Gen Z, ADHD, and the Collapse of the Polite Professional.

You’re not lazy. You just spent 45 minutes re-reading one email because your brain decided that today, its executive function was optional.

For the women with a bit of spice, a touch of neurodivergence, or a lot, the workplace isn’t just a desk, it’s a stage. A stage where the lighting’s too overwhelming, the lines change daily, and the audience NEVER claps. You learn to perform, smile through the defeat, and rehearse apologies you didn’t owe. When you eventually get it right, you’re “too intense” or everyone’s favourite, “a bit much”.  Gen-Z has begun to peel off the mask, setting our out-of-work offices to ‘soft life’ mode. Late-night emails are being traded in for boundaries and burnouts for better days. In a world still obsessed with ticking boxes, the neurodivergent woman is often left out, misread, and measured by a system that never once asked how she worked best.

A 2022 Deloitte study found that more than 46% of Gen Zs feel anxious or stressed all the time at work, with many citing unrealistic expectations and a lack of mental health support as key factors (Deloitte, 2022). So, how do we bridge the gap between so-called “Lazy” employees and those quietly fighting to survive in outdated corporate structures? Are we just too soft, too entitled, or is our exhaustion and fear of micromanagement completely valid? Is Gen-Z wrong for pushing back, or did generations before us simply become conditioned to a system that prized obedience over wellbeing, one they were never meant to survive either?

Let’s talk about it.

The workplace problem

The modern-day office was never designed with neurodivergent women in mind. Open-plan noise, constantly being overlooked by managers and colleagues, and productivity measured in emojis. It doesn’t just challenge our focus; it erodes our ability to function. Studies show that ADHD is underdiagnosed in women, with not many receiving a diagnosis until adulthood (guilty!), if at all (Hughes et al., 2020). You suspect something may be wrong, often after years of thinking you were just bad at life, or allergic to spreadsheets, and good luck! Waiting lists on the NHS can currently be years long, and that’s assuming your GP doesn’t suggest more water, a hot bath, and maybe to stop scrolling on your phone, just a bit.

So here you are, undiagnosed, unsupported and somehow expected to thrive in an economy where everything from bread to boundaries is increasingly unaffordable. Mental health services are stretched thin, and workplace accommodations? If they exist at all, they’re usually buried under vague policies and a line manager who still thinks ADHD means you can’t sit still. Oops. It’s a perfect storm, with no medical support and no structural empathy, the job description may as well say, “Must function like a robot with the smile of a receptionist and the memory of a golden retriever”. Then people wonder why we’re exhausted.

Systems stuck in the past

Whilst we’re on the topic of open-plan offices being a sensory assault course, a 2023 report from Mind found that even though adjustments like flexible hours or noise-cancelling headsets cost little to nothing, many employers still hesitate or worse, pretend it’s not their problem. Neurodivergent people are significantly more likely to experience burnout, miscommunication with managers, and a lack of basic support in their roles. There is also a gap between what workplaces claim to be and what they are. In 2023, I worked at a self-proclaimed “progressive” agency that proudly advertised its wellbeing initiative. As an Indian–South African Brit, starting a new job has always felt like stepping into a fishbowl, observed, different, and slightly out of place. So, when I saw a company championing mental health and inclusion, I let myself hope. Unfortunately, it turned out to be nothing more than an online mindfulness module and a banana on a breakroom table. No offence, but no amount of virtual yoga is going to fix the fact that your employees can’t concentrate for more than seven minutes without a system in place – and your system is in shambles!

Of course, it’s not all doom and fluorescent lighting. Change is absolutely possible; I wouldn’t sit here criticising the workplace without any tangible solutions. Creating an inclusive workplace starts with a few simple shifts, like flexible working hours, so we’re not expected to peak in productivity at precisely 9:00 am every day. Quiet spaces or the freedom to wear noise-cancelling headphones can go a long way, too, as well as clearer communication in the form of written agendas. Oh, and maybe, train your managers to stop confusing “struggling” with “Slacking”. None of this is radical, it is just HUMAN, and the best part of these changes is that they don’t just support neurodivergent employees, they make work better for everyone, imagine!

Redefining success, softly

We’ve been taught that success looks like exhaustion. That if we’re not collapsing into bed after a ten-hour day (and three unplanned calls), we’re not doing enough. Although maybe the problem isn’t our generation’s softness, maybe softness was the solution all along. Gen-Z is observant, not lazy. We see the burnout, the quiet quitting, the nervous breakdowns, and wellness weeks slapped onto toxic cultures like a cucumber eye patch on a black eye, and we’re saying: no, thank you.

Though some might argue, we are not saying work doesn’t need to get done. We know it does. We want to do our jobs, to contribute and collaborate, and be proud of what we create. We just want to feel empowered to get there in a way that works for our brains, not to be shamed or sidelined for needing a different route to the same destination.

We’re not asking for pity. We’re demanding progress. We are not broken, we’re brilliant. We just need the freedom to do things differently, and the respect to stop apologising for it. Because Gen-Z isn’t here to just clock in quietly and nod-along. We’re here to challenge and rebuild our way into leadership. We’re not lazy, we’re lateral thinkers. We’re not sensitive, we’re self-aware, and we are done dimming our light just to keep the status quo comfortable.

You wanted productivity? Good. Because we’re showing up, bold, brainy, burnt-out…and ready to take over.