As Autism Awareness Week 2021 (30 March to 5 April) draws near, I joined the Autism and Work Summit, hosted by the National Autistic Society.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability which affects how people communicate and interact with the world. One in 100 people are on the autism spectrum and there are around 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK. Boys are ten times more likely to be referred for a diagnosis than girls. Girls with same symptoms are less likely to be diagnosed and often camouflage or mask their autistic traits from others.
According to the National Autistic Society, 16% of autistic people in the UK work full time, while 79% want to work. This is a huge gap between what autistic people desire and what is currently happening in the workplace. Diagnostic criteria for autism are based on a deficit model, so many worry that this may lead to discrimination if they disclose their diagnosis. Employers should offer clear paths for disclosure for autistic people and training for all employees to reduce stigma and discrimination.
Advantages and challenges of autism in the workplace
There are significant advantages in employing autistic people, including their attention to detail, punctuality, creativity and honesty to name just a few. Some autistic people say that they are good at keeping calm in a crisis and defusing anger, which is useful in customer facing roles for example.
For some autistic people, executive function can be challenging, which means being able to accept change, switch tasks rapidly and to complete tasks quickly at the expense of accuracy. Autistic employees speak about the ‘hidden curriculum’ of the workplace, the pressure to be social and make small talk, although this is not a problem for every autistic person. Some have experienced bullying from colleagues. Many report that it can feel like holding two jobs – one is the role itself, and the other is passing as neurotypical. This can be exhausting, both mentally and physically, sometimes leading to autistic burnout.
Experiences of autistic people in the workplace
Ian Iceton of Autistica, the UK’s national autism research charity, set the scene regarding the experiences of adults who disclose their autism in the workplace. According to Romualdez et al (2021), “Autism in Adulthood“, disclosure in the workplace is not a single step process. Around 35% of participants in Romualdez’s study told everyone they were autistic, 55% told only some people and 10% did not tell anyone.
Of those that did disclose, 24% did so during the application process, 6% during the interview itself and 46% after starting the job. Their experiences of disclosure were also mixed – 40% felt that they got a positive response while 20% received a negative one.
It is important to consider the reasons why someone might disclose, or not disclose, their autism. Many are hoping to experience better understanding from employers and colleagues, to gain reasonable adjustments or to improve their mental wellbeing through disclosing. Others might worry about the stigma and negativity that could be attached to assumptions about autism.
Line managers reported that there was a continuum of strengths and challenges for their autistic staff members, where both strengths and disability could exist in the same person. They reported that quite a wide range of adjustments might be needed by an individual and the bureaucracy of sourcing help can take up time. In some cases, they felt unsupported by HR and occupational health, who were not always knowledgeable about autism. Conversely, managing an autistic staff member was also highly rewarding.
On the whole, saying that “We are all a bit autistic,” downplays the very real differences between autistic and non autistic people and is generally unhelpful.
What makes for a successful workplace experience?
Ian Inceton’s own research with 60 participants, looked at recruitment and employment practices. He found 8 key areas that influenced the success of autistic people in the workplace.
- Manager and recruiter characteristics and beliefs
• Attitudes, expectations and beliefs of recruiters and line managers
• Knowledge about ASD - Attributes of the autistic person
• Sensory challenges, mental health, gender (women camouflage to their disadvantage)
• Diagnosis and disclosure (timing of diagnosis and disclosure)
• Personal history e.g. previous recruitment and roles, educational influences, parental influences (parents and carers can be overprotective and discourage disclosure) - Organisational backdrop
• Working environment (culture, diversity, openness, freedom of manager to act, support for managers
• Organisational characteristics (training, staff networks, resources and budget) - Nature of the work
• Assumptions of what autistic people are good at e.g. deep focus, IT, STEM and data, pattern recognition.
• This stereotype works in the favour of those who are strong in these areas, but can disadvantage those who are creative, communications, arts etc. - Third party support
• It is very important to source external support during recruitment and employment eg. internships, training, coaching, interview coaching - Adaptations to the recruitment process
• Process changes e.g. reasonable adjustments, selection and assessment changes, targeted recruitment, campaign design and language
• Job specification adaptations – specifically invite autistic candidates, a long shopping list of requirements might discourage candidates who take that literally - Line manager and co worker treatment
• Process changes (reasonable adjustments, manager support levels, induction processes – day one in the new job can really put people off if this is not handled well)
• Co workers reactions (treatment and understanding, handling of performance issues, management of career opportunities) - Feedback from autistic employees and managers
• Are they encouraged to provide feedback and is it acted on?
How to make a difference as an employer
- Look at job descriptions and recruitment processes so they do not exclude autistic people
- Be open about welcoming autistic people
- Train your managers and recruiters
- Provide a supportive and open culture and reasonable adjustments
- Provide staff networks
- Look at performance management criteria
- Provide mental health first aid
Case study on reasonable adjustments
Under the Equality Act 2010 and the Autism Act 2009, staff with a disability are entitled to reasonable adjustments in the workplace. Kym Francis of JP Morgan outlined the difference that some of these adjustments made for her. Noise cancelling headsets help her to block out extraneous noise. She has an allocated desk in the open plan office as well as allocated parking. This means she can avoid kitchen smells, areas of congregation and chatting, air conditioning flow and being near doors. She starts work later in the day to reduce her anxiety about commuting.
There is a company culture of discussion and openness, meaning there is time and willingness to have those discussions about autism and learn from them. She has frequent meetings with her manager and a daily diary for tasks to help with managing priorities. She suffers from anxiety and would feel that it was the end of the world to miss a deadline. She is most worried about experiencing a shut down or meltdown in the office and so uses a traffic light system to notify her manager of times when she is experiencing higher levels of anxiety. This alert system is coupled with a pre agreed set of strategies to help de-escalate her anxiety to manageable levels. Over time, the level of intervention needed has reduced and she has rarely had to use her escape strategies. These simple, low cost but effective adjustments have meant that her experience of work has been highly positive and she has in fact been promoted since joining the company.
Recruitment and autism
For Nancy Doyle of Genius Within there are big differences in the profile of job seekers with neurodiversity. The ‘neurominority’ will likely be ‘specialists’ with big spikes and differences between what they do well and what they do not do so well. The neurotypical majority are ‘generalists’ and have small differences between their strengths and challenges, although they may share challenges in the same areas as neurominorities.
Recruitment of neurodiverse staff can begin with recruitment to particular job functions, or on programmes dedicated to neurodiverse people. However, this is not the place to stop. If people in these programmes and job functions are successful, then your systematic recruitment process is missing them. Organisations should work towards systematic inclusion across all job roles. Do not make assumptions about the type of role that will appeal to autistic people and make sure that your recruitment processes are accommodated to autistic people for all roles.
Advice to autistic candidates
- Arrive early
- Look after hygiene and grooming
- Decide in advance whether to disclose your diagnosis and keep it positive
- Do not make money the focus of the interview
- Use humour sparingly and with extreme caution
David Aherne of Adjust Services also recommended avoiding generic or unclear questions during interviews, such as “Tell us about yourself”. For him, diversity leads to business resilience and you should remember that 15% of your workforce could be neurodivergent in some way. Understanding your workforce saves money on re-recruiting, solves skillset shortages, leads to positive employer branding and ultimately a competitive advantage. David outlined a number of stages in attracting neurodiverse employees to your organisation.
Attraction
- Provide signs and signals that autistic people are welcomed and valued e.g. logos on the website
- Provide a point of contact for autistic candidates
- Create or highlight targeted roles e.g. internships
- Engage with the neurodiverse community internally and externally
- Encourage applicants to communicate about their diagnosis or requirements
- Showcase autistic role models
Application and assessment
- Offer visits in advance of the interview
- Ensure assessors are neurodiversity aware through training
- Make a quiet space available
- Consider the impact of anxiety e.g. sensory overload
- Test core competencies for the role only (not generic competences such as ‘communication skills’)
- Provide details of the day in advance
- Provide questions in advance
- Allow a mentor / job coach to be present
Interview Day
- Rephrase unclear questions
- Avoid hypothetical questions
- Avoid open ended questions
- Allow time to process answers (don’t repeat the same question in a different way, that just resets the processing clock)
- Print out questions on the day
- Give feedback on whether the candidate has answered the question or if you are looking for more
- Eye contact and body language may not confirm interest – just because someone is not looking at you, it does not mean they are not interested!
Summary of how to recruit
- Recruit for the skills you need for the role
- Recruitment methods should reflect the job role
- Attract talent with positive neurodiverse role models
- Provide signs and signals that encourage applicants to be open
- Educate recruiters
- Consider an internship or placement for autistic candidates
- Offer job coaching before the first day, such as dedicated days applicable to their expected work, scenario planning, or social stories
Overall, autistic staff may have a spiky profile of skills and challenges. Don’t try to shave off the spikes! Aim to adapt the workplace, not the individual. You should expect that you have undiagnosed staff in your organisation already. Create a culture of psychological safety, celebrate the skills autistic people bring and normalise discussions about the challenges.
KatieGee 