Improving levels of neurodiversity in a workplace can feel like a mountain to climb. Yet, some of the world’s leading companies make significant progress. To inspire you to think about how you can improve neurodiversity in the workplace, we’ve broken down some of the main benefits, outlined steps you can take, and compiled examples of some of the companies doing this most successfully.
Workplaces around the world are missing out on the benefits of neurodiversity. Neurodiverse employees offer better productivity, excellent creative thinking skills, and unique perspectives. But knowing how to support neurodiversity in the workplace isn’t simple. And sometimes it takes a dedicated programme and staff team to make it work.
To help leaders understand what they can do to promote better neurodiversity, in this blog post we’ll share advice on how to support neurodiversity in the workplace as well as examples of some of the companies doing this most successfully. But first, let’s look at some of the benefits neurodiversity can bring to a working environment.
Neurodivergent staff with conditions like dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, or ADHD bring unique skills that can increase creativity, innovation, and competitiveness. Despite this, recruitment rates are low. While neurodivergent conditions qualify as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010, many organisations don’t run active recruitment programmes.
Having recognised the potential of neurodivergence to improve their bottom line, JP Morgan Chase launched an Autism at Work programme in 2015. By recruiting over 70 staff with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) this group achieved 140 percent higher productivity rates compared to other staff. Plus, along with increased productivity, neurodivergent staff can add significant organisational value in interesting ways:
People with dyslexia are often good at manipulating scientific concepts. They also have strong problem-solving capabilities and show excellent creative thinking skills. This is also reflected in all three of Caption.Ed’s co-founders having a dyslexia diagnosis.
People with autism can excel in areas like rule-based thinking. They also show high levels of concentration, detailed factual knowledge, and excellent memory.
ADHD affects people in different ways. But employees with this diagnosis can show strengths in creativity, optimism, meeting short-term targets, and being spontaneous risk-takers.
Dyspraxia affects around 10 percent of the population. People with dyspraxia are often determined, motivated, and persistent. And like those with dyslexia, they also show creative problem-solving skills.
While large corporations may have the money and resources to invest in understanding how to support neurodiversity in the workplace, not every company can do this. But there are some practical steps you can take to make a difference.
Understanding how to support neurodiversity in the workplace starts with getting leadership buy-in. But it’s important to do your homework and find out leadership’s main challenges around DEI. Ask them if neurodiversity is a priority, how many neurodivergent staff they employ, and the extent of reasonable adjustments they’re willing to make.
With this information, you can build a business case that sells the difference increased neurodiversity would make to the organisation. The business case should include data and hard evidence, along with background information on the range of neurodivergent conditions and case study examples.
Heads of Diversity and Inclusion may already feature neurodiversity in their policies. But it’s important to give this area active priority since it can get lost among the range of protected characteristics. Prioritisation could look like setting up discussion groups or peer support groups to encourage neurodiverse staff to share their experiences.
It could also look like awareness-raising campaigns via internal marketing and comms teams, highlighting assistive technology available and getting advice and support from dyslexia services like the British Dyslexia Association or Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre. So, if you haven’t made a big deal out of drawing attention to neurodiversity yet, you may want to start planning how to engage your organisation with this area.
As part of your quest to raise awareness and acceptance of neurodiversity in your organisation, consider giving staff regular training. This could include desk-based assessments and regular demonstrations of how staff can play an individual and collective role in supporting neurodivergent colleagues.
It’s also important to focus on accommodating the needs of neurodivergent staff. So, this may include making reasonable adjustments to accessibility in the office or remote working environments. In practice, this may include making adjustments to sensory aspects of the working environment such as sounds, lights, and avoiding strong patterns on walls. The Centre for Accessible Environments (CAE) offers training and consultancy on inclusive design principles and useful resources that may help.
You may be ready to accept neurodivergent colleagues into your working environment, but you face a challenge to receive enough applications. Often, candidates can lack confidence or even be wary of environments that don’t understand their form of neurodiversity. This may even be a greater challenge for candidates with more evident conditions such as autism or Tourette’s.
One way to overcome this is to consider forming allegiances with community groups, such as charities and non-profits. They will have in-depth skills and knowledge to support organisations to increase their pipeline of neurodivergent candidates. Many neurodiversity charities have employment teams that will work with organisations and help to place relevant candidates into open positions.
If you are successful in recruiting neurodivergent staff, you’ll need to put in place a specific onboarding process. This should include the opportunity for regular one-to-one meetings with neurodivergent staff members. Any appointed representatives should meet with neurodivergent staff individually, regularly, to review their needs.
And since neurodivergence includes several conditions, reasonable adjustments will vary. But tools such as Caption.Ed can make a huge difference for people with neurodivergent conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD. By improving focus, concentration, and working memory, Caption.Ed can boost productivity and promote better inclusivity.
From Microsoft’s ‘Neurodiversity Career Connector’ to EY’s Neuro-Diverse Centre of Excellence (NCoE), global firms are targeting neurodiverse staff to improve their competitiveness.
Neurodivergent staff offer many core talents, from creativity to problem solving. But companies are missing out on the impact they could have when current research suggests up to 80% of autistic people aren’t in employment.
So what can you do to change this? Read on for some inspiration.
FTSE 100 companies and others are fuelling their pipeline of neurodivergent talent in interesting ways. We’ve already shared specific ways you can improve neurodiversity in the workplace. But we also want to show you specific examples of the difference others are making.
Microsoft recognises that neurodivergent individuals can strengthen a workforce. Seeking to maximise the potential of their skills in innovation and creative problem-solving, they have a significant focus on recruiting neurodivergent staff.
Previously known as Inclusive Hiring and Autism Hiring, Microsoft has an internal hiring scheme to attract neurodivergent talent and train them for success at Microsoft.
In 2017, Microsoft co-founded the Neurodiversity@Work Employer Roundtable. It’s a collection of global firms making efforts to increase levels of neurodiversity in their workforces.
The roundtable runs regular meetings and workshops while acting as a central point for both employers and employees. Employers learn from others about starting their own neurodiversity hiring programme. And neurodivergent employees can access Microsoft’s Neurodiversity Career Connector to help them find work.
As one of the big four accounting firms, EY has shown its dedication to promoting better neurodiversity in the workplace with the first Neuro-Diverse Centre of Excellence. With plans to hire up to 100 neurodivergent staff to their Manchester base, the Centre will give individuals with autism, dyslexia, and ADHD the opportunity to apply their strengths in AI, automation, blockchain, and data analytics.
Google predicts that by 2050, neuro-inclusive design will increase user adoption by 5 times. And with such strong business benefits from neurodivergent design, Google is encouraging more neurodivergent software engineers and designers to join them.
A specific way it does this is through a bespoke ‘Google Cloud Autism Career Program’. Through this initiative, they aim to train 500 Google Cloud managers in hiring new staff. By equipping these particular Googlers with the training and knowledge they need to support autistic candidates, they aim to make onboarding processes accessible and fair.
Our small but mighty team builds leading-edge software that people love. We pride ourselves on a user-led approach to product design. The voice of the customer shapes what we create and that’s exactly how great assistive tech should be made.
With a strong focus on improving Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, Deloitte supports better neurodiversity in the workplace through its recruitment processes and data reporting.
One initiative is their Assessment Centre of Excellence which has helped to create a specific set of neurodiversity learning guides. These guides are helping managers increase their knowledge, confidence, and understanding of hiring neurodivergent staff.
Deloitte is also committed to raising awareness of the power of neurodiversity. And, on a previous podcast, they revealed how over 80% of people with ASD experience higher rates of unemployment compared to 4% of the general population.
Multinational firm Willis Towers Watson has run an ASD programme since 2016. But they’ve also designed a series of bespoke activities such as their Neurodiversity Council involving colleagues from across the globe. WTW’s CEO is a sponsor and reviews their ongoing impact in increasing neurodiversity in the workplace.
WTW also provides dedicated support for neurodivergent staff with quiet spaces and mentors, ensuring they cover all aspects of better neurodiversity in the workplace.
GCHQ recognises the value of divergent thinking and experiences when it comes to minimising potential security threats. And they prize skills such as creative problem-solving, concentration, and data analysis since they’re effective for cracking codes, reducing predictability, and responding to security threats.
Knowing that neurodivergent staff offers advantages in preventing and solving security threats, GCHQ is active in advertising roles for neurodivergent staff.
GCHQ also runs staff-led groups such as their Disabled Employee Network and GCHQ Women’s Network to help shape their policies, promote equality, and ensure systems are accessible for all.
Creating neurodiversity initiatives is not only important for neurodivergent individuals. It’s also beneficial to employer branding, candidate retention, and revenue generation. Of course, not every company can create a specific niche for neurodivergent staff. But they can make an impact with the right approach.
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