Employers see the bright side of ADHD and autism

Featured Sponsor

Store	Link	Sample Product
UK Artful Impressions	Premiere Etsy Store

When interviewing for a general manager position with the National Trust four years ago, Tracey Churcher made the sudden decision to reveal that she had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

She told interviewers from the UK heritage organization that the way her brain is wired means she’s good at reactive and varied work, but struggles with routine tasks and deploys coping mechanisms to stay on top of things. top. “I can make war, but peace can be challenging,” she explains.

They offered him the job. He says that her superior read more about ADHD after the interview and concluded that he was a good fit for her. Churcher says her job, managing multiple sites on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, southwest England, often requires reacting to multiple situations at once.

Her experience is a testament to how neurodiversity—differences in the way the brain processes information due to conditions like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia—is gaining recognition in the workplace as a beneficial attribute.

Subscribe to the survey!

Help your employees be happier, healthier and more productive. Any organization in the UK with 20 or more employees can participate. Click here to sign up now.

Last year, several leading British companies, including pharmaceuticals AstraZeneca, engineering group Rolls-Royce and consumer goods group Unilever, formed Neurodiversity in Business, a network that aims to share good practice in recruiting and retaining a neurodiverse workforce. And earlier this year the UK government launched a review to improve employment prospects for people with autism.

At Rolls-Royce, neurodivergent colleagues are invited to speak at internal panel events about their experiences at work, says global inclusion leader Natasha Whitehurst. The company is developing a toolkit and training for staff, with tips on how to help neurodivergent colleagues. In its early-career recruiting, the company makes adjustments, such as offering the option of a video call and viewing interview questions ahead of time. Those accommodations are offered to neurodivergent and neurotypical applicants.

As it is, being neurodivergent is still more commonly an employment hurdle than a ticket to a top position. According to the Office for National Statistics, only 29 per cent of autistic people in the UK aged 16-64 were in employment in the year to June 2021. Studies have shown that people with ADHD have, on average, lower incomes and are more likely to be unemployed than the general population.

The National Trust is among employers testing alternative recruitment strategies aimed at including neurodiverse candidates. Heather Smith, the organization’s access and equality specialist, says that for some openings, the Trust shares their questions in advance or organizes experience days that involve group work and conversation rather than formal interviews. “We’re thinking about how to bring out the best in people,” she says.

Examining the language used in job descriptions can also be helpful for neurodivergent candidates. It’s common for autistic people to turn away from jobs they’re well qualified for because they’re put off by ambiguous language, such as the requirements to be a “team player,” says Danae Leaman-Hill, director of external affairs and development at Ambicious. About Autism, a charity that advocates for autistic children and young people.

There is evidence that neurodivergent employees can outperform their neurotypical peers. For example, a JPMorgan program to recruit and support people with autism, she found that they could be much more productive than other recruits.

However, advocacy groups say the main goal should be inclusion for its own sake. “I caution against commodifying autistic people,” says Leaman-Hill. “This is about justice and equity. Not all autistic people have a specific ability that exceeds that of their neurotypical peers.

Concerns about negative perceptions cause many neurodivergent people to hide their condition at work. a recent survey of 990 neurodivergent workers by researchers at Birkbeck, University of London, found that 65 per cent feared that disclosing their condition would lead to discrimination from management, and 55 per cent said they feared stigma from their colleagues. The research was commissioned by Neurodiversity in Business.

“There is no drop-down list” of accommodations for neurodiversity, says Sharon Didrichsen, CEO of Specialisterne Northern Ireland, a nonprofit organization that aims to boost the employment prospects of autistic people. “It takes time to listen and ask that person what would help them accomplish that task and what are the barriers along the way.” Specialisterne, Danish for “The Specialists”, works with a number of companies in Northern Ireland, including Microsoft, IBM and Allstate insurer.

Jonathan McMurray, who was diagnosed with autism in his mid-30s, sees workplace culture as more important than specific accommodations. “The managers I’ve worked with are supportive and curious,” he says of his work at Microsoft in Belfast. “There is no one size fits all and my input is welcome.”

At other employers before his diagnosis, McMurray, now 38, says he struggled with the “Game of Thrones stuff.” [politics] in bigger offices” and that his communication style sometimes led him to be seen as a troublemaker.

At Microsoft, he specifies that he is neurodiverse in his email signature, along with a link to an internal document outlining good practices for working with autistic colleagues. “I wear it as a badge to let people know [that if] I made a mistake or stepped on a conversational land mine, it’s not intentional and there’s no malice,” he says.

For Churcher, who is 54, the growing recognition of neurodiversity has made a big difference in her working life. When she was 20 years old, before realizing that she had ADHD, she had had problems with comments from management at the pharmaceutical company where she worked. She now identifies her experience as rejection sensitivity dysphoria, a strongly negative emotional reaction to perceived rejection or criticism often experienced by people with autism or ADHD.

She found out she had ADHD when she was 30, when her son was diagnosed with the condition. Now, she is open with her colleagues about it and she has developed coping strategies to keep up with the tasks she finds most difficult. She says her coworkers understand if she “gets off topic,” but they also appreciate her creativity, spontaneity, and drive to get things done.

“The way my brain works has a name, but we are all different,” she says. “Being honest about who we are in the workplace makes the workplace a more pleasant place to be.”