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It's summertime again! Which means only one thing…Cue the questions of “is it too hot to work in the office?” and so on. Extremely hot summers in the office are unpleasant and can make working a struggle. But what might the impact be on neurodivergent people?

Let’s have a look.

What does the law say?

There actually isn’t a law that provides for a minimum or maximum working temperature because every workplace is different. Although guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggests the minimum office temperature should be 16 degrees, or 13 degrees if the work involves rigorous effort.

An upper limit can’t be meaningfully imposed because, in many indoor workplaces, high temperatures aren’t seasonal but are caused by workplace activity, such as in restaurants or bakeries.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations require employers to assess the risks of high temperatures in workplaces to workers and put appropriate controls in place to protect them.

All workers are entitled to an environment where risks to their health and safety are properly managed – as heat is a hazard  it comes with legal obligations to manage, like any other hazard. It’s up to the employer to determine what a reasonable temperature should be in the workplace, while considering the HSE guidance. This comes back to the master/servant relationship between employer and employees where it’s implied that the master/pater/employer knows what’s best for the employees.

But in an attempt to avoid getting it completely wrong and receiving a number of workplace health and safety complaints from staff, I’d expect employers and senior staff to take as many steps as possible to support staff on extremely hot days.

Remember, what’s reasonable to one worker may not be to another, regardless of whether these workers are neurodivergent or not. So, a case-by-case approach will be needed and doing this requires engagement between employers and employees together.

Sensory profile differences

While there will be some commonalities between individuals, everyone’s sensory profile is unique to them.

For neurodivergent people and workers, like myself, who may be more sensitive to very hot or cold temperatures, our sensory profiles and some increased sensitivities may mean that we experience a greater degree of overload in hot weather or an office that’s uncomfortably hot.

If this happens, it may present as losing focus, fatigue or shutting down completely. It’s disruptive to our employer and our colleagues, and its disruptive to ourselves if we’re unable to work or do our normal day-to-day things.

If you’ll allow me to be a bit of a ‘summer Scrooge’ for a moment, I can’t stand the heat!

On hot days when I’m working, even from home where I have a bit more control over my environment, I can experience fatigue, dehydration headaches, difficulty seeing and focusing and concentrating. When I’m trying to manage a very hot environment, high temperatures can make me drowsy.

Last year’s heatwave, where temperatures reached a record 40.3C in Coningsby in Lincolnshire, was a very difficult time to be working. While we were all feeling the discomfort I experienced all of the above, felt sick and anxious regularly and it was a struggle to do a decent day’s work. I’m grateful that I had such a supportive and understanding employer and supervisor at the time, but it was still a hugely unpleasant time.

What can be done to support neurodiverse staff during hot summer working days?

Many of the support solutions here are probably already adopted by some employers anyway, but they’re largely common sense and not particularly burdensome to implement, whether it’s a permanent feature or simply seasonal adjustments.

In a standard law firm office environment, some support solutions could include:

• maintaining a working air-conditioning system;
• renting an air-con unit;
• ensuring there’s access to plenty of water, either taps in kitchens or water coolers or other sources;
• offering desk fans to staff (that said, it’s worth noting that while fans and air-conditioning should be pretty standard, some people won't like the whir of a fan);
• adopting a more relaxed dress code on hot days, or a ‘dress for your day’ approach; if there are staff who don’t need to meet with clients on certain days
• installing blackout blinds (I worked with a senior colleague who lived with chronic fatigue syndrome/ME and installing blackout blinds in the office meant they were able to manage their pain and fatigue better at work during summer months);
• offering flexible leaving times on hot days so staff who commute on public transport can hopefully avoid peak travel times;
• allowing people to take longer breaks in cooler areas of the office, or additional fresh air breaks if they need to; and
• offering frozen treats –- ice creams can go down a treat for everyone, including us, so either rent an ice cream van or stock up on frozen treats if the office has a freezer.

At the same time, some neurodivergent people can’t get enough of the sun and the heat! The natural climate in the UK is mild (at best!) so enjoying some warmth would sound pretty good to some of us. It’s all about having that open dialogue and communication between employer and employee about what can best support your neurodivergent colleagues during summer months and allow them to continue to do their best work.

As a result of global climate change, extremely hot summers are going to be much more common going forward. With a record high of 40 degrees last year, who’s to say that record won’t be broken again this year or the year after that? Managing heat as a hazard effectively means staff can continue to be safe and well and can do their best work, and companies may experience greater retention of these workers as a result. This is important so that everyone, employees and employers alike can collectively contribute to a positive employment experience and positive employment relationships.