6 November 2026Invisible Barriers at Work: What 32 Employers Told Us (2026 Research)

By Ksenia Golubeva-Schmit, Co-founder & CBDO, and Joël Schmit, Co-founder & CEO

Published 6 November 2026

Most employers have support in place, but the people who need it most often never use it. That is the clearest pattern from our interviews with HR, DEI, health and wellbeing leaders at 32 organisations in Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden and Germany between August and November 2026.

About this research

We spoke with banks and financial services, law firms, energy, telecoms, retail, transport, manufacturing, pharma, a research institute and European institutions. They range from a local office of about 120 people to global groups present in around 150 countries.

Each conversation took 30 to 40 minutes by video call and followed the same questions: how a request for support or a workplace adjustment is handled today, what managers get, what the company can measure and where it gets stuck. All answers are anonymised.

This is a qualitative study, not a survey. Read it as patterns that came up again and again, not as statistics. Figures are as reported by interviewees and have not been independently verified.

Finding 1: Employees don’t ask for support, even when it exists

In almost every organisation, HR believed more employees needed support than had ever asked for it. A company with about 900 staff had zero declared disabilities. Another, with about 400 staff, had two, and HR knew of about three more who did not want the label. A recruiter with 15 years of experience had never seen a candidate disclose a disability. The reason was always the same: fear of stigma, of being seen as different, or of consequences in a future job.

Finding 2: The route to workplace adjustments is built for physical needs

In most Luxembourg companies, any adjustment, even noise-cancelling headphones, goes through the occupational health doctor. This protects privacy and works well for back pain or a chair. It works less well for invisible needs such as communication, sensory overload, focus and stress. One HR director told us they have a clear path for physical restrictions, but no protocol for communication or sensory difficulties.

Finding 3: Managers are left to figure it out alone

Most organisations had no training that helps managers support a neurodivergent or struggling employee. Where training existed, it covered mental health in general, not autism, ADHD or disability. Managers want practical answers, not theory. One HR lead said practical checklists per type of need were what really helped managers at a previous employer.

Finding 4: Companies can’t see the size of the problem

Few organisations could say how many adjustment requests they handled this year, or why people were on sick leave. As a global wellbeing lead put it: “If requests fall from 100 to 50, nobody knows whether people are better or just stopped asking.”

Finding 5: The disability employment quota is barely on the radar

Many EU countries have an employment quota for people with disabilities. Several HR contacts did not know whether their company met it, and some did not know it existed. One company was at 3.8% against a 4% target, almost entirely through employees who became ill or injured while working there, not through hiring.

Finding 6: Human support beats another app

Employers were wary of new software: security reviews, procurement, professional secrecy and a past wellbeing app that nobody used. What they valued was people: an internal coach, a psychologist managers can call, peers who share their own story, and clear guidance through the public system.

10 practices that already work, without a large budget

1. Three-way conversation. Occupational health, employee and manager agree on support together, so the manager is not alone.
2. Annual check-in. Ongoing adjustments are reviewed every year, not granted once and forgotten.
3. Adjustment passport. A record of agreed adjustments that only HR and the employee see. No diagnosis is asked, only the barrier.
4. Anonymous helpline with manager advice. Employees call without giving their name. Managers get advice on difficult cases. The company sees only totals.
5. Peer champions. Trained colleagues who listen and point to help, without acting as therapists.
6. Internal coach. Anyone books directly, for any reason, in a quiet office away from the team.
7. Psychologist for managers. Managers can ask how to respond before a situation escalates.
8. Personal stories. Colleagues talk openly about their own experience, and others find it easier to speak up.
9. Asking at recruitment. Application forms ask whether candidates need an adjustment for the interview.
10. External specialist services. Public employer advice services and job coaching, instead of building everything in-house.

Checklist: 10 questions to check your own organisation

These questions come from what separated the most and least prepared employers we spoke with. Each “no” is a place where people may be struggling unseen.

• Can an employee ask for support without first naming a diagnosis?
• Is there a route for invisible needs (focus, noise, communication, stress), not only physical ones?
• Can someone get help without going through their manager first?
• Do managers know the adjustment process exists, and where to find it?
• Do managers have someone to call when they don’t know how to respond?
• Has any manager training covered autism, ADHD or disability?
• Do you know how many adjustment requests you handled this year?
• Are agreed adjustments reviewed, and do they follow the person to a new team?
• Do you know whether you meet the disability employment quota?
• Has anyone in your organisation spoken openly about their own experience?

How we used these findings to build AutiHD

We did this research before building anything for employers. Each finding shaped a part of the platform:

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who took the time to talk to us. Want to share feedback or see how the platform works? Write to ksenia@autihd.com or joel@autihd.com, or book a demo.