about digital security or productivity.
A flexible schedule also doesn’t cost anything in most cases – if an adjustment requires another employee to unreasonably take on more work then it is not a reasonable adjustment. If an employee couldn’t open up the premises at 8am, for example, due to challenges related to neurodivergence (time keeping, ability to use public transport at busy periods etc.) then the employer might have to pay another staff member to take on that responsibility and hours. This is a niche hypothetical example, but it demonstrates that a flexible schedule doesn’t usually have a cost attached.
A flexible schedule and frequent breaks may be countered with the productivity argument, but the simple fact is that we will still complete our workload, just over a different time period. We might work late, or be exceptionally quick at certain tasks (something I’ve been accused of many times) but as long as the work gets done by when it needs to be done, is there really a problem?.
Being able to change the noise and light levels may require some cost, if an employer puts a dimmer switch in. Estimates range from £75 to £150 for that work to be done, so this is not a huge cost. Other ways of managing light levels are to wear tinted glasses, use desk lamps rather than overhead lighting, and to allow employees access to private spaces where they can control the lighting, perhaps turning it off completely.
Noise levels can be controlled by using earplugs or headphones. Many neurodivergent people with sound sensitivity already have this kit, so it’s often a case of allowing us to use our own. If we need a phone compatible noise-cancelling headset, this is often provided as part of the job and not considered to be an adjustment, but standard office kit.
Adapting procedures and policies is another freebie. This might be adapting a dress code to suit sensory sensitivities, or adapting a process to be done in an order or with a method that makes sense to the employee, or which suits sensory sensitivities or a flexible schedule. It’s hard to give exact examples, but generally these changes don’t require any money to be spent.
Most of these adjustments are about being open minded, allowing employees to work in the ways that work best for them and being flexible.
The cost associated with reasonable adjustments is the cost of not making them. When you lose a staff member you incur the costs of recruitment and onboarding, the shifting dynamics of the team and potentially an employment tribunal payout. Research from City & Guilds this year found more than one in ten employers had been in a tribunal brought by neurodivergent employee.
It’s why I always say that the best reasonable adjustment is changing your mindset.