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 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 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 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 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 MoreWhen it comes to establishing a deliberate approach to increasing organisational diversity, creativity and performance, a neurodiverse hiring program is certainly a growing ‘go to’. The question for many organisations starting out though, is how?
In simple terms there are really 3 primary formats that any organisation can take. In this post I’ll explore each in turn along with some thoughts on pros, cons and what considerations might be relevant for your organisation.
Read MoreAn area that will rise in relevance and importance for many employers is tapping into neurodiverse graduates.
It’s well documented and most people would agree - there is a war for talent. Now for sure in some industries and for some skill sets the battles are more hard fought than others.
Read MoreJob seeking can be an intimidating and confusing time for anyone, but for Autistic job seekers, these feelings are often compounded.
However, with a few tweaks to your approach, you can not only lessen the stress and confusion of trying to find work but also increase your chances of being successful!
Read MoreThe first and typically the last hurdle that most neurodiverse job candidates face is the recruitment process. From sometimes long, repetitive and occasionally ambiguous application forms to panel interviews and assessment centres that generally only serve to highlight the challenges these candidates may have with social interactions, there are a number of stages where job candidates will stumble.
However, there are many minor adjustments that organisations can make to their processes that will allow neurodiverse candidates to demonstrate their strengths and character.
Many people who identify as being neurodiverse, which covers neurological conditions such Aspergers, Autism, ADHD and Dyslexia, are reported as being under supported at work.
Australian and international statistics also indicate that between 52% and 60% of people with a disability or neurodiverse are unemployed. This does not include the large numbers that are underemployed (employed less than 32 hours a week) where they have the capacity and desire to work more.
With the often highly valuable workplace strengths that neurodiverse people possess, this represents a significant opportunity for organisations to access a capable and willing pool of talent.
