A key part of Diversity and Inclusion efforts globally has been recruitment. Increasing an organisation's representation of neurodivergent staff through targeted recruitment efforts.
Whilst these programs can improve diversity, do they support inclusion?
Read MoreDo you sometimes feel that you can never have enough impact on the things that matter the most to you? Have you ever thought that the issue is so big, complex or challenging? That no matter what you do, it could never be enough?
Read MoreIn this article I’m going to talk about the value of undertaking training on neurodiversity and how your organisation could benefit from it.
I’ll show you how what might seem like quite specific training could actually help you in a number of different ways that you’ve probably not previously considered. Primarily how can better support the mental health of your staff and improve employee engagement.
Read MoreA client that I'm working with at the moment (an employee) has been challenged with getting focused and being productive.
They're the sort of person that takes lots of notes, has plenty of ideas and is generally pretty clear on what they need to do. Except they still struggle to get through their work and to cover all their bases.
To help overcome the overwhelm of multiple tasks, due dates and expectations we've adopted a simple, tried and tested approach.
Read MoreAre you creating the best candidate experience for all job applicants?
Whilst there is a strong consensus for the rationale for providing a positive candidate experience, it’s not always clear on how to do that for all potential applicants.
I completely understand that you may not be confident how to treat and manage autistic or dyslexic candidates for example. You may find it confusing how to address their ‘differences’ and be worried about making mistakes.
Then there are the range of things you may be doing right, though just not in quite the right way for these particular candidates.
Read MoreWhen it comes to inclusion and supporting greater workplace diversity, many of us understand the rationale, the value proposition. The 2018 report released by Deloitte on the diversity and inclusion revolution is a heavily cited view of just how valuable real diversity can be for business.
Though it’s not easy.
You know that. Your daily experience of trying to find ways to lift diversity and support greater inclusion of the more diverse employees that come into the organisation is one of wins, fails and plenty of head-scratching.
How do you create inclusive environments, processes and practices when everyone is so different?
Could this one simple strategy be the solution you need?
Read MoreEarlier 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.
Read MoreHave you ever had an employee that didn’t seem to work well with their team members? Have you come across those project teams that seemed to be dysfunctional and worked against themselves more than for themselves?
All too often you’ll have lost employees, they’ve just left or worse still perhaps is they have remained and ‘underperformed’ or being problematic. Imagine if you didn’t need to face the constant threat of attrition, poor performance or interpersonal conflict within teams.
Imagine how much more productive, effective and engaged your staff would be if they understood each other, the organisation and had a voice.
Read MoreOver recent years, the process of recruitment has been heavily influenced by the same pressures that all business processes have experienced. The constant need for ever greater productivity and efficiency. A focus on common metrics such as Time to Hire and Cost to Fill and the ever-present debate between insourcing and outsourcing recruitment requires more rapid judgements when making hiring decisions.
When making filtering decisions, weeding out candidates who'll not be a good fit, how often do you make judgements based on experience or broad assumptions such as the candidate's degree choice?
Read MoreInclusion as a concept is not new and has certainly been around for quite some time. In contrast though, whilst the concept of Neurodiversity is not new, it’s place on the corporate Diversity and Inclusion or talent strategy agenda is.
The value of a diverse workforce has been the subject of research and analysis. Unsurprisingly, greater diversity of thought and perspective leads to be better business outcomes. The avoidance of group think resulting from hiring people like ‘us’ also leads to improved employee engagement and retention.
In all honesty, I don’ think that inclusion is complex, in fact it is often very simple. But be mindful that simple does not necessarily equate to easy. If it were easy, well, you’d not be reading this article because I’d not have felt any need to write it…
To help provide some clarity on the how, I’m going to cover some relatively simple strategies you could employ, and I do encourage you to think how you could incorporate each idea. Not everything will work for everyone, I understand and accept that. But even just making one or two changes to the way that you recruit could make all the difference to the level of diversity you could reach in your organisation.
Read MoreThis is a reasonable question. And one that often gets asked when an organisation is beginning to think about actively pursuing a broader diversity and talent agenda.
Are there roles that might better suit neurodiverse staff? In order to hire in, should new roles be created and carved out for them? What approach makes the most sense and will be more successful?
It is these questions that I’ll explore and offer some thoughts on in this article. I want to remove some of the uncertainty here and make it easier for you to start hiring neurodiverse candidates.
Read MoreCertain assessments that are commonly used within recruitment selection processes can be very effective at filtering out candidates. The question is, how often are they filtering out candidates that might actually be ideally suited to the role?
Are these tests causing you to not only miss out on quality but diversity in your team as a result?
In this article I’ll discuss some thoughts on why psychometric testing could be causing you to miss out on talented candidates.
Read MoreThe sensory environment at work impacts not only neurodiverse people. You’ll be surprised by the number of people who aren’t autistic or dyslexic for example, who are also affected by the amount of noise and movement in the office.
I’ll explain a few a common areas that create challenges when it comes to the sensory environment and work, along with a few simple strategies you can employ. The upside is, the cost of doing so doesn’t need to be high, and the benefit of having done so will be felt by many of your staff.
Read MoreIs there a connection between your recruitment process and the level of diversity in your workplace? Absolutely!
In this post I’m going to show you how your interviews could be eliminating specific people from your recruitment pipeline and preventing you from hiring not only diverse talent, but talent that could be driving real business results.
Read MoreOnce again I attended the Autism@Work Summit in Melbourne, hosted by DXC Technology, ANZ Bank and the Autism Co-operative Research Centre.
This has proven to be a fantastic day (this was my second time attending) the last couple of years and it’s hard not to learn something. With speakers from a variety of organisations and insights from many angles on a range of topics there is plenty to learn about and loads of great connections to make as well!
I had previously shared a short video post on the key takeaway I had from the day, but let’s explore that in a little detail along with the other key takeaways.
Read MoreSomething I haven’t really written about before is my own experiences working in accounting. In fact, it’s possibly even something that you may not have appreciated I spent the early part of my career doing!
So, I thought it might be helpful to share with you my own thoughts on how a neurodiverse inclusive approach to hiring could be of benefit to accounting firms. My own experience was predominantly within mid size and small firms, but I think this will be relevant to any size firm. I’d like to explore how an understanding of neurodiverse individuals and their work preferences could enable firms to both attract applicants that are both capable and motivated and to avoid the often common mid level drop off. That career point where many people either leave professional practice or move ‘up’ to bigger firms.
Read MoreLearning is as they say, ‘a journey’, and something that we continue to do through our lives.
I suspect that like many people in the broader HR community, you’ve come across the term Neurodiversity. I’ve no doubt that you have definitely heard of terms such as autism, dyslexia and ADHD.
So, neurodiversity is then how we describe this idea of difference as it relates to the way a person thinks and processes information. It’s cognitive or neurological difference.
Maybe, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ve got a pretty good understanding and an appreciation of the strengths that neurodiverse people bring to work, but you’re looking for more.
Read MoreThe neurodiversity concept or movement is gaining traction globally. Certainly as awareness increases, more people are coming to understand what it means and how to relate to neurodiverse people.
A follow on implication is greater understanding of the contributions that neurodiverse people can make. What also seems to stand out for me is the realisation people have when it comes to how many people are touched by it.
So whilst approximately 10-15% of the population may identify as neurodiverse, think of all the people directly connected to that individual. With the ‘average’ family represented by four people, there are potentially at least a further three people directly and closely connected to every neurodiverse person.
Read MoreGraduate programs are a mainstay of early career talent strategies for most larger organisations. However there is a growing shortage of skilled graduates entering the market every year.
In Australia alone the demand for Information & Communications Technology roles could result in a deficit of 65,000 candidates by 2023 according to the Group Executive of People for Telstra, Alexandra Badenoch.
Read MoreHaving dealt with the challenge of how to recruit neurodiverse candidates and on-board them into your business, you’re now considering the next steps as part of your diversity and inclusion plans.
Or you may be in the camp where you have identified existing staff who have disclosed as being neurodiverse or are facing ‘stereotypical’ workplace challenges.
Making reasonable adjustments to the workplace are often mandatory legislative requirements in most countries. But beyond that, having an inclusive workplace that caters for the needs of your staff will allow them to perform at their best.
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