Neurodiversity Celebration Week: How to Strengthen Your Team with Neurodiverse Talent
This week is Neurodiversity Celebration Week; a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences and aims to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported in educational institutions and in the workplace.
Not just to raise more much-needed awareness, this week is a celebration of neurodiversity, and recognises the many talents and advantages of being neurodivergent. In this blog, we will take a look at neurodivergent professionals in the workplace; why teams are much stronger with them and how employers could be doing more to support neurodivergent members of the team.
What is Neurodiversity?
The phrase ‘neurodiversity’ is believed to have been first coined by American journalist, Harvey Blume in 1998, who wrote in The Atlantic that “Neurodiversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general. Who can say what form of wiring will be best at any given moment?”
‘Neurodiversity’ is a term that explains the different ways we think, process information and relate to others. For example, most people would be considered as being ‘neurotypical’, meaning that your brain processes information in a way that the rest of society expects.
Neurodiversity however encompasses all forms of brain function. Autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, and Tourette’s syndrome are all examples of neurodiverse ways of thinking and behaving, and one in seven people are neurodivergent, meaning they process information in ways that are different to most people.
Neurodiversity at work and the benefits
Sadly, many workplaces and practices are not inclusive of neurodiverse ways of thinking which can create barriers and glass ceilings for neurodiverse colleagues and may lead to discrimination, disengagement and underperformance. This is due to a number of common misconceptions and myths about neurodiversity. Some of which Bupa debunked for Neurodiversity Celebration Week to help topple stigmas and promote equal opportunity.
Despite increased awareness of neurodiversity, the latest data from the Office of National Statistics show that only 16% of autistic adults are employed.
In 2020 the UK’s Institute of Leadership and Management published a report indicating that while 1 in 7 employees are neurodivergent, 32% of managers would feel uncomfortable employing someone with ADHD or Tourettes and just 19% felt certain that neurominorities were covered in their organization’s bullying and harassment policies.
When this is combined with the fact that many standard recruitment practices (such as the use of technology to assess social skills) can often disadvantage neurodiverse candidates, it’s clear to see that there’s a lot of work to be done to remove the systemic exclusion of neurodiverse employees.
It’s not all bad however, as more and more companies are beginning to understand that candidates who are neurodiverse often possess exceptional skill sets, such as being able to recognise patterns within large sets of data and prolonged periods of concentration, that other candidates may not. Organisations such as; Microsoft, JP Morgan Chase and Ernst and Young are just a few companies who have striven to improve their neurodiversity hiring efforts and for very good reason.
While the indisputable link between neurodiversity and high performance has long been acknowledged, only recently are companies recognising the potential impact this could have on business.
Globally, Forrester researchers found that diverse organisations were more profitable and innovative, and did a better job of retaining top talent.
Neurodivergent people tend to have a broader variety of strengths, which means that they are often able to do a number of roles incredibly well, or offer insight on a wide range of tasks or departments.
Neurodivergent employees also consistently report higher levels of innovation and creativity, often able to look at complex issues from a brand-new perspective, thus forming solutions that may not have been considered before.
How to ensure your workplace is supporting neurodiversity
It doesn’t take much to make sure that your workplace is an environment in which neurodiverse employees can blossom, but the first step in doing so is to have an honest, critical look at your practices and acknowledge where you could do better. It is often easier and more rewarding to ask neurodivergent members of your team to identify areas for improvement, and champion it going forward.
Your recruitment process first of all must be free from bias, which means making the advert and process as fair and equal as possible. Research shows that some neurodivergent people are distressed by uncertainty so it’s important to make sure that every stage of the hiring and on-boarding process is clearly communicated and promises to stay in touch are kept. You could also ensure you work with recruiters that value diversity and inclusion; we do!
On a day-to-day basis, it’s important to really recognise the importance of work-life balance and ensure neurodivergent employees are aware of their dedicated work hours, as they are prone to overworking. Clearly communicate and repeat expectations, response-times and working hours and ensure the boundaries don’t become blurry or confused.
By normalising no-meeting days, and ‘do not disturb’ you will get better quality work from your whole team, but your neurodivergent team members who may be more sensitive will appreciate any efforts to create a lower sensory threshold.
On the topic of company culture, self-awareness, emotional awareness and mental health support is key to retain many employees, but can be more critical when working with neurodiverse team members.
Ask your people to write a ‘working with me’ document, of their likes, dislikes and non-negotiables and have an open dialogue about how you can facilitate this and allow the whole team to share their own; it’ll make for a more cohesive team.
Although it goes without saying, it’s imperative to take swift action to remove any toxicity in the workplace; but be aware that neurodivergent people may be extra sensitive to social issues and slights, so a zero-tolerance policy to these issues will go a long way.