As organizations continue to struggle to realize the potential benefits associated with diverse workforces, it is imperative that they deconflate mechanisms and outcomes associated with assimilation and inclusion. Doing so will enable them to shift the burden of conformity from disadvantaged individuals towards the organization, enabling more inclusive, productive work environments. Here, we apply the concept of institutional work to understand how this can be done in the context of varying interests among social groups. By studying the progression of neurodiversity employment, we find that a user-centric approach to alternative practice development can draw attention to problematic institutions and that selecting a high-order prevailing institution as a complementary input to inform the practice development process can enable more success in subsequent phases of institutional work. Finally, we introduce the construct of institutional sheltering and suggest its potential relevance to institutional work that would otherwise conflict with multiple prevailing institutions.