Many organizations still approach neurodiversity through the lens of accommodation. The focus is often on what employees need after they request support or disclose a diagnosis.
PayPal took a broader approach.
The company focused on making practical support available across the employee experience—not only to neurodivergent employees, but also to the managers, caregivers, and family members around them.
During a recent RethinkCare webinar, Heather Reed, Senior Director, People Business Partner at PayPal, and Andrea Kavalesky, Global Benefits Manager, shared how PayPal expanded neurodiversity support from a U.S. initiative for parents and families into a global workforce strategy spanning 23 countries.
As RethinkCare’s Mike Civello explains, PayPal expanded its strategy in stages, starting with support for parents and families before growing into a global solution for employees and managers.
Why Neurodiversity Support Can’t Stop at Accommodations
For PayPal, creating a more neuroinclusive workplace started with a simple question: What keeps employees from getting the help they need?
The answers weren’t always tied to accommodations. Sometimes employees didn’t know where to turn. Sometimes they weren’t aware resources existed. And sometimes they chose not to disclose a diagnosis.
Rather than expecting employees to overcome those challenges on their own, PayPal intentionally designed support to be available to employees, managers, caregivers, and family members alike—without requiring a formal diagnosis or accommodation request.
Accommodations are an essential part of the equation. But a strong workforce strategy begins much earlier by removing unnecessary barriers and creating multiple pathways to support.
"Mental health benefits are changing. There's neuro-affirming therapy and some coaching, but mental health benefits are not a neurodiversity strategy either. You really need a front door for neurodiversity."
Start with the Employee Experience
One of PayPal’s first decisions was also one of its most important: don’t assume you know what employees need.
Rather than relying on a broad company-wide benefits survey, Andrea Kavalesky partnered with PayPal’s Thrive employee resource group (ERG) to conduct a more targeted survey focused on the experiences of neurodivergent employees and their families. The goal wasn’t simply to collect feedback. It was to understand where support was working, where it wasn’t, and what employees needed.
That approach reinforced what Heather Reed was already hearing through the Thrive ERG. Employees were sharing experiences that weren’t always visible through traditional feedback channels.
As Heather explained, employees’ day-to-day experiences were often far different from what the organization had assumed.
The survey became more than a listening exercise. It gave the team the evidence they needed to prioritize resources, build a business case, and identify the kind of support employees, managers, and families truly needed.
PayPal wasn’t looking for another standalone benefit. One of the team’s biggest insights was that supporting neurodivergent employees also meant supporting the people around them.
That insight helped shape PayPal’s approach. Rather than focusing only on the individual employee, the company expanded support to managers, caregivers, and family members, recognizing that each plays an important role in an employee’s experience at work.
For HR leaders, the lesson is simple: before designing solutions, validate the problem. The people closest to the barriers are often the best source of insight into how to remove them.
Equip Managers to Support Different Ways of Working
PayPal also recognized that this kind of support strategy meant equipping the people who lead neurodiverse teams.
Many employees choose not to disclose a diagnosis, which means managers can’t rely on formal accommodations to guide every conversation. Instead, they need practical tools to navigate unfamiliar situations, adapt to different ways of working, and connect employees with the right support when needed.
Alongside employee resources, PayPal developed training on non-apparent disabilities and gave managers access to coaching where they could ask questions, navigate workplace situations, and build confidence—whether an employee chose to disclose or not.
Heather Reed described that coaching as “a huge unlock,” giving leaders a safe space to ask questions, build confidence, and better support their teams. This is an important shift. The goal isn’t to turn managers into neurodiversity experts. It’s to give them the tools, confidence, and support to lead people with different needs, communication styles, and ways of working.
Scale the Strategy, Not Just the Program
One of the biggest challenges in global workforce initiatives is balancing consistency with local needs.
For PayPal, expanding neurodiversity support wasn’t about exporting the same program to every country. It was about extending the same philosophy across the organization while adapting implementation to meet local needs.
As the program expanded beyond the U.S., employees in countries including India, Singapore, and the Philippines began asking: “Is this really available to us?” The answer was yes.
The response demonstrated that the need extended well beyond the U.S. Employees around the world were looking for the same things: practical resources, manager support, and easier access to help.
Heather Reed emphasized that global success didn’t come from reinventing the strategy for every market. It came from building on a company culture that already valued inclusion and continuous learning, then adapting implementation to meet local needs.
For organizations looking to scale neurodiversity support, that’s perhaps the biggest lesson of all. A successful global strategy allows employees—wherever they work—to access meaningful support while giving managers the tools and confidence to help them succeed.
The Bigger Opportunity
PayPal’s story isn’t about creating another employee program. It’s about building a more connected approach to workforce support.
When neurodiversity is embedded into manager practices, workplace culture, and everyday employee experiences, support becomes easier to access and more likely to reach the people it’s designed to serve.
That approach is reflected in the employee experience. It shows up in the results, too. Andrea Kavalesky shared that RethinkCare has earned a 91% Net Promoter Score among PayPal users, which is a level of satisfaction she said speaks to both the quality of the support and how effectively it reaches the people who need it.
That’s the real opportunity. The future of workplace support isn’t measured by how many programs an organization offers. It’s measured by how well those programs reach the people they’re designed to support.
Take The Next Step
Want to build a more neuroinclusive workplace? RethinkCare gives organizations the resources, coaching, and training to support employees, managers, caregivers, and families at every stage. Schedule a conversation with our team today.
