Imagine putting a lot of effort into hiring a more diverse staff only to have all of your diverse employees quit within a year. This is something a lot of companies deal with when they try to add diversity to their teams. The problem is, they are putting the cart before the horse by not putting policies in place that create a work environment that fosters different ways of doing things.
What happens is that neurodiverse employees struggle to work in an environment that is not conducive to the way they think. Their requests for accommodations turn into a huge deal, with mountains of paperwork and meetings with HR. Other team members start treating them as “other” or are resentful of their accommodations (because some accommodations are things that would be helpful to others, too.) In some cases, they are forced to explain their needs over and over again instead of just being able to go to the office and get down to work.
Recently, I spoke to Rabbi Yonason Goldson and Dr Margarita Gurri CSP on their podcast The Rabbi & the Shrink to speak about how leaders can create an environment that is conducive to a whole range of needs, not just those of the neurodiverse. But first, let’s look at why the default system is flawed.
Why Culture-focused Organizations Struggle with Diversity and Neurodiverse Employees
On the surface, culture-focused organizations are a great idea. A team full of people with similar values, working towards a shared goal. What’s not to love? The problem is, a lot of organizations take it a step further and niche down on the type of person that thrives in their industry. They create hiring processes to attract that type of person and all policies and processes are created with that type of person in mind.
The reality is, even if you find people who share similar qualities and values, they will learn and work in very different ways. A process that works for one person may not work for others. Most workplaces understand this to be true, they just go about supporting it the wrong way.
In many organizations, the current system requires employees to “seek accommodations” from their leaders if they want to do something differently. This requires meetings with HR, interventions, and a whole lot of paperwork. Something that should be as simple as, “presenting in meetings makes me anxious, is there another way I can give people information?” turns into a long, drawn-out process. It is announced to the company at large that this person has autism or anxiety, and they must receive the accommodation.
There are, quite likely, other people in the team who would prefer not to present in meetings due to introversion but wouldn’t go through the process of talking to HR about it, so they end up feeling resentful that one team member gets to skip presenting. Instead of the process being changed, there are formal exceptions to the process. And the neurodivergent person has to go through this circus any time they need something different from “the norm.”
Create a Flexible Workplace for Neurodiverse Employees
Instead of looking at what policies you need to put in place to become inclusive, look at how you can make your policies more flexible. What options can you give to all of your employees so they can feel more comfortable at work?
Uniform Options
Sensory issues may cause some fabrics or textures to be uncomfortable or even intolerable for many of your team members. This could be as mild as your team member feeling a little squirmy and pulling at their uniform throughout the day or as bad as your team member feeling like they need to rip their uniform off immediately when they get home.
Remember how, at the start of the pandemic, everyone loved working from home because they could wear leggings? While leggings are not an option in many industries, that doesn’t mean your team can’t be comfortable when they are at work. Most corporate offices have a dress code to give their employees options, but flexibility can be achieved even if you have a uniform. Give your team the ability to choose between different fabrics. Some may prefer a soft cotton t-shirt; some may prefer the polo. It is not just your neurodivergent team members that will be grateful for a bit of choice.
Communication Options
Most people have preferences on how they like to communicate. Some people like to talk face-to-face or over the phone, others prefer to send a quick email. All communication preferences are valid and all can be accommodated easily in a workplace. As a leader, ask your team members how they prefer to communicate and facilitate that where possible. Set the example and allow your team members to communicate their preferences with each other as well.
Normalize Expressing Needs
Asking how you can best support someone shouldn’t be something that is only done for those with neurodivergence. Getting to know your team and understanding how to get the best out of them should apply to all team members.
One of the simple changes that I think can make a huge difference in creating an inclusive work environment is normalizing open communication about where talents lie and what people need to do their best work. The language around neurodivergence often focuses on a deficit, but just like neurotypical people, neurodiverse employees have strengths and weaknesses. People with dyslexia are often great with people. They are often speakers and salespeople. I see many companies creating processes where salespeople have to complete reading comprehension exercises and quizzes to get to know new products. They lose their best salespeople by creating barriers that people with dyslexia struggle to overcome.
When you have an environment where people feel comfortable expressing their needs, you have an environment where you don’t have to guess how to get the best out of your team. They will tell you. People feel comfortable saying that they struggle in loud environments so they would prefer hybrid working or working from home. People feel comfortable telling you that they forget instructions quickly, so having notes gives them something to refer to when they forget.
Practice Understanding
Most of all, you need an environment where everyone is given the benefit of the doubt. One of my clients told me that he had an engineer who would always wear headphones to team meetings. My client would notice and one day he called him out in front of everyone asking why he was listening to music in the meeting. The engineer explained that he wasn’t listening to music, the headphones just helped block out the background noise so he could hear my client better.
I tell this story often when I speak on podcasts or when I write articles because I think it is a perfect example of the struggles neurodivergent people face in the workplace. The needs of this engineer differed from the needs of other people. When people go against what is considered the norm, it is often seen as rudeness or anti-social behavior.
When I told this story on the podcast, Rabbi Yonason Goldson remarked that an ethical leader wouldn’t call someone out in front of people. Even if it was someone being rude, the conversation should’ve happened in private. I agree, all it would’ve taken in this situation was my client talking to the engineer privately and asking why they were wearing headphones.
Work environments bring together people of all different backgrounds and all different needs. Giving people the benefit of the doubt and asking polite questions goes a long way to creating an understanding work environment.
Neurodiversity Definition
Neurodiversity: this term refers to a general diversity of minds. It includes people who are neurotypical and neurodivergent. When I talk about promoting neurodiversity in the workplace, for example, I am referring to creating a diverse workforce representative of the broad spectrum that exists when it comes to ways of thinking, processing information, communication, and learning. Some employees may be “normal” or neurotypical while others may have ADHD, Dyslexia, Autism, or trauma impacted ways of thinking. I am not referring to any particular label or diagnosis, but rather, the concept of an environment where a diversity of minds coexist.
Neurodiverse: This word is pretty much the same as neurodiversity, but should be used as an adjective. You can say, for example, that your workplace is neurodiverse.
Be careful though, because you should never describe a person as being neurodiverse. Individual people should be described as neurodivergent.
Neurodivergent: This word describes an individual whose way of thinking falls outside of society’s defined version of normal. Oftentimes you will see it abbreviated as ND.
Many times, neurodivergent people will have a diagnosis or label you may recognize, like autism, dyslexia, or ADHD. But neurodivergent people are also those with epilepsy, different kinds of brain trauma, or simply a unique way of thinking that may not have a specific diagnosis.
Photo Credits:
Shridhar Gupta on Unsplash
Mimi Thian on Unsplash
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