Evidence status: Emerging / limited evidence. The main study discussed here was a small, self-selected UK survey. It can describe participants’ experiences, but it cannot establish prevalence, causation, or which tools improve work.
Reviewed: September 28, 2026
What “knowledge work” means here
Knowledge work includes jobs centred on information, ideas, analysis, writing, planning, communication, or problem-solving. The same person may find parts of this work absorbing and rewarding while struggling with the systems used to organise it.
What one 2024 study found
Campbell, Çerçi, and Cecchinato surveyed 49 UK knowledge workers with ADHD. Participants described challenges around prioritising, estimating time, switching between tasks, maintaining focus, and keeping track of work across tools. They also described personal strategies and mixed experiences with digital support.
Because the sample was small and self-selected, these findings should be treated as exploratory. They do not represent every ADHD knowledge worker.
Study: ADHD and Knowledge Work: Exploring Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities for AI · Author manuscript
Tool friction is part of the workload
A planning tool only helps when a person can remember to open it, capture information in it, trust what is there, and return to it at the right moment. Multiple disconnected systems can create more places to check and more chances for information to disappear.
Unintentional non-use is useful design information. It may point to too many steps, weak reminders, unclear ownership, poor integration, or a system that does not match the work.
Questions to ask:
- How many places hold tasks, messages, notes, and deadlines?
- Does the worker have to enter the same information more than once?
- Can priorities be seen without reconstructing them from several systems?
- What happens when the tool is forgotten for a day?
- Can the system recover without shame or a large clean-up task?
Workplace supports that reduce friction
- Agree on a small number of clear priorities.
- Confirm important decisions, responsibilities, and deadlines in writing.
- Reduce duplicate trackers and unnecessary tool switching.
- Use short check-ins to resolve uncertainty before it grows.
- Make task ownership and hand-offs visible.
- Protect focused work from avoidable interruptions.
- Allow flexible methods when the outcome and safety requirements are met.
- Review systems with the people who use them instead of assuming non-use means lack of effort.
These are design options, not a single ADHD formula. The fit depends on the job, person, team, and power to change the work.
AI: possible support, not an established treatment
Some participants in the 2024 survey reported useful experiences with AI, while others were unaware of or did not use it. This is not evidence that AI reliably improves productivity for ADHD workers.
Possible low-stakes uses include turning rough notes into a first draft, summarising a document the worker is authorised to share, generating options, or breaking a task into smaller steps. Risks include inaccurate output, privacy loss, hidden employer monitoring, biased recommendations, over-reliance, and additional tools to manage.
Before using AI at work:
- Follow employer, client, and professional rules.
- Do not paste confidential, personal, health, or protected information into an unapproved system.
- Check important facts and decisions.
- Keep human responsibility clear.
- Stop if the tool adds more review work than it removes.
Related pages
- How Workplaces Can Better Support ADHD Women
- ADHD and Finding Work That Fits
- No access
- Disclosing ADHD at Work: What to Consider Before You Tell Your Employer
Open questions
- Which supports help across different kinds of knowledge work?
- When does a single integrated system help more than several specialised tools?
- What changes when workers can influence tool selection and workflow design?
- Which AI uses reduce friction without increasing privacy, accuracy, or surveillance risks?
- How do job security, race, gender, disability, and organisational power shape who can ask for changes?
Source note: Developed from 2025-03-21-adhd-knowledge-workers-challenges.md and checked against the 2024 study record and manuscript.