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Most of us find job interviews stressful, but for Lisa Rose Jepson it’s a particular ordeal. As a person with autism and dyspraxia, she prefers to think deeply rather than give spontaneous answers, and she finds that makes it hard to sell herself. She has heightened sensory responsiveness, too. If the lights are too bright or the interviewer is wearing a strong perfume, it can prove overwhelming. Like many autistic people, she is most in her element when the rules are clear and the setting is predictable, but job interviews are typically the arena of the unknown, and even small surprises can be catastrophically distracting. “I once went into an interview thinking there would be about three people, and there were 10 people all spaced around the room,” she recalls. “As soon as something like that happens, I just think: ‘I'm not getting this job.’”
Research estimates that more than 15 percent of the population are neurodivergent. This umbrella term includes conditions including autism, dyspraxia, ADHD, and dyslexia, and many live with more than one neurodivergent condition. Yet the conventions of the world of work—recruitment processes, office environments, face-to-face meetings, management techniques—are geared towards neurotypical brains. In the past, Jepson has often struggled after accepting a post. “I usually go for data-related roles, but never really quite fit in,” she says. “In appraisals, I am always ‘too’ something—’too loud’, ‘too quiet’, ‘too direct’, ‘too honest’. I’ve been made redundant twice.”
Her experience is, unfortunately, not uncommon. Neurodivergent traits come with an array of challenges, and all individuals will have their own experiences. However, many find that the strain of masking their true selves, or having to meet expectations that don’t come naturally, can be so exhausting it leads to problems such as anxiety and depression. According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, only 29 percent of autistic adults are in full time employment.
A number of businesses are attempting to solve this problem. While driven partly by improving social justice, that’s not the whole story. For some organisations, this is a conversation less about challenges and more about strengths. Because for all the difficulties associated with neurodivergent traits, they also grant those who possess them a set of skills that are in short supply and commercially invaluable.
“While there is no one ‘type’ of neurodivergent person, we tend to find that skills often congregate in certain areas,” says Alison Kay, Managing Partner, EMEIA at professional services firm EY. “Their skills can be in creativity and empathy, or more analytical and data-led—analytical thinking, complex problem-solving, programming, ideation, hyper-focus. It varies from person to person.”
EY is one company which is actively recruiting individuals who self-identify with neuro-cognitive differences. In 2016, the firm set up a Neuro-Diverse Centre of Excellence in Philadelphia. Today, it has 19 centres globally, and last year opened its first UK & Ireland Centre in Manchester. These aim to fuel innovation and meet EY and its clients’ business needs specifically in emerging technologies such as data science, AI, and cybersecurity. The Centres are designed to create an enabling and supportive workplace for neurodivergent people, particularly those who previously may have found it hard to gain and retain employment. Jepson is one of the Manchester Centre’s employees. She works there as a Technology Consultant, and says that her neurodivergent traits have helped her excel. “I can hyper-focus, I'm really good at spotting patterns in data, or a lack of patterns in data,” she says. “And I'm super curious. I describe myself as being like an annoying two-year-old: I keep asking ‘why’ until I get an answer.”
These skills profiles can enable people not only to deliver quality, but also to do so at pace. Kay recalls a project where a client wanted to understand how they could meet their carbon reduction commitments. A neurodivergent EY employee pulled together multiple datasets from multiple entities, aggregated them all, presented the results very clearly—and did so in a fraction of the expected timeframe. “We thought this would be three weeks’ worth of project time,” says Kay. “This individual did it in 72 hours—it was incredible to see. That was something that I had personally never witnessed before—both the quality of the analytics and the speed at which he did it all. It was incredibly impressive.”
When a company employs more neurodivergent people, there’s often the added bonus of fostering inclusion. Not only does the individual enjoy better psychological safety and equal opportunities in the workplace, it also changes the culture of the wider organisation. “Most importantly for me, the number of people in EY disclosing as being neurodivergent has gone up tenfold since we launched the Centres of Excellence,” says Kay. “By making it an environment where people can come to work and be their best selves, people no longer feel like they have to mask their identity.”
You probably already have a neurodivergent population at work, so before you start devising a strategy, open a dialogue and start to build understanding, culture and community around this topic. “I think the tone from the top makes a huge difference,” says Kay. “You’ve got to make clear that this is something to be celebrated, and you’ve got to have senior role models who are willing to speak out about their own experiences and be open.” If your senior leaders are not themselves neurodivergent, perhaps they have family members who are. Hearing those stories may encourage others in the company to begin telling theirs and become advocates themselves.
As you go through this process, bring in external experts who can steer you on how best to change the way the business operates. Those advisors could include not-for-profits, academics, special interest groups or dedicated support companies. Involve them as you re-appraise your ways of working, keeping in mind that neurodiversity takes many forms, varies by individual, and can range from moderate to more extreme. There is therefore no “one-size-fits-all” approach, but a willingness to ask for and listen to people’s experiences will lead you in the right direction.
Consider your recruitment process. “What do your job descriptions look like? Where do you advertise? How do you interview? How do you measure ability to do a role?” says Kay. Often these processes are based on past precedents, rather than considered in the context of what the business needs. Job descriptions that emphasise abilities over experience can be helpful, as does wording that makes it clear it’s not vital to have all the skills listed. Indeed, clarity and straightforwardness are generally valued across the application process, as is trying to reduce surprises by ensuring processes are outlined clearly, and run on time and to plan.
Next, assess the day-to-day experience of working at your company. Is the physical environment suited to neurodivergence? “Individual needs should be discussed with each person, but having the ability to offer assigned desks, quiet spaces, noise-cancelling headphones, and even choice of workstations can be helpful,” says Kay. How about management structures? At EY’s Neuro-Diverse Centre of Excellence, teams are run by someone whose only job is to be their line manager. “That person operates as a safe harbour, a translator, a de-escalator, an explainer, and a resource, to ensure that the members of the team feel psychologically safe.”
It’s vital to make it easy and risk-free for individuals to contribute to and give feedback on how the company is working with neurodivergent staff so that the business can adjust appropriately. Ultimately, says Kay, flexibility is the biggest consideration of all. “If you stay open to adapting your workplace and your processes, then anything is possible.”
When companies embrace those possibilities, the impacts can go well beyond the balance sheet. “Yes, we started on this journey because we recognised that there was a benefit for our business, there was a benefit for our clients, and also a wider benefit to society,” says Kay. “But it really highlighted that these individuals are critical to the innovation and the creative solutions that we are all searching for right now. Whether it’s climate change or AI, we really need to protect ourselves and the world, and we're only going to be able to do that if we harness our differences and different ways of thinking. Then I think we can crack a lot of these problems.”
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
