There’s a lot of talk about diversity these days. Whether that’s gender, race, sexual identity, disability or neurodiversity. Yet if you asked the average jane in the street about each of these categories, they could probably talk confidently about every category but the last one. There is a lot of misconception and misunderstanding about neurodiversity is and what we should do about it. For the modern workplace, it means that we are likely to have a significant minority that identify in some way as neurodiverse, but are perhaps not always sharing this with their colleagues. Perhaps a better question might be, why does this matter?
Over the last 50 years, we have seen an evolution of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) practices, that have moved from setting blunt targets and sheep-dipping training programs to thinking about how to build a more robust culture that supports and celebrates differences that contribute to organisational performance.
Organisation’s can feel exhausted and overwhelmed in trying to address the ‘big 3’ of DE&I; gender, race and LGBTQ+, so that it leaves little room to think of other diverse populations such as neurodiverse employees.
What exactly is Neurodiversity?
Let’s start by looking at what it is and what it is not. At it’s simplest, it is an umbrella term for all individuals who take in, process and transmit information in a way that is considered different from the norm. Now I use the term ‘norm’ or neurotypical advisedly, since neither are a good description of who is within and who is outside the term neurodiversity.
Conditions that are usually seen as part of the Neuro Diversity classification include Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), learning disabilities such as Downs Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Typically we are talking about life-long, inherent and neurological conditions that whilst pathologized are not ‘cured’ with medical interventions.
Conditions that are NOT considered as neuro diverse include mental illnesses such as depression, severe anxiety, schizophrenia or paranoia and other acute or chronic conditions that can respond to medical interventions.
What are the upsides of neurodiversity in the workplace?
If you have grown up in a world that is not built around your needs, you tend to become very good at navigating it and finding workarounds that allow you to function. As a neurodiverse individual, you will often as a result of this reality have a number of qualities that make you far more agile or able than your neurotypical colleagues. Three particular areas stand out:
- Creativity. When you see the world differently, you tend to be good at linear thinking, finding patterns where others see none and seeing opportunities that others might overlook.
- Technical Abilities. Particularly people with ASD, tend to excel at technical analysis, design and solutions. They have the ability to filter out all distractions, remember minute details and follow logic to a rational conclusion.
- Problem-solving. Most neurodiverse people are natural problem-solvers. They have to be because they live in a world that is not responsive to their needs. People with Dyslexia for example, may struggle with written communication, but can compensate by being very good verbally and built trust and rapport through their own individual style.
What are the benefits for the business?
Beyond the more generic upsides of more diverse businesses tending to outperform their compeititors, becoming neuro-diverse friendly has a number of benefits. When an organisation invests in making their workplace more neurodiverse friendly, not only do employees benefits, but your customers start to notice how you interact with them differently and you are able to attract more diverse suppliers.
Here’s three examples of how that might work:
- Attracting Neuro Diverse Talent
A company recognising that it needed to change the way it recruited employees, implemented a number of changes. Not only in encouraging more video based applications, but also in bringing in assistance technology for their Talent Acquisition (TA) processes. Not only did that help to attract a much wider range of candidates, but increased the number of neurodiverse employees and found they had exceptional retention of these individuals.
- Building a reputation as a neuro-diverse friendly organisation to your customers.
Brand is a precious commodity and one that needs to be harnessed and nurtured to maintain our competitive edge. Technology giant SAP have focused on being Austim-friendly for the last decade and have found that through partnerships with non-profit organisations and partner organisations they have increased the proportion of employees with ASD, alongside increasing their reputation as an employer of choice. This has filtered into their development of more ‘assistive’ technologies for their solutions to customers, which have been very well received.
- Diversifying your supplier base
Diverse supplier programs are becoming commonplace for many large global organisations, but their attention to neurodiverse suppliers is lagging behind in some cases. Onboarding and supporting of neurodiverse suppliers requires some consideration, to ensure that the way you communicate with and make demands of your suppliers fully appreciates the needs of the diverse talent that you have found. The potential upsides are considerable and often well-worth the initial effort to get right.
Some quick-wins to become more neurodiverse friendly
- Start with a clear intention. In your organisation’s vision, or your DE&I vision, look at how it embraces neurodiversity as a business benefit and priority. How are you communicating your neurodiverse friendly intentions and credentials to signal that it’s good to do business with you.?
- Talk to the range of non-profits out there who support neuro-diverse populations on what assistive technologies or tweaks to your internal processes and workplace routines would help your neuro-diverse employees.
- Training and support for your line managers will help to increase their confidence in how to manage neurodiverse team members, so that they are fully included in the team and are supported and better understood by their colleagues.
- If you have not created them already, think of creating affinity or employee resource groups for your neurodiverse employees alongside groups that support other diverse populations. This can prove effective not only in providing workplace support, but also highlight opportunities in improving the workplace for everyone.
In summary
Neurodiversity as a business imperative is not going away. If we take ASD alone the rates of diagnosis alone have doubled over the last 20 years, yet the level of employment is still less than 1 in 5. This untapped talent could bring huge benefits to business, but only if business starts to make the necessary changes in how it acts and thinks to make the workplace more accommodating to the needs of neurodiverse talent.