Description:

Engage in facilitated small-group exercises (personas, journey mapping, role-play) around disruptive scenarios for neurodivergent workers.

In an age of unprecedented disruption, organisations face profound challenges in maintaining social cohesion and fostering inclusive environments. Working arrangements have changed since the last exogenous shock, fundamentally altering the landscape of workplace relationships, particularly affecting how employees form and sustain the meaningful connections that are crucial for career development, job satisfaction, and flourishing.

For neurodivergent workers, these disruptions create compounded challenges in navigating already complex social environments. While physical workplace adjustments have received considerable attention (Weber et al., 2022), the critical role of social connections in supporting neurodivergent employees’ well-being remains underexplored (Rocha et al., 2024). This gap becomes particularly acute in disrupted organisational contexts where traditional networking mechanisms may no longer function effectively. Arguing that neurodivergent workers face significant pressure to confirm to neuro-typical norms of behaviour and performance, Nash (2024) highlights how workplace design and practices can foster exclusion and stresses the importance of sensory accommodations within a shared workplace. Rather than treating disruption solely as a challenge to overcome, this Lab positions disruption as an opportunity for transformative neuro-inclusion. We employ co-design methodologies to engage participants in collaborative knowledge creation & sharing, transforming research insights into actionable strategies for inclusive workplace design.

The Lab addresses three critical dimensions of disruption in human resources: (1) how technological and structural changes reshape social networks within organisations; (2) how neurodivergent perspectives can inform innovative approaches to workplace inclusion; and (3) how co-design processes can bridge the research-practice divide in developing inclusion strategies.

Contribution to EURAM 2026 Theme

This Lab speaks directly to EURAM’s theme of “Navigating High Waters: Managing in an Age of Disruption” by:

• Demonstrating how disruption reshapes organizational life through the lens of neurodivergent workers’ networks.
• Framing co-design as a methodology for inclusion, enabling participants to jointly generate solutions.
• Addressing an urgent but underexplored issue: the erosion of meaningful connections in disrupted contexts and its implications for diversity and inclusion.

Organizers

Dr. Raysa Rocha, University of Essex, UK, & VU Amsterdam, NL

Dr. Siddhartha Saxena, Heriot-Watt University, UK

Dr. Louise Nash, University of Essex, UK