Understanding Neurodiversity in the Workplace

At the forefront of mental wellbeing and equality, diversity and inclusion solutions, Hebburn-headquartered ed-tech specialist eQuality Solutions Group (eQS) is working to drive positive change in the North East business community. Here, chief executive Andy Gough reflects on how business leaders can enable neurodiverse inclusivity and provide awareness training for all staff to help them understand the needs of their neurodivergent colleagues

Taking action beyond awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace

It is likely that every week and month of the year has at least one attributable cause for awareness, but we also need to start moving these conversations forward with actions.

Neurodiversity is a term that has been discussed in the business community for many years but there are still inequalities in terms of employment rates and even inclusivity support for those who do get roles.

Statistics show people with disabilities are less likely to be employed in senior roles, such as managers, directors or senior officials, or be employed in professional occupations and that in the UK, just 21.7 per cent of people with autism spectrum condition (ASC) are in employment at all*.

I recently took a poll on LinkedIn asking people to pick just one thing that needed addressing most in supporting neurodiversity in the workplace.

I also invited comments to welcome further areas for improvement or enable people to highlight that all were of equal measure. Results showed most people voted for the need for awareness training.

At eQS, we recently undertook ASC awareness training. One of our consultants, who is autistic, created a workshop for all staff, which was delivered virtually.

It was incredibly informative and used personal stories to bring issues to life. However, this wasn’t the end of the journey. It got me reflecting on what action we could take as a company to make positive changes.

Reframing responses to neurodiversity

As a business leader operating in the disability sector, and a father of two children with hidden disabilities, I’m aware labels are not always helpful.

In terms of growing our understanding, people need the tools to respond accordingly, not just the awareness that these different labels exist.

For instance, most people would consider themselves familiar with neurodiverse labels such as dyslexia or ASC, but not everyone would know how to support these neurodiversities in a workplace in terms of recruitment, environment or communication styles.

This is where, (if you are neurotypical like me) we need to reframe our understanding of neurodiversity – and not jump to the wrong conclusions.

Neurodiverse conditions are often characterised by individuals having differences in social interaction and reading social cues, which neurotypical people tend to recognise more easily.

Rather than mistakenly jumping to the conclusion that this person is being rude, careless or forgetful, our first consideration should be, ‘is this person neurodiverse?’ and then consider reframing how we respond.

Being unbiased and unaffected by social norms and fears that can often inhibit neurotypical people means neurodivergent people can often be fantastic innovators who are logical and methodical in their approach to problem solving.

After all, we are all unique and have special qualities to bring to the business table, it’s just that some people are more adept at meeting social norms.

By recognising and celebrating a strong and diverse team, we can really value the fact that we all look at the world in a different way.

Real actions taken to support neurodiversity in the workplace

In the summer of 2020, eQS set up a ‘back into work’ scheme offering individuals who had been out of work due to mental health difficulties or redundancy due to the pandemic the opportunity to gain experience and skills to add to their CV.

We currently have two individuals in placement and their stories are below (their names have been changed for privacy).

Carl has ARFID, which is linked to autism. For the past few years, his confidence had decreased significantly, and he struggles with social situations.

He has previously been employed and worked in an office environment but the thought of going somewhere new was too much for his anxiety.

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