For HR and People teams
Supporting neurodivergent employees in Australia
A practical guide to supporting your people, and the parents and carers among them.
Built on our 2025 study of 1,091 Australian families.
Your people's data is stored in Australia, encrypted.
Understanding Zoe is a neuro-inclusion employee benefit, an app for Australian workplaces. It supports neurodivergent staff, and the parents and carers among them, with one calm place that remembers for them. It eases the hidden pressures they carry from home to work. Built on Understanding Zoe's 2025 study of 1,091 Australian families.
Last updated June 2026.
Written by the Understanding Zoe team.
Last reviewed June 2026.
Pip is not a doctor or therapist. It helps your people organise and prepare, not diagnose or treat.
Why neuro-inclusion matters to your workforce
Neurodivergent people are already on your team. Some have told you. Many have not. They bring real strengths like focus, pattern-spotting and fresh thinking when the work fits how they think. The right support helps those strengths show up.
There is a wider gap to close, too. In 2022, 60.5% of Australians with disability aged 15 to 64 took part in the labour force. For Australians without disability, the figure was 84.9%. That is a gap of around 24 points.
Source: ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 2022 (opens in new tab).
Supporting neurodivergent staff is not only fair. It helps you keep good people. It widens the pool you can hire from. And it builds a workplace where more of your team can do their best work.
What does neuro-inclusion at work mean?
Neuro-inclusion at work means designing roles, communication and supports so neurodivergent staff can do their best work. In Australia it includes reasonable adjustments under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. It also means supporting employees who are parents or carers of neurodivergent children. Understanding Zoe supports both groups.
What reasonable adjustments mean
A reasonable adjustment is a change that helps a person do their job. It might be quiet space, written instructions, or flexible hours. In Australia, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 asks employers to make reasonable adjustments in most situations. The Australian Human Rights Commission (opens in new tab) explains the law. This is general information, not legal advice.
Make job ads plain and specific
Plain, specific job ads help everyone, and they help neurodivergent applicants most. Say what the role actually involves. List the skills that matter, and drop the ones that do not. Offer to share questions before an interview. JobAccess (opens in new tab), the Australian Government’s free service, has practical guidance for employers.
Help people stay and progress
Hiring is only the start. People stay when the day-to-day works for them. Check in on what helps, and adjust as roles change. Make sure progression is open to everyone. The Australian Disability Network (opens in new tab) supports employers to build inclusive workplaces.
Practical ways to support neurodivergent employees
Most support costs little. It is about the everyday, not a one-off programme. Here is a practical place to start. None of this needs an app.
Recruitment: clear, plain-language hiring
Write plain job ads that say what the role involves. Share interview questions in advance. Offer a working trial or a task instead of a high-pressure interview. Ask each person what would help them show their best.
Onboarding: predictable, written-down
Start with clear, written information. Set out the first week, day by day. Name who to ask for what. A predictable start lowers the load for everyone, and most of all for new neurodivergent staff.
Day to day: communication and flexibility
Be clear and direct in writing. Put key points in a message, not only in a meeting. Offer quiet space and flexible hours where the role allows. Small, steady changes help more than a grand gesture.
Accommodations: ask, don't assume
Do not guess what a person needs. Ask them. Each person knows what helps them work well. Make it easy and safe to ask, and easy to adjust later. Support needs change, and that is normal.
Manager guidance: support, don't surveil
Good support is not monitoring. Check in on what helps, not on every minute. Give feedback clearly and kindly. Trust your people to do the work in the way that suits them best.
Supporting the carers on your team
Some of your people care for a neurodivergent child. That load follows them to work. Flexible hours, the odd appointment during the day, and a manager who understands all make a real difference.
Don’t forget the carers: the invisible load they bring to work
Some of your best people are quietly carrying a lot. The NDIS paperwork they finish at midnight. The school that calls in the middle of a meeting. The appointments they book and rebook during work hours.
This load is hard to see. It does not show up in a status update. But it follows them from home to work, every week.
In our 2025 study of 1,091 Australian families, among the caregiving employees in our sample:
- 63%
- want structured workplace supports.
- 27%
- have declined a promotion because of care demands.
- 25%
- changed roles for flexibility.
- 18%
- have struggled to stay employed.
Understanding Zoe’s 2025 study of 1,091 Australian families, with Sunday Insights and PureSpectrum. Read the research.
Pip helps your people organise and prepare, not diagnose or treat.
If you or a colleague needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
How Understanding Zoe helps your people
Support stays on each person’s terms. You never see their data.
For your neurodivergent employees
Their own calm place, on their terms
Your neurodivergent employee re-explains their support needs every time someone new joins the team. About Me ends that. It is a short, strengths-based summary of how they work best: their strengths, interests, support needs, and the best way they learn. They choose what to share, and with whom. They can copy and paste it, or include it in a report for an accommodation conversation.
Each person gets a Self profile where Pip, their second brain, remembers for them. Pip helps with whatever they are navigating, by voice or message.
For your employees who are parents or carers
The family load, lifted off their shoulders
Your carer employee is mid-NDIS review at midnight. Pip helps them organise and prepare. It keeps appointments, records and therapy updates in one place. Then it drafts the reports they actually need, which they edit and export. Less carried to work, less carried home.
One subscription covers all their profiles: their own, and each of their children’s.
On their terms, always
An employee can add a trusted manager or colleague to their village, with the exact access they choose. Or not at all. You never get a window into anyone’s life. The employee stays in control, and can remove anyone at any time.
See how it works for the full picture.
How a neuro-inclusion benefit works for employers
It is simpler than most benefits. You arrange access with us, and we set up your people. There is no employer dashboard, and there is no employee data for you to see. Each person controls their own profile, their own village, and their own privacy.
Your role is to offer the benefit. Theirs is to use it, in the way that suits them. One subscription covers a person’s whole family, so a carer employee is covered for their children too.
Want to bring it to your team? Talk to us about team access, and we will set it up.
Pip helps your people organise and prepare, not diagnose or treat.
Our research
Built on Australian research
In our 2025 study of 1,091 Australian families, 63% of caregiving employees want structured workplace supports.
Understanding Zoe’s 2025 study of 1,091 Australian families, with Sunday Insights and PureSpectrum. Read the research.
Built in Australia, for the people who hold a lot.
Questions, answered
Employer questions, answered
How can employers support neurodivergent employees in Australia?
Start with the everyday. Write plain job ads and share interview questions early. Make onboarding predictable and written down. Offer flexibility and quiet space where the role allows. Make reasonable adjustments under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. And ask each person what helps, rather than guessing.
What is a neuro-inclusion employee benefit?
It is a workplace benefit that supports neurodivergent staff and the carers among them. It can ease the hidden load people carry from home to work. Understanding Zoe is one such benefit. It gives each person a calm app on their own terms.
Do employers have to make reasonable adjustments for neurodivergent staff?
Yes, in most situations. The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 requires reasonable adjustments. There is a limit, called unjustifiable hardship, set out in the law. The Australian Human Rights Commission is the authority on the Act. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do you support employees who care for a neurodivergent child?
Recognise the invisible load they carry. In our 2025 study, 27% of caregiving employees had declined a promotion because of care demands, and 25% changed roles for flexibility. Flexible hours help. So does a benefit that eases the family side, like Understanding Zoe.
Is Understanding Zoe a tool that monitors employees?
No. There is no employer dashboard and no employee data for you to see. The employee controls their own profile, their own village, and their own privacy. They choose who to add and what to share. You offer the benefit; they stay in control.
Is employee data private if our company sponsors Understanding Zoe?
Yes. The data is stored in Australia. It is encrypted in transit and at rest. Understanding Zoe holds ISO 27001:2022 certification. Chats with Pip are private by design. As the employer, you cannot read any employee's data.
Built calm. Kept safe.
You, as the employer, have no access to any employee's data. None.
Chats with Pip are private by design.
- Stored in Australia.
- Encrypted in transit and at rest.
- ISO 27001:2022 certified.
- Aligned with the Australian Privacy Principles.
Last reviewed .
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