The 8th Sense Your Workplace Is Ignoring: The Case for Neuroinclusive Design
Most workplaces are designed for only 5 senses. But humans actually have 8.
The person two desks over from your "hot desk" is quietly arguing with their boyfriend on the phone, and now you know they share a car and have conflicting schedules. The fluorescent light above your desk is slightly flickering, but it has your attention like a strobe light at a Nine Inch Nails concert. And now someone just burnt their microwave popcorn in the break room, and it smells like a Kuwaiti oil field. This is enough to make anyone's concentration evaporate and productivity plummet.
Now imagine experiencing that level of sensory overwhelm—but amplified and triggered by the pedestrian elements of the workplace like overhead lighting, keyboard clacking, or unbearably itchy chair upholstery. For up to 20% of your workforce, this isn't an occasional annoyance—it's a daily reality that can make the normal workday feel like a Darren Aronofsky film.
As organizations rush to bring employees back to the office, there's a critical oversight in most return-to-office strategies. Workplaces were rearranged, reconfigured, and adapted to transient employees navigating work-from-home COVID quarantines and an increasing number of employees who don't need a permanent desk assignment. Most organizations haven't addressed the distracting, noisy, too-bright, or otherwise unproductive environments that were only endured sporadically by many employees. Add to this the doubled ADHD diagnoses and increased autism cases identified due to the pandemic's changing daily structural impact and greater access to telehealth.
Leaders focusing on square footage and real estate demands may be missing a fundamental opportunity that environmental design could bring to workplace efficiency and performance in the post-COVID workplace. This isn't just about accommodation—it's actually shown to be a concept that affects all employees, not just neurodivergent ones. This strategic advantage is rooted in 50+ years of neuroscience research.
Return-to-Office Reality Check
The pandemic fundamentally changed how we think about work environments. Employees experienced the cognitive benefits of controlling their sensory environment—adjusting their lighting, managing noise levels, and choosing their workspace setup. Now, as organizations implement return-to-office mandates, many employees are struggling with the transition back to environments that weren't designed with their sensory and cognitive needs in mind—or even simply can't adjust their cognitive focus to what feels like a carnival for some.
This resistance isn't just about flexibility and the tension between organizations required to provide "reasonable accommodation" to those with disabilities, but not considering non-physical or invisible disabilities. This perfect storm of post-pandemic urgency to "return to normal" combined with increased sensory overwhelm in the environment should be a light bulb moment for organizations to take a closer look at how the workplace is impacting performance. This is especially true in light of the emerging pandemic research that shows increased performance and employee well-being in work-from-home or hybrid arrangements. Organizations can create environments that outperform both pre-pandemic offices and home setups by redesigning their physical spaces using neuroinclusive principles.
The Lost Productivity Crisis
What might be mildly annoying for someone who is neurotypical can be debilitating for someone with ADHD, autism, or other neurodivergent conditions. But let's for a minute consider that research from Stanford Medicine reveals that unemployment rates for neurodivergent individuals are approaching 80%—not because of capability, but because environments are designed against their strengths. I'm making another point here: the neurodivergent employee is clearly in the minority, so why invest to accommodate such a small fraction?
The data tells us why. Studies show that general noise can decrease workers' accuracy by 67%—and that's for neurotypical employees. Cushman & Wakefield's Experience per Square Foot™ data reveals that people with flexible schedules experience a 40% more positive workplace experience.
The Neuroscience Behind Environmental Performance
The eight-sense framework underlying neuroinclusive design emerges from decades of groundbreaking research by Dr. A. Jean Ayres. Supported by contemporary neuroimaging and neuroplasticity research, Ayres' work revealed a critical truth: Our brains are self-organizing systems that change in response to environmental support.
Recent neuroscience confirms that sensory-considered, well-designed environments promote neuroplastic changes that improve cognitive functioning, emotional regulation, and motor performance—benefits that extend to ALL employees. The sensory system happens to be much more dynamic than we actually thought. We are all familiar with the five senses; however, neuroscience reveals that we actually experience eight sensory systems that directly impact workplace performance. These include the lesser-considered vestibular system, proprioception, and interoception.
The Science Behind Sensory-Smart Design
Without becoming an expert in neuroscience, the principles that characterize eight sensory systems can be considered and optimized through neuroinclusive design. These are not niche, specialized, or esoteric solutions. These are environments that optimize human potential across the cognitive spectrum. There are easy and inexpensive environmental interventions that benefit all employees, including lighting, acoustics, and exposure to nature. LED alternatives with dimming capabilities eliminate the visual discomfort and headaches associated with harsh, cool-toned illumination and flickering fluorescent lights. Acoustic zoning or even inexpensive noise-absorbing tiles help manage unexpected or random noises, creating a more predictable soundscape. Exposure to nature, even just for short bursts during the day, has been shown to increase productivity, creativity, and wellbeing.
Research from HOK identifies three essential behavioral influences in design decisions that optimize environments for everyone:
Choice—providing access to specific settings employees need at any moment.
Variety—matching different ways of working and sensory choices.
Control—giving employees power over their environment in real-time.
The ROI of Evidence-Based Inclusive Design
Neuroinclusive design principles benefit all employees because they address fundamental human sensory processing needs. Research on environmental psychology shows that lighting control reduces stress hormones in all employees, and acoustic zoning improves cognitive performance across neurotypes. Exposure to nature, including workplace greenery, is shown to increase individual self-reported wellbeing.
In the post-COVID landscape, where competition for talent is high and retention is critical, investing in neuroinclusive design is a competitive imperative. Organizations that create sensory-considerate environments will attract top talent who might otherwise prefer remote work.
Ultimately, investing in inclusive design signals that your organization values all employees and invests in workspaces that support optimal human performance and innovation.
Stay tuned for the next article in neuroinclusive workplace design for thoughts on cultural, policy, and communication strategies for improving performance for all employees while optimizing unique neurodivergent strengths.
Combining global creative leadership with organizational psychology research, I help leaders create workplaces that truly work for all minds. From redesigning creative teams and physical environments to developing identity-informed management practices and adaptive workflows, I guide organizations beyond accommodation toward genuine neuroinclusive transformation. Ready to design what's next? Let's connect.
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