How Small and Medium Business Can Leverage Neurodivergent Talent
Earlier this year when attending the Autism@Work Summit in Melbourne I heard from a panel of employers who have commenced autism hiring programs. It’s fantastic to see so many businesses open their doors to talent they may have not explored before and start learning to be much more inclusive as a result.
A question raised from the audience around how smaller organisations can replicate what these typically very large corporates are doing. It was a great question and one that I’d also like to share some thoughts on.
Small Business in The Local Economy
According to a research paper on the economic contribution by the small business sector, approximately 44% of employment is driven by small businesses in Australia. That is businesses with less than 20 employees.
When larger organisations are taken into account it becomes clear that the majority of employment is provided by small and medium enterprises (SME). The large corporates only provide a small fraction of total employment nationally.
Barriers to Entry
Let’s not be too quick to jump to the conclusion that SME employers are not hiring diverse staff. Many do and do it well.
So what then is holding back smaller businesses from being more inclusive and hiring more diverse staff?
Many of the reasons cited by the top end of town will be front of mind for smaller organisations too. Concerns such as:
The time it’s going to take to manage and support staff
The costs associated with making adjustments or supporting them
Their ability to do the work required
Potential issues with health and safety requirements and the associated risks to my business
These perceived challenges exist in the minds of most business operators, managers and leaders regardless of the size of the business.
What Then, Is The Reality?
Time
Whilst in truth there may be additional time to onboard, upskill and integrate some neurodivergent team members, this won’t always be the case. The reality is that in working through initial training and orientation of the workplace existing gaps in having clear processes, process documentation, user guides and the like will become evident.
And this is a good thing!
It’s often this outside perspective and paying a little attention to some of those fundamentals which can really help identify gaps and improve overall effectiveness of the team and the business.
Cost
Most adjustments that a small business might make to accommodate a neurodivergent staff member are likely to be very low to no cost at all. Often things like noise-cancelling headphones, or just the option to list to music on regular headphones will be something the team member will already have.
Other adjustments will often be more process and communication orientated. Allowing for alternative start and end times, providing written instructions or understanding that sometimes team members will need to take some time out to decompress.
Additional outside support may be required at times, though with a good employee - role fit and by managers taking some time to learn more about their team member and understand their needs as much as their strengths, many challenges can be tackled readily within the team.
Ability
When it comes to the application of technical skills I feel completely confident in saying that there is a neurodivergent person capable of doing any job at any level. The experience of many of those organisations that have commenced Autism@Work style hiring programs is that staff brought in have picked up role requirements quickly and have proven to be efficient in their work generally in at least the same amount of time as new neurotypical employees. In fact, in many occasions the neurodivergent staff they’ve hired have learnt their roles faster, even where they’ve not had prior experience.
It can be easy to assume that someone you may consider as being ‘disabled’ or ‘different’ will not have the intellectual or technical aptitude to learn and complete the work required in the roles you may typically hire for.
But ask yourself, have you actually tested that assumption? And if you have, how much? I’ve had conversations with more than one person where they’ve had a negative experience working with someone who was autistic or had ADHD. That experience has then tainted their view of all similar people.
Not everyone is going to be a great employee for you. It doesn’t matter if they’re neurodivergent or not. If someone is not engaged or interested, their performance is likely to lower than someone who is. If as a manager and leader you don’t provide the level of support, guidance and encouragement in a way that resonates for your team member (it’s not about you, it’s their performance that’s important) then don’t expect to get the best out of them.
People are not machines, and even if they were, you’d still take time to maintain, monitor and look after your machines. You understand the headache and costs associated with a broken down piece of equipment. How much better to keep it running in good condition.
Health & Safety
A neurodivergent person is not necessarily more likely to create workplace risks than anyone else. In many ways neurodivergent staff are going to be your greatest advocates for the appropriate application of safety guidelines.
When you consider common characteristics of autistic people for example to have a preference for structure, following rules and attention to detail, the more probable cause of a health and safety issue is poor communication of expectations.
Just as when it comes to ability, be careful to not prejudge a whole cohort of people based on either ‘beliefs’ or the experience of dealing with one or two people.
The Upsides
The challenge of finding and retaining staff is not unique to small business, but in some ways can often be exacerbated by being ‘small’. Whether it’s a shortage of skills and being able to attract people to work in a smaller business where there may be more ‘prestige’ or perceived stability associated with working for a much larger organisation, small businesses may find it harder to bring new talent in when required.
However, the ability of small business to offer a more personalised work experience and the level of relationship and familiarity than can be established is at times much harder to replicate in larger organisations.
Being able to tap into a talent pool that others are overlooking and yet which will have many candidates more than capable of fulfilling the staffing needs of small businesses without requiring large scale investments is a true opportunity for smaller businesses.
It’s not a requirement to run with a large, programmatic approach to hiring neurodivergent staff. Start with one person, even part time to fill a current resource gap. Seek out what ever support you feel you might need to do that. There are often government supports that be provided or community groups that could provide some level of guidance.
Feel free to reach out to someone like myself even, there are numerous people who can help without it costing you an arm and a leg.
Consider also the fact that neurodivergent staff are on average more loyal, they stay with an employer longer. They are often more productive, getting through more work with less errors typically than their peers.
Employers have found that overall staff morale is increased and customer perception is improved when they hire neurodivergent staff. Having a workforce that more closely reflects society is a good thing.
There is also a growing level of attention across major corporates and governments when it comes to social procurement. Perhaps having a strong neurodivergent contingent in your workforce could become a competitive advantage on many fronts.
Conclusion
If you’re a small(er) business or work with or support small and medium businesses, don’t underestimate your ability to access alternative talent.
You have just as much and potentially relatively more to gain than the big players in this space.
With a smaller size comes less complexity, less bureaucracy and therefore simpler and faster decision making. Whilst your larger competitors are stuck in analysis paralysis and finding that eighth decision maker to get onboard with their neurodiverse hiring initiative, you could have snatched up the three best people in your local market and be months into your working relationship with them.
If you’re holding back because you don’t know how to start or what to do or are worried about the cost of making it happen then I want you to do one thing first.
Reach out to me, let’s have a chat. It’s you who have the most to gain here and I’m committed to finding ways to make that work.
I’m prepared to have some skin in the game with you if you are. All you’ve got to lose is an opportunity to hire capable, dedicated staff.
Book a call today and let’s see what we could do together.
