Work Traits

A Practical Approach to Driving Performance in Neurodiverse Organizations

By Shaun Arora

Part 1: Why Work Traits Matter

Part 1, Why Work Traits Matter, contains the fundamentals for understanding why neurodiversity is an important conversation. The current perspective with respect to neurodiversity is explored for its values and its shortcomings — the state of the workplace prior to Work Traits. The book makes the following hypotheses:

Understanding an individual’s traits is essential for the modern manager
Traditional mindsets around neurodiversity has a negative impact in the workplace.

This section leverages my personal experience as an executive leader building HR teams, a consultant helping small companies grow, a facilitator of conversations and community around neurodiversity at work, and as father trying to close the gap between potential and reality, as well as the experiences of other C-suite and HR leaders, to help readers understand the challenges faced by both employees and employers.

The section also presents a deeper dive into the limitations of diagnostic models (outdated, biased, and often stigmatizing) in the workplace and proposes a shift towards individual work traits, promoting a more nuanced and person-centered approach.

Part 2: The Work Traits

Part 2 presents a framework for a new way to discuss neurodiversity by introducing a "traits-based" approach and attempt to define universal sensory, cognitive, social, and emotional traits that emerge in the workplace.

Trait	Category	Left Pole	Right Pole
Sight	Sensory Traits	Preference for bold colors	Preference for minimal clutter
Smell	Sensory Traits	Preference for intense scents	Preference for minimal scents
Taste	Sensory Traits	Preference for intense flavors	Preference for familiar flavors
Touch	Sensory Traits	Comfortable with proximity and frequent physical contact	Preference for limited physical contact
Sound	Sensory Traits	Preference for higher volumes or frequent sounds	Preference for lower levels of sound
Vestibular	Sensory Traits	Preference for movement	Preference for stillness
Interoception	Sensory Traits	Delayed awareness of internal signals and bodily changes	Highly attuned to internal signals and bodily changes
Proprioceptive	Sensory Traits	Preference for deep pressure and forceful physical input	Preference for less physical touch and less social density
Data Style	Thinking Traits - Absorb	Narrative-first framing. Broad focus.	Data-first framing. Precise focus.
Inference Style	Thinking Traits - Absorb	Intuition-weighted interpretations	Evidence-weighted interpretations
Planning Horizon	Thinking Traits - Approach	Emphasizes Tactical Next Steps	Emphasizes long-term outcomes and overall goals
Problem Framing	Thinking Traits - Approach	See problems as owned by people.	See problems as owned by processes and systems.
System Friction	Thinking Traits - Approach	Order increases friction	Inefficiency increases friction
Task and Context Switching	Thinking Traits - Approach	High-drive towards completion and hyperfocus	Highly energized by multiple task processing
Novelty Appetite	Thinking Traits - Energy	Stability-first	Exploration-first
Time Monitoring	Thinking Traits - Energy	Emergent to unscheduled priorities	High temporal awareness
Working Memory	Thinking Traits - Energy	Reliant on internal recall	Reliant on external systems
Autonomy Style	Collaboration Traits	Directive and hands-on delegation	Clear and hands-off delegation
Abstraction Style	Collaboration Traits	Concrete-Example First	Model-First
Conflict Style	Collaboration Traits	Move towards conflict	Moves away from conflict
Conversation Style	Collaboration Traits	Rapid back-and-forth	Structured turn-taking
Information Processing Style	Collaboration Traits	Asynchronous-First	Synchronous-First
Recognition Style	Collaboration Traits	Public is motivating	Intimate is meaningful
Response to Time-Based Objectives	Collaboration Traits	Benefits from shared timelines and incremental goals	Benefits from co-created timelines and goals
Trust Building Style	Collaboration Traits	Social-proof and social-alignment	Evidence-based and performance-alignment
Awareness of one’s own feelings and emotions	Emotion Traits	Low Awareness	High Awareness
Awareness of others’ feelings and emotions	Emotion Traits	Low Awareness	High Awareness

Part 3: How To Do Work Traits

Part 3, How To Do Work Traits, is the practical and tactical section for people who lead people.

This is the operationalization of the Work Traits model that unlocks latent output and captures marginal gains on talent. We present practical strategies for businesses and individuals to embrace Work Traits for atypical returns. The chapters are arranged by key workflows: onboarding, recruiting, day-to-day coordination, performance management, and learning & development, with each section including actionable tactics sorted by one’s readiness to adopt them.

Part 3 emphasizes adjustments — also known as accommodations — and offers numerous specific and actionable suggestions for building a more effective and efficient workplace culture.

Research Hypotheses

The Work Traits book explores two primary hypotheses and touches on nine others. Those are listed below for easy reference.

H1: Understanding an individual's traits is essential for the modern manager.

Independent variable: The degree to which managers understand and engage with an individual employee's specific work traits rather than relying on broad diagnostic labels.
Dependent variables: Manager effectiveness, employee performance, team productivity, and retention. The book argues throughout that trait-aware managers make better decisions about task assignment, communication, accommodations, and feedback — all of which downstream affect whether employees thrive or leave.

H2: Traditional mindsets around neurodiversity have a negative impact in the workplace.

Independent variable: The prevalence and entrenchment of the medical/diagnostic model at work — specifically, the reliance on diagnostic labels (ADHD, ASD, etc.) as the gateway to understanding and supporting employees, and the requirement of formal diagnosis for accommodations.
Dependent variables: Employee masking and burnout, turnover rates (especially among neurodivergent employees), underemployment of neurodivergent talent, missed innovation, and overall organizational performance. The book ties these outcomes to the diagnostic model creating stigma, exclusion, and a false binary between "typical" and "divergent" employees.

H3: Shifting accommodations from individual exceptions to organization-wide upgrades will increase uptake and reduce stigma.

Independent variable: Whether accommodations are framed as special, disability-gated exceptions vs. standard offerings available to all employees.
Dependent variables: Number of employees who actually use supports, stigma experienced by those who request them, and resentment from colleagues who perceive accommodations as preferential treatment.

H4: Proactive accommodation (offered by the company) will yield better outcomes than reactive accommodation (requested by the employee).

Independent variable: Who initiates the accommodation conversation — the employer or the employee.
Dependent variables: Speed of support delivery, employee willingness to disclose needs, performance, and retention.

H5: Decoupling workplace support from formal medical diagnosis will increase the number of employees who receive helpful adjustments.

Independent variable: Whether a diagnosis is required to access accommodations.
Dependent variables: Proportion of the workforce receiving support, speed of access, and inclusion of those with subclinical or undiagnosed traits.

H6: Disclosure of neurodivergence currently ends badly for most employees, and fear of this outcome is suppressing self-advocacy.

Independent variable: Workplace psychological safety and historical track record of how disclosed neurodivergence has been handled.
Dependent variables: Disclosure rates, willingness to request accommodations, and employee trust in leadership.

H7: Trait-based language will be more actionable for managers than diagnostic labels.

Independent variable: Whether managers are given diagnostic labels (e.g., "this employee has ADHD") vs. specific trait descriptions (e.g., "this employee has low task-switching and high precision").
Dependent variables: Quality and speed of manager response, appropriateness of accommodations selected, and reduction in stereotyping.

H8: Diagnostic labels carry built-in bias that distorts how employees are perceived and evaluated.

Independent variable: Whether an interviewer or manager knows an employee's diagnostic label.
Dependent variables: Fairness of evaluation, promotion decisions, and tolerance for the employee's working style. The manuscript references existing research showing interviewers rate candidates lower once told they have an autism or ADHD diagnosis.

H9: Neurodivergent employees signal systemic organizational failures before others do (the "canary" hypothesis).

Independent variable: Whether leadership treats neurodivergent employee complaints or friction points as individual problems or as indicators of broader system dysfunction.
Dependent variables: Speed of organizational improvement, breadth of employees affected by the identified issues, and retention of neurodivergent talent.

H10: Top-down modeling of neurodivergent traits by leaders will increase psychological safety and disclosure more than bottom-up advocacy.

Independent variable: Whether neurodivergent identity and trait disclosure originates from senior leadership vs. from employees themselves.
Dependent variables: Rate of voluntary disclosure across the organization, perceived psychological safety, and willingness of other employees to request support.

H11: Masking is a primary driver of neurodivergent burnout and underperformance, not the traits themselves.

Independent variable: The degree to which the workplace environment requires employees to suppress or hide their natural cognitive and behavioral patterns.
Dependent variables: Burnout rates, sustained performance, retention, and mental health outcomes among neurodivergent employees.