Why Hiring Neurodiverse Employees Gives You A Competitive Edge

Every company is always looking for something, anything, that will give them a competitive edge in the marketplace. For many, this pushes them to focus on new products, or how to use the latest technology to streamline existing processes. The smartest companies, however, know that the best kept secret for getting ahead is to invest in human capital. This strategy of finding and hiring the best candidates helps put companies in a long term position of strength because it is these new employees who will find fresh directions and efficient ways to do existing tasks.

However, finding these fantastic game-changers is a challenge for any hiring manager. Even for the broadest fields such as computer programming, there is still a relatively small pool of high quality candidates, and if your organization doesn’t have the wages or benefits to compete, you are likely going to end up behind the eight ball when it comes to getting the best employees. That is, unless you are ready to take advantage of an untapped and unrecognized talent pool: autistic people.

Benefits of Hiring Neurodiverse Talent

Autistic people have long been overlooked in the British Columbia workplace. There are many negative stereotypes that society in general holds about autism, and the media portrayal of autistic individuals doesn’t help potential employers realize the potential that is right under their noses. However, many large corporations such as JP Morgan Chase and Microsoft are shifting their hiring practices to take advantage of the unique skills and talents that autistic people bring to the workplace, which include:

• A different world view - it’s one of the fundamental truths of autism that it causes people to see the world in a very different way. A common misconception is that this world view is “wrong” because it’s not the same as neurotypical individuals; however, the smart hiring manager should realize the importance of having as many different points of view looking at a problem as possible. Autistic employees are gaining recognition for their true out-of-the-box thinking and not being afraid to challenge the status quo right from the start of their employment.
• High levels of concentration - another sad portrayal in the media is of autistic people solely focused on one thing; it’s a frustrating common parlance that neurotypical people who are working hard on a task will say they’re acting “a bit autistic”. In fact, autistic people are the same as many of us in that they will get fascinated by certain topics and will want to spend lots of time thinking about and researching these ideas. These high levels of concentration are a massive boon in the workplace as it allows an autistic employee to get in the zone and perform at high levels for long periods of time.
• Pattern recognition and analysis - when many employers hear about becoming more autism friendly and hiring neurodiverse employees, there’s always a sarcastic voice in the staff who references “Rainman”. While it’s true that autism is a broad spectrum, many individuals with the condition do have high levels of pattern recognition and are fantastic at data analysis, which makes them an excellent hiring choice across a wide range of fields. However, if the Rainman comment is systematic of your company culture, you’ll need to do some education around autism to help staff to realize that autistic people are just people like them with exceptional abilities.

Company wide benefits

While hiring neurodiverse talent will bring specific benefits to your company in terms of their ability to perform their job well, having autistic people on your staff brings a wide range of benefits to your company as a whole. The front loading education process, preferably handled by an autism talent specialist, will help develop empathy and understanding in your staff that will quickly become part of your culture and climate. The need for clear and concrete communication with any autistic employees could and should force a rethink about interoffice communication in general, and employers of autistic people find that gossip, misunderstandings and miscommunication issues drop drastically as everyone is required to speak clearly and without subtext. Finally, the knowledge that the company is dedicated to diversity and inclusion is a great look from the outside, and this is magnified when hiring neurodiverse talent is a normal part of the process instead of just a token effort.