Helping the HSP to thrive in the workplace

I know, many an HSP is self-employed- and you choose to be so as the best way to ensure sufficient control over your day-to-day working environment.

Being self-employed carries its own challenges and not everyone can – or wants to – run their own business. So wouldn’t it be great if the workplace felt like a friendlier and more tolerant – and tolerable – place to be for an introvert, quiet creative or HSP?

Implementing the kind of changes that would tempt you out of self-employment into a regular workplace may be a long way off – but there are signs that some employers are enlightened enough to take notice and realise that more a neurodiverse staff is in their best interest.

Mental Health in the Workplace Challenge

On Monday 19th February the London Evening Standard ran a feature on the Mental Health in the Workplace Challenge at the Axa Health Tech and You Awards. One of the nominees is a pod with virtual reality goggles intended to help employees “mentally travel to any destination” – a nice relaxing beach, for example, leaving the user feeling “recharged and re-energised”. As well as visuals this gizmo blows in gentle warm or cool breezes and fragrances to match the content being seen. It measures heart-rate and skin temperature to test stress levels and learns to adapt select experiences the user will find soothing.

Whilst even this could prove over-stimulating to a highly sensitive person, the fact that employers are taking mental health seriously is what caught my notice.

Employable Me – BBC2

Perhaps the highest profile manifestation of diversity coming to the fore at work has been Employable Me from BBC2 – Series 2 aired at the end of 2017. In it psychologist Nancy Doyle helps job seekers with various disabilities and neurodiverse conditions to find their way back into employment – often finding that they score in the highest percentile on various psychometric and skill tests.

This gives them new confidence with which to approach the job market and communicate with employers – to present themselves well in their CV and at interview. Furthermore they find the courage to ask for what they need in terms of Reasonable Adjustments when they find work – knowing that their employer highly prizes the skills they bring.

Asking for Reasonable Adjustments

Whilst Sensory Processing Sensitivity is neither a disability nor a disorder, the highly sensitive person can experience the impact of a noisy, overcrowded, high-pressure workplace to a degree that it can feel like a disability – and to the point where “Reasonable Adjustments” might not feel like adjustment enough!

But it is a step in the right direction … and a culture where asking for what you want and need is commonplace could aid the HSP to speak up and be assertive. And anything that would make it easier must be good news.

HSPs in the Workplace – “from Shame to Fame”

Finally, spotted on Elaine Aron’s site, an article by Janine Ramsey writing in HR Zone on HSPs shifting from Shame to Fame in the workplace. It’s from January 2014 – so four years ago now – but it ends on a high note. Yes it opens by it outlining the issues often faced by HSPs in the workplace …. and it reminds us that there are companies with a progressive mindset who have learned to value and cater to sensitive employees, as in this extract:

“Companies with out-dated thinking might still say that people with the trait are a liability for an organisation. But smart organisations of the Conceptual Age see people with this innate ability as a rare and valuable asset. They foster and utilise their highly sensitive, perceptive employees’ unique abilities to achieve success at an individual, organisational, community and global level.”

You, along with many an HSP, might prefer self-employment as the best fit for earning in current circumstances. And, there are moves afoot to see your range of choices grow as time moves on.

Hallelujah!

What are your thoughts on this? Drop me a comment below and do let us know. Thank you, with love and sensitivity,

© Annie Wigman – February 2018