The Mindblowing Biological Reason for a Flexible Workplace
No, it’s really not what you think. These are the crucial reasons why neurodivergent employees require flexible working arrangements. And it’s for neurophysiological reasons.
Not everyone is a morning person, coffee or not.
This may be shocking to many, and everyone doesn’t work to the same biological rhythms. For autistic individuals, this means that circadian rhythms, melatonin production, and behavioural cycles differ from the broader population (Furfaro 2017). When you think deeply about it, it makes sense from an evolutionary perspective.
It doesn’t serve to all be asleep at the same time. You really wouldn’t want to be on the same body clock in the times of the cavemen… You’d get eaten.
According to Andershed (2005), this phenomenon is known as Morningness-Eveningness (M-E). It can be characterised as individual deviations in sleep-wake rhythms and the times of day when people feel as though they are alert and can perform at their best.
For example, research by Lunsford‐Avery and Kollins (2018) found that 75% of individuals with ADHD suffer from delayed melatonin release and the circadian rhythm phase. As a result…
