Britain’s hiring crisis isn’t just about jobs, it’s about who we’re excluding

Increased minimum wage and NI contributions, geopolitical instability, and the rapid reshaping of work by AI, are driving changes in hiring behaviour.

Historically, entry-level roles existed because someone had to do the grunt work: filing, tagging, testing, customer support, QA. Today, much of that work is handled by software, automation, or AI agents.

And when junior hiring does happen, employers can afford to be choosier. Why take a chance on a graduate when, for the same cost, you can hire someone with two or three years’ experience?

This shift hits neurodivergent candidates hardest.

As junior roles become scarcer and competition intensifies, hiring processes grow longer and more complex - often overwhelming for those with executive function challenges. While companies may consider this a form of screening (”if you can’t handle the interview process, how can you handle the job?”), for certain creative or specialist roles, they are missing out on potential talent.

AI has accelerated this trend. Around 87% of companies now use AI-powered tools to screen CVs, source candidates, and even conduct initial interviews. AI-driven screening systems reward linear CVs, uninterrupted career paths, and neatly packaged achievements. But many neurodivergent people don’t present perfectly. They may have started many things, explored deeply, changed direction, or struggled to finish in conventional ways, despite being highly capable.

Interviewing has also become more impersonal. One-way video interviews with an AI are now common. While efficient, they remove live feedback, body language, and emotional cues, which are all things many neurodivergent people rely on to regulate anxiety and respond confidently. The UK Government’s Buckland Review of Autism Employment found that autistic people *“*have far more negative experiences of interviews, group tasks and psychometric tests” and face barriers due to vague job descriptions and social-focused hiring practices.

And for those who do get hired, the challenges don’t end. A growing number of companies are pushing for a return to the office. According to the British Chambers of Commerce, 48% of companies expect staff to return to office full-time in the next year, up from 30% in 2023. Yet many workplaces remain noisy, distracting, and overstimulating: environments where neurodivergent employees often struggle to do their best work.

There is, however, a strong commercial case for doing things differently. When companies widen their definition of “hireable,” they access a broader talent pool.

Neurodivergent candidates are often overlooked not because they lack ability, but because they don’t perform well in narrow hiring processes. That means exceptional people — creative thinkers, deep specialists, energetic starters — who may be less competed for and highly loyal when given the right environment to flourish.

Inclusive hiring often goes hand-in-hand with remote or hybrid work, allowing companies to recruit outside expensive metropolitan hubs.

Hiring from non-urban areas lowers salary pressure, reduces office overheads, and increases retention - but only if the organisation is genuinely set up to support distributed work.

Companies that succeed with inclusive, remote-friendly hiring design their culture from the bottom up. They are explicit about how work gets done, how focus is protected, how people communicate, and how progress is measured.

They invest in tools and practices that replace the unspoken cues of office life, not replicate them poorly.

Neurodivergent employees often thrive with structure, predictability, and shared rhythm. Simple interventions - such as quiet focus time or structured co-working and body-doubling sessions using platforms like FLOWN - can dramatically improve performance and wellbeing for neurodivergent employees, especially in remote teams.

Young people are entering the workforce at a time of profound change, and for neurodivergent candidates the barriers are higher than ever. But this moment also presents an opportunity.

Companies willing to question outdated hiring norms, invest in inclusive ways of working, and design cultures that support different brains will gain access to a wider, more resilient talent pool. The real risk isn’t hiring differently, it’s continuing to design workplaces for a world that no longer exists.

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Alicia Navarro, founder & CEO at FLOWN

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