Even the largest and most successful of the current leading neurodiversity employment initiatives have hired neurodivergent people by the hundreds, but far from the millions who are still missing.
Workers seek flexibility as employers implement return-to-office mandates
Despite technological advancements and a preference for flexibility among American workers, employers are pushing for a return to the office.
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Technology giants from Amazon to Dell are focused on bringing workers back to the office after years of remote and hybrid work schedules.
Bringing colleagues together can foster a sense of community when approached thoughtfully, but too often, office policies fail to meet the needs of a diverse workforce. To retain and recruit a robust, talented workforce, technology leaders must commit to making workplaces accessible to all – including neurodivergent people.
“Neurodivergent” is a term that has come to be preferred by many people who have neurological conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, Tourette’s, and others.
These neurological conditions are part of the normal variation in how people’s minds work, part of the richness and diversity of human talents and abilities. Strengths such as attention to detail, consistency, pattern recognition, novel thinking, work engagement, perseverance, honesty, and dependability are all talents and skills that autistic and other neurodivergent people can bring to their work, and research reveals competitive advantages to employing neurodivergent people.
Tech industry must tap the talents of “missing millions” of Americans
Despite their talents, neurodivergent people face significant barriers to employment.
A dismal 15% of autistic adults secure long-term, meaningful work; an 85% rate of unemployment and underemployment.
This prevents them from contributing their talents. Since 15% to 20 percent of the world population — including over 50 million Americans — is neurodivergent, systematic unemployment and underemployment represents a massive opportunity cost to society, estimated at $100 billion of lost economic productivity annually, not to mention the enormous toll on individual quality of life.
The U.S. tech industry will need to more fully tap the talents of these “missing millions” of Americans (a term coined by the U.S. National Science Board in its Vision 2030) to fill the talent gap in its workforce and for the U.S. to maintain global leadership in science and technology.
A growing number of academic researchers and business scholars − such as at Vanderbilt University’s Frist Center for Autism & Innovation, of which we are a part − are developing new tools and management methods, as well as deep benches of neurodivergent talent, to help companies learn how to enlist neurodivergent strengths and to accommodate their support needs.
And a number of companies are stepping up and taking the lead to implement these tools and methods. For example, Ernst & Young, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, and others have created neurodiversity employment initiatives that recruit, integrate, and support neurodivergent employees.
Others like Auticon, The Precisionists, and Aspiritech hire neurodivergent people for business-services work, offering their employees custom-designed workspaces and on-site support professionals, a model that can be especially important for neurodivergent people whose support needs cannot be readily met in traditional workplaces.
Vast majority of workplaces have not adopted an inclusive model
The two of us are witnessing the benefits of these neuro-inclusive workplace models personally. One of us has an autistic son who, after completing his master’s degree through the Frist Center’s program in Neurodiversity Inspired Science & Engineering, is now gainfully employed at a leading engineering firm.
The other of us has an autistic son who will graduate from high school this year and then aspires to attend one of the nearby colleges that are part of the Frist Center’s College Autism Network or else to go straight to work; his dream is to work at The Precisionists near his home in Nashville.
But the vast majority of workplaces still haven’t adopted an inclusive model. Many hiring managers report negative impressions of candidates’ behaviors such as eye-contact despite a strong resume; many co-workers express bias and negative attitudes toward an individual’s “unusual” social and behavioral traits regardless of their strong talent and skill; unaccommodating sensory environments in workplaces (lights, noises, etc.) can distract or distress neurodivergent employees; and many workplace cultures reward “likability” over performance.
We have a long way to go before our sons, and many others, have full and fair access to the opportunities they deserve. Even the largest and most successful of the current leading neurodiversity employment initiatives have hired neurodivergent people by the hundreds, which is to be celebrated, but far from the millions who are still missing: their talents and abilities, as well as their dreams and aspirations, are waiting for the right doors to open and welcome them in.
Keivan G. Stassun is a 2024 MacArthur Fellow and director of the Frist Center for Autism & Innovation. Jon Perlin is chairman of the Frist Center’s Advisory Board and CEO of the Joint Commission.
This post was originally published on here
